Cost to build in Eastern Poland - Ideally per m2

What does 'in one go' mean? There's a Polish saying about putting your enemy in a new house for the first winter, meaning that a new house should not be lived in until it settles, which entails a period of 'wintering', if I may coin a phrase.

We wanted to put windows in our place at the end of the first building season but our builder told us that it would be better to just board up the holes and let the house get really cold over the winter. The following season the rest of the place was built and the third year, this year, we've done the finishing jobs, like final plastering outside. Three building seasons, in other words three years, is not such an unusually long time to spend on building a place here. Remember, it's not like the UK, where most new houses are timber-framed and thrown up in no time at all. Here, they have to be solidly built because of the weather.

Having said that, it is true that the country is littered with half-finished projects.

This is exactly what I mean. That and leaving unfinished breezeblock outer walls etc for years without putting tynk on. It shows a lack of respect for the surroundings.

I don't know what tynk is but I like it already. If it's plaster, don't forget the polystyrene. My place is wrapped in 15cm all round. It's like a thermos flask.

Honestly Teflcat now after so many years of endeavours in builing your own house in Poland and eventually achievement and with your experience, i think you could offer your services as a consultant for Englisih speaking foreigners who want to build a proper house in Poland.


You should consider it because i am sure you would get a lot of clients.

My amazing Polish wife did more than I did, and for a short while she considered taking the course to become a building manager (easier than you might think), but after our wonderful nightmare we don't want anything more to do with house construction. We love our place but... never again! I'm happy to give advice to people who want to do a self-build but once in a lifetime was enough for us.

You said that you sacrificed your holiday for 6 years but never mentionned having gone through" a nightmare."
What were the problems you had to go through ?

My oxymoron was a joke. It wasn't a nightmare really, just countless things to do, a lot of them requiring planning, supervision, paperwork, stamps, signatures, inspections, delays, unreliable workers, etc. etc. It became an obsession and completely took over our lives. I'm glad we did it but I'm also glad we didn't know before we started how much it would take out of us. Anyway, it was worth it, and now we can take it easy.

I would say to people thinking of doing a self-build that the most important aspect is finding a good builder who keeps his guys in line. The only booze on our site was a couple of cold beers now and then in hot weather. You hear all kinds of horror stories about builders drinking - even vodka - on site. We made sure our guys had plenty of bottled water, tea and coffee, and we fed them sometimes. A happy builder is a good builder.

thats sums it up, yeah....what do you call a shark though???

Did you include the cost of all this "extra" running around in the 210,000 PLN that the project cost you?. If you had to put a figure on this, how much do you think it cost?

Having done this project yourself, would you explain to peterweg how "easy" it is to deal with the problems you had.

[quote]Did you include the cost of all this "extra" running around in the 210,000 PLN that the project cost you?. If you had to put a figure on this, how much do you think it cost?[quote]

Of course not! The figure I mentioned represents the major costs. If I were to include all the incidental bits and pieces I had to buy, all the fuel used in running around, money lost through rescheduling or cancelling work to suit tradesmen (who very often didn't honour the appointment) and other costs, I'd have to add many thousands more.


I think he's got the message!

Good question, the cost of this project over 6 years must be at least 20% more but since Teflcat and his wife built from scratch the psychological reward is enormous.

But apparently he does not want to do it again, even as a consultant !

My friend who built her house had the same experience of going back and forth all the time dealing with details: from her work to the house site, from her flat to the house site, adding more money for this and that, changing this and that, meeting plumbers painters electricians etc beeing asked to make decisions which were a headache, the whole thing was horribly time -and energy- consuming.

Each apartment built is classed as an individual project, so, imagine the time and paperwork for 13 apartments. According to peterweg, the value of a property can be worked out by the amount of labour and materials used.

I wish it were that simple.

Avalon. You must be a Brit. An American would never have built 13 apartments! Could any American posters confirm that there is no 13th floor in tall buildings in the U.S.? Or that developers don't number houses 13?

I just wanted to say thanks for the contributions made in this thread. I really enjoyed reading it.

Its funny you should mention that. The flats were number 1A, 1B and then up to 12. It was only when the building was legalised that the council told me that "only houses" can have this suffix. Another little suprise I had to find out at the end of the project.

I wanted to use the top floor (loft). As the building is "L" shaped, this only allowed a choice of 1 apartment @ 120m2 and 1 @ 170m2 (much too big), decided on 2 X 120m2 and 1 X 50m2. It was the best use of the available space and limited, height, access. The actual apartments are much bigger than the sizes stated, as, because of the sloping roofs, anything under 2.2 mtrs is not included in the m2 for sale.

This company is quoting 2.8K / m2 for this 120m house, fixed price interest free loan.

And you still have to buy the land and add the cost of the finishes, so what is your point?

We are discussing the basic cost of building, not the land.

Yes, but the ad clearly states that the house will be in 'development stage' and in order to put the last finish - count on at least 1K per metre. And unfortunately you still have to buy the land, so count another 5K per metre- all in all the house fully built (without furniture etc) will cost you 9K per metre. Now if you think that this is a good deal - so be it.

How did you you come up with this figure ? Heating ,floors??

So you never wrote this?

"Even the figures you quote for hassles don't make a dent on the overall cost (which you haven,'t given). But your 6k/m2 figure is higher than other builders are selling for, including land, and higher than the sales price for all sorts of completed property."

If you look at the OP, you will see he already has a plot of land to build on. What planet are you living on where building land costs 5k per m2 in Eastern Poland?? It doesn't even cost 9k per M2 in central Krakow, never mind country land.

here ,1200m2 land for 34k. works out 170pln per m2 build on a 200m2 building

100m, 55K, = 250pln/m2 for 200m built.

Here's a list. completed houses from 100pln per M2

And probably a few other "little" things that were not mentioned in the ad, landscaping, boundry walls, gates, paths, driveway, connection to sewer. The "little" things that I would expect an IT consultant to forget. Oh!!! and lets not even contemplate that the builder/developer has to make a profit to enable his business to carry on. Perhaps peterweg would enlighten us as to what a fair profit would be for a building which takes many years of planning and construction. Perhaps we should compare it with selling a kilo of apples or a shirt over a shop counter. I've heard that the markup on food/clothing is very good. Thats why the clothes shops can afford to have sales with 70% off and the developers cannot.

First there would be the cost of the land. Then the cost (and time) of getting the building permit. And the time and cost of getting the water and electricity connected.

Then the builder comes in to do his thing. Next you have a shell.

First you'll need to have the internal walls put in (it says 'building shell' and that will mean load-baring walls only). Then you will need to have it wired throughout. And have the heating system installed. And then have the water and sewage pipes put in (oh, did the builder include in his price a septic tank? Or did his price include connection to the sewage system? You did remember to sort that out, didn't you). Then you're ready to have all the walls plastered. And then have the whole house painted (inside and out, assuming that it has been left in a state ready to be painted and already has the insulation on). Then you're ready to have the stairs put in and get the floors installed. Then have the bathroom fixtures fitted and the tiles put in. Then have the kitchen installed. And then have all the electrical fittings done. And you'll probably want to have some sort of hard surface put down for parking a car on, and a fence and a gate too. Then you can finally apply for permission to live in your house.

How terri thingk that all of the above can be done for 120,000zl (she says allow 1,000 per square metre) is quite beyond me: the kitchen alone would probably cost 20,000zl!

As I suspect you know, the poster meant 5,000 an "ara" not m2.

The links you give apply to land in the middle of nowhere and a lot of them are wooden houses. If you delved deeper into these ads you might understand why they are this price. Long narrow strips of land, no/shared access to roads etc. I have spent years looking at land in my area and I can assure you, decent plots are very expensive. Add on the cost of what Poles "imagine" these plots to be worth and you are looking at telephone numbers.

Nope, he made it quite clear he was talking about 5k per m2. Even restated that the total cost per m2 would be 9k.


This is what country land is like. They are narrow strips so that village houses can be classified as farms, you get the land but are 20meters from your neighbours for security/social reasons. The advantage of being a farmer (owning over 1ha) means that you get the income from farming and the state pension, healthcare and no tax returns for a 900pln payment per year. The preferential treatment for farmers is so unfair to normal citizens that the EU has demanded Poland stop it.

I can show you plots of land with direct access to tarmac road and a few hundred meters from the S7 highway between Krakow/Warsaw. My own land is going to have a road built (to the S7) and rezoned to Agro-building. Even then I would only value it 20-30pln/m2 in 8-10,000m2 plots (assuming I can split it). Its current value with a non-metalled road is about 4PLN/m2 as farm land. I guess..

The point is there are lots of cheap land, lots of new, quality roads being built, but its completely different to city land and development and you (assuming you are not Polish) are not even allowed to purchase until 2016 anyway. Of course it is of no interest to you.


Stop the personal insults, I'm at least a qualified engineer, with a degree recognised by the IEEE. Are you a civil engineer? describing yourself as developer would suggest not. Building is an engineering endeavour, hardly rocket science, but it follows the same principles whatever the discipline. The real difference is practical experience, of course, and if the most hassle you have is moving a telegraph pole then I'd say you are lucky.


One or both of us misunderstood the other. The OP asked what the price was for building, excluding land. I'm saying it around 3k (excluding fixtures and fitting such as kitchen, bathroom) but including a septic tank/power.

I think I'll contact towncountry.pl and get exact specification of what is included.

OK, so it is 3k (according to you) but that's without the little extras that add at least another 50%.


Er, it isn't quite as simple as that, as a fair few people are starting to find out to their cost.

What do you mean 'starting', the family and friends have been doing this all their lives, whats changed?

Well, if they are friends or family of yours, they're unlikely to have discovered the ceiling amount.

We agree to disagree. My company is Polish, I can buy what I want.

I never accused you of bullshiiing!!!, neither do I pretend to know anything about IT consultancy. I comment on what I know and my experiences here in Poland. If you have bought land and built here then I am happy to listen to your expertise.