Groundworks and foundations
Site prep, excavation, footings and ground floor slab.
New build cost estimates for UK builders
Pricing a new build?
Don't guess it by the square metre.
Send us the drawings. We cost it from foundations to finishes. You set the margin.
A whole house is weeks of take-offs. Our estimators price every stage, trade by trade, with labour, materials, plant and subbies. You get the full breakdown and a client-ready Quote Pack in 3 to 5 working days.
New build estimates £255 + VAT. Your estimator will be in touch within 24 hours.
5-Star Service
on Google reviews
3 to 5 days
to your finished estimate
Estimate by stage
4-bed detached
- 01Groundworks and foundations
- 02Superstructure
- 03Roof
- 04Windows and doors
- 05First fix
- 06Plastering
- 07Second fix and finishes
- 08Externals
Estimate in 3 to 5 working days. Estimator in touch within 24 hours.
5-Star Service
on Google reviews
£255 + VAT
fixed price for a new build estimate
£10k to £1m+
residential jobs priced
UK wide
priced remotely from your drawings
A whole house is a lot of numbers to get wrong.
Groundworks, structure, roof, services, finishes, externals. Every stage has its own take-off, and the client wants a price by Friday. Miss a line on a job this size and it isn't your margin that goes. It's the whole profit.
Stop working for free. Let us do the costing, so you can get your evenings back.
- Weeks of evenings measuring a full set of drawings
- A rough £ per m² that could be out by tens of thousands
- Too high and you lose the job. Too low and you build it for nothing
- One missed stage and a year's work turns into a loss
Cost to build a house in the UK
Why a cost per m² won't do for a quote
Ask the internet what it costs to build a house in the UK and you'll get anything from £1,400 to £3,000 per m², depending on which guide you read. That's fine for a rough budget. It's no good for a price you have to put your name to.
The real number comes from the drawings and the spec: the ground, the foundations, how it's built, the roof, the heating and the finishes. That's what we measure and price.
Range from published UK cost guides, including Checkatrade (June 2026) and Build It (2026).
Same 120 m² three-bed house
At £1,400 per m²
£168,000
At £3,000 per m²
£360,000
The gap between the two
£192,000
A measured estimate prices this house, not an average one. You see the cost of every stage before you quote.
What we price
Foundations to finishes, stage by stage
Every stage is broken down into labour, materials, plant and subbies, with a material take-off for the lot. Those stages become your budgets when the job goes live.
Superstructure
External and internal walls, upper floors and stairs.
Roof
Structure, coverings, insulation, fascias and rainwater goods.
Windows and doors
External openings, so you're watertight and secure.
First fix
Carpentry, plumbing, heating and electrics before plastering.
Plastering
Boarding, skimming and screeds.
Second fix and finishes
Kitchen, bathrooms, joinery, flooring and decorating.
Externals
Drainage, driveway, paths and landscaping, as drawn.
Who it's for
One plot or a small site
Builders pricing a one-off house
Your client has planning and wants a price. Send the drawings and quote it with a Quote Pack that looks the part.
Small developers
Know what the build will cost before you commit to the site, and track every plot against its budget once you start.
Pricing an extension instead?
Extensions and renovations have their own estimate, from £180 + VAT.
House extension estimatesHow it works
From drawings to a price you can stand behind
01
Send us the drawings
Upload the plans, elevations and any spec you have, and pick the new build estimate. It takes under 2 minutes.
02
Talk it through
Within 24 hours, your estimator gets in touch, usually by phone, to go through the build and anything the drawings don't show.
03
Get your estimate
In 3 to 5 working days: every stage priced from measured quantities at current UK supplier rates.
04
Set your margin and send
Adjust margin, overheads and contingency, then send your client the Quote Pack with a stage-by-stage payment schedule.
You stay in control
We give you the costs. You set the price.
On a build this size, one percent is thousands of pounds. Move the sliders for margin, overheads and contingency and watch the client price change before anything goes out. Start from Competitive, Suggested or Premium, then fine-tune it.
- Set your margin trade by trade, not one blanket percentage
- Contingency and profit shown separately, so you know what's what
- Your profit shown before you've dug a footing
- Save revisions as the spec changes, with the full history kept
Win it, and every stage becomes a budget in the project. Then track labour against each one with Timesheets.
Example figures
CompetitiveSuggestedPremium
Profit margin15%
Business overheads8%
Contingency5%
- Build cost
- £240,000
- Overheads and contingency
- £31,200
- Profit
- £36,000
- VAT zero-rated
- £0
Client price
£307,200
Your profit £36,000
What you get
What's in your new build estimate
- One-to-one support with your estimator
- Every stage priced, from groundworks to externals
- Labour, materials, plant and subcontractor costs by trade
- A material take-off with exact quantities for the whole house
- Profit, overheads and contingency you can adjust line by line
- Up to two rounds of reasonable revisions
- A client-ready Quote Pack, free with every estimate
A Quote Pack for a six-figure job
A new build client is spending more than they've ever spent. Give them a professional pack with your branding, a stage-by-stage payment schedule and a clear breakdown, not a total on the back of an email.
Using Project Management? Your client can accept the quote online and ask for changes as tracked variations.
Pricing
One fixed price for the whole house
Pay when you send the job. Your estimator checks the drawings and confirms it's the right estimate. If it needs a different one, we'll credit the difference or send you a link to pay the top-up.
Bespoke and New Builds
£255+ VAT
New build houses, multi-part jobs like an extension plus a loft conversion, and specialist work. Bigger specialist jobs priced on request.
- Estimator in touch within 24 hours
- Every stage priced
- Material take-off
- Free Quote Pack
- Two rounds of revisions
Extensions and Renovations
Extensions, renovations and loft conversions
£180 + VAT
Single Works
Kitchens, bathrooms, garden rooms and more
£90 + VAT
The TruTrade Estimate Guarantee
If we've missed something that's clearly in your plans or written scope, we'll put it right.
Every estimate includes up to two rounds of reasonable revisions. It's based on the drawings and written scope you send us, so anything agreed on the phone needs confirming in writing. Let us know within 7 days of delivery.
Won the job?
Won the build? Run it from your phone.
A new build runs for months. Turn your estimate into a live project in one click, with a budget for every stage already set up, and keep the whole build on track in Project Management.
Budgets and job P&L
Every stage of the estimate becomes a budget. See what the build is making while it's still running.
Find out more →Timesheets
Your team clock in to the stage they're on, so you see labour against what you priced.
Find out more →Client Portal
Your client follows the build, sees the payment schedule and asks for changes as tracked variations.
Find out more →Tracking
See who's clocked in on site and when they started, without ringing round.
Find out more →1 month free, then £4.99 + VAT per seat per month. You don't need it to buy an estimate.
What builders say about our estimates
“The quote pack alone wins me work. Clients think I've got a QS on the payroll, and the margin sliders mean the number that goes out is the number I meant.”
Matthew Renshaw
Builder, Warwickshire
“I used to price on the hop and hope for the best. Now I set my margin before the client's even called back.”
Dommo
Self-employed builder
Questions builders ask about new build estimates
Published UK cost guides put it anywhere from about £1,400 to £3,000 per m². So the same 120 m² house could be £168,000 or £360,000. The ground, foundations, how it's built, the spec and the finishes make the difference. For a price you can quote from, the house needs measuring and pricing from its own drawings.
Price the whole build properly. Before you put your name to it.
Send us your drawings today. Your estimator will be in touch within 24 hours, and your estimate follows in 3 to 5 working days. £255 + VAT.
Rather talk it through? Call 01926 352236, Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm.