When we think about building a house (or any other large investment), two questions quickly come to mind: how much does it cost to build it? and how long does it take to build it?

If you have come this far, it is because you are surely considering making yourself a house. Perhaps you are deciding between buying an already built home (new or second hand) or building your own house from scratch. In relation to that question, we may be able to help you with this other article:

In this article we will analyze all the phases you will go through and we will tell you how long it takes to build a house.

How long does it take to build a house?

In the world of construction there are usually no easy answers. And if we talk about such an open question as how long it takes to build a house, much less. 

There may be people who give you a quick answer and tell you... a year! Two years!... but will he be right? Hardly, the truth is that it is not that simple.

Each case involves a series of different factors, each person is different and many will be involved in your project. From your builder to yourself, going through your architect, your surveyor, the technician of your town hall, the man from the bank that manages your mortgage, the one who lays the bricks, etc.

The construction of your house is not only the work, but there are many other phases that, although they are not so important, you should also take into account. If you want to know in detail EVERYTHING that will influence the construction deadlines for your house, keep reading, in this article we will analyze them for you.

Phases to build a house

In general, the construction itself (the work) of a house is what consumes the most time in the entire process. We could say that it takes around 70-80% of the time needed to build a house, but we would be very wrong if we thought that it is the only thing we are going to have to worry about.

We, from our experience, are going to tell you everything that must be taken into account if we talk about deadlines when building your house. In summary, we can say that the phases and deadlines you will have to go through are the following:

• Obtain the necessary savings / Apply for a mortgage.

• Acquire the land.

• Search and find an architect.

• Prepare the architectural project.

• Get the building license.

• Find and hire a construction company.

• Build the house.

• Request the first occupation license, request the registration of supplies and other procedures.

• Now we will analyze each influencing factor one by one and thus, we hope to answer the question of how long it takes to build a house.

Obtain the necessary savings and/or apply for a mortgage to build your house (1 month)

We mention this first phase because, although it does not directly belong to the field of building your house, it is extremely important to define the deadlines. We will not go into details, since it is difficult to quantify the time it can take to negotiate a mortgage with the bank to build a home.

We will say, in order to offer a total estimate in this article, that in this phase we can use a time of approximately one month. Of course, this term could (and should) overlap with others that we will see below.

Acquire the land to build (1-3 months)

Each case is different, and finding available land in an area that meets your needs, as well as getting a good price for it, depends on a multitude of variables, which can make the search last over time. Also, if you do not have experience in this field, we recommend that you do not undertake it alone. Ask your real estate agent for help to carry out the search and all the procedures, and your architect (next phase) to choose the land that suits your needs.

As we have already mentioned in other articles on the subject, the acquisition of land to build your house is an item that can easily account for around 30%, or more, of the total investment, so we recommend that you do not take it lightly.

It is important to know how to choose the plot well, taking into account a series of factors that we do not always have in mind, since each plot has its advantages and disadvantages. In the same way, each piece of land presents urban conditions well defined by the public administration, and not all of them will be able to build what you want.

Before buying a piece of land, it is necessary to make sure that it suits you and what you want to build. Maybe this other article will help you:

Search and find your architect (1-2 months)

The architect is the person who will accompany you throughout the construction process of your home. Think of him/her as your right hand, since he/she will spend a lot of time with you (that's how it should be!), accompany you and help you manage all phases of the project.

Let's say that you will have to make two important and very influential decisions in the whole process, which will be the choice of the architect and the choice of the builder. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the time it will take you to choose them to know how long it takes to build your house.

We are not going to dwell on the details of these choices here, but we can state that, unless you already know one, it is easy for you to need around a month to choose an architect. And remember, even if you already know someone, you lose nothing by comparing!

Prepare the architecture project (3 months)

Once you have your architect, you can start the architecture project. This, in turn, is made up of several consecutive phases, which will begin with the so-called preliminary project, in which you and your architect will define your home in broad strokes. 

The time it takes to write the complete architecture project is difficult to measure, since it depends on several factors, mainly the (in)decision you have. All the changes that are introduced during the process, the decision making, normally tend to delay the drafting of the project.

This phase can last from several weeks to many months (in the worst cases more than a year), although it is normal that it lasts no more than 3 or 4 months.

And why so much? If you feel like it, in the following link you can see how we work, and so you can get an idea of ​​how an architect will help you in the construction of your house.

Negotiate the mortgage to build your house

We mention this point again here, so influential in knowing how long it takes to build your house. You will wonder why we remember it again, and the answer is simple. Once you have your architecture project, you will know in detail how much it will cost to build your house. 

This is very important, and for this reason we like all our clients to always be clear about it, so we write it now in bold: all the budgets you receive before having your project are only ESTIMATED. It doesn't matter who does it for you, be it a builder, an architect, a surveyor, a friend of yours... the function of the architecture project is precisely to define IN DETAIL all the construction items of your house, so until it is finished , it is impossible to know how many m3 of concrete or how many tiles you will need. Therefore, no previous budget will be adapted to reality.

As a counterpart, a good project also has another function, which is the opposite: to adjust the construction of your home to the budget that you have assigned for it.

Why are we telling you this? Basically because once you have the project of your house, it is the perfect moment to negotiate your mortgage, in case you are going to need it.

Obtain the construction license (1 or 2 months)

This may be the phase over which you will have the least control, since once you apply for the construction license (with your architecture project), everything depends on your town hall. 

Depending on how big it is and how many staff you have, it can take several months. Keep in mind that it will take at least one month to grant you the license, although it normally does not take more than two months.

Remember to consult the legal deadlines that your town hall has, since if the process takes a long time, you can pressure the urban planning technicians to review and approve the project.

Search and hire a construction company (1 month)

Well, we come to another very important point. Speaking of the time it takes to build your house, perhaps this phase is the one that will influence the entire process the most. As we said at the beginning, the "build" part is going to take about 70-80% of the time, so as you can imagine, the choice of the builder that is going to carry it out is one of the most important decisions.

Once you have your home project, it's time to find and hire a builder, not before. Because? Simple, because it is now when you will know EXACTLY how many bricks you are going to need, how many windows (and what dimensions and quality) you are going to include, what type of foundation and structure you will need, not before. And if I already have it before? Remember then what we said. Any budget that they made you before does not correspond to reality, so as advice, ask that they review and update it, according to the architecture project (in which measurements of everything are included). 

Build your house (between 10 and 14 months)

Here we have reached the most anticipated point, and yet, it is where we will be briefest, because the answer is: it depends.

Depends on what? Directly from three factors, the size of your house, the construction complexity and the builder. It is not the same to build a house of 150 m2 above ground level with traditional systems than another of 400 m2 with several basements and in an inaccessible area. 

Finally, it is possible that the builder you hire is free at that moment or that he is carrying 12 other homes at the same time. Therefore, make sure they give you a certain deadline.

But since we assume that you want a better answer than "it depends", we can tell you that for a house of a normal size (around 150-200 m2), it will take approximately 10-12 months.