Design and build a low cost house in Portugal
Many people would like build a low cost home in Portugal some of us have specific ideas on what we want to achieve by way of space, accommodation or footprint. All of us want to control the cost of building our dream home.
Although I have spent many years building homes for clients and my family I am always looking for new ideas that will make a better home and keep the costs of construction down.
The Portuguese climate has some major advantages over northern Europe so we need to take advantage of the local climate when designing the layout of our new home.
You only need to have stayed here in the summer to understand that adequate shaded areas are a necessity not a luxury.
Many people think that the cheapest method of achieving a home in Portugal is to renovate or uses second hand materials. Its not !
Purely looking at a concept here so bear with me We have all seen large static caravans they are an ideal model to show how cheaply you can build a living space. The restricting factors in building a low cost caravan are the same as building a low cost home:-
Width of rooms – When you are sketching your new home remember that wide rooms need extra materials in the roof and first floor to support them. Extra materials = additional cost.
Size of bathrooms and the amount of bathroom goods that you have in them are also going to raise costs.
Kitchen. It’s common for British people to spend between 15% and 20% of the value of their home (in the UK) on a new kitchen. Its obvious if you can control costs here there are savings to be made.
Large windows and in particular patio doors. Lots of sunlight in a home is fine as long as you don’t have to then use air conditioning to remove the excess heat from your living areas. The cost of large areas of glass and the heat lost through it in the winter make large windows a major expense.
Construction materials dictate how a house is constructed and can also add around 30% of additional cost to the overall cost of a house build.
If you would like to discuss low-cost building in Portugal contact www.casteloconstruction.com
