Private house construction in Batumi: from plot to keys

We carry out private house construction in Batumi on your plot and to your brief, from the first site visit to the handover of the keys. For you as the client, that means a year to eighteen months of decisions: which rooms the family needs, how much money goes into each stage, what to hand over to us in full and what to keep for yourself. Permits by class of structure, seismic design and the climate are covered on the page about construction in Batumi; this page deals only with what is specific to a private house.

The first conversation: what we need from you

Three things are enough for a preliminary estimate: the cadastral code or the registry extract for the plot, a few photos taken from different sides, and a short description of the house. What matters most to us in the description is how you will live there: how many people live in the house all year, who comes in summer, whether your parents need a bedroom on the ground floor, whether you will stay in the house over the winter. Based on these answers, within 24 hours on business days we send an estimate broken down by the main items and a list of the questions we need answered to price it more precisely.

The second thing worth telling us straight away is the upper limit of your budget. The same house can be finished to economy level or to premium, and the gap between the two is bigger than the cost of the whole shell. Once we know the figure, the design is shaped around it from the first concept sketch. We adjust the floor area, the roof shape and the glazing, but we don't cut corners on concealed work.

Decisions that can't be put off

A private house takes a long time to build, and it is tempting to leave some decisions for later. Some really can wait, but each one has its own deadline, and after that you pay for it with rework. We send this list, with dates, together with the construction schedule.

The costliest decision to put off is the heating. A heat pump, a gas boiler and air conditioners each need a different supply capacity, a different plant room and different pipework. Once the shell is up, it is too late to change this.

What to order from us in full and what in parts

Most clients hand a private house over to us in full: the design, the permit, the build and the finishing under one contract. What this option includes item by item, from the foundations to the taps, is set out on the page about a turnkey house on a single estimate. But the work can also be split up, and with private clients three combinations come up most often:

• the design and permit now, and the build later, once the budget is in place or it is time to move;
• we build the house to a weathertight shell and put in the services, and your own tradesman or designer takes care of the finishing;
• we do the build and the finishing, and you order the kitchen, furniture and appliances from your own suppliers.

In the first case we make the design complete from the outset, with the structural and building services sections, so that it can be priced and taken to site when the time comes. In the second and third, before signing the contract we write down where our part ends: for example, white frame with water outlets and sockets positioned to your furniture maker's sketch. We hand it over with a signed certificate, a diagram of the outlets and the screed levels, so the next contractor knows what they are starting from. Which other packages are ordered separately, and how work by another contractor is accepted, is covered in the section on construction stages and types of work.

Private house layout: what can't be changed later

You can change the interior in ten years' time, but not the way the house sits on the plot, the storey heights or the entrances. So at the concept stage we check a few things that owners usually think of too late.

• We turn the entrance and parking towards the road. If the car parks by the gate and the front door is on the far side, on rainy days you will be crossing a wet plot every time.
• A sea view today doesn't mean a sea view in five years. If there is an empty plot further down the slope, we check the rules for its zone to see what house could be built there, and raise the living room so that someone else's roof doesn't hide the sea.
• We set the storey height with room to spare for a screed with underfloor heating and a suspended ceiling with ducts; otherwise, after finishing, the rooms end up lower than on the drawing.
• We keep bedroom windows away from the street and from where the outdoor units of the air conditioners or heat pump will go: at night their hum can be heard through the glass.

It makes sense to run the interior design alongside the detailed design. When the designer comes in before the shell is built, the sockets, lighting and plumbing are placed to suit the furniture rather than the other way round. There is more on this on the page about house interior design. If you are still choosing between building and buying, it helps to compare the two routes on timing and hidden risks in our analysis of whether to build or buy a ready-made house.

Where a private house build loses time

In our experience, schedules slip more often because of gaps between jobs than because of the concrete and masonry themselves. A two-storey private house of 150 m² usually takes 12–18 months from concept to keys, of which the build itself takes 8–12. Four things push this timeline back most often:

• comments on the design when it is submitted for the permit, which send the package back for another round;
• ordering the windows late: they are made to measure, and while they are in production the house is open to the rain;
• choosing finishes at the last minute, when the tiles are needed tomorrow but are still on their way from Tbilisi;
• layout changes after the shell is built, which bring recalculation and new approvals.

If you are following the build from another country, add to this list a signature or a decision that is waiting on you. That is why we arrange the power of attorney in advance, before the permit application. How the reports and acceptance by video work is explained on the page about building without being on site.

How much private house construction costs in Batumi

A turnkey private house at mid-range level costs from 1,680 ₾ per m² of total floor area. The price covers the foundations, walls, floor slabs, roof, windows, building services, facade and finishing. The plot, the design and the utility connections are priced separately. A complete design package covering all disciplines costs from 100 ₾ per m², and preparing the documents and obtaining the permit costs from 2,280 to 3,600 ₾.

If you build in parts, the first large sum goes on the masonry shell at the black frame stage, from 690 ₾ per m². This is a convenient point to pause if you plan to do the finishing later: once the windows and front door are in, the house is closed to the rain, and the next stage can be ordered when the budget is ready. Prices for the other finishing levels and the full budget for a house on a slope are collected in the price table on this page.

The price goes up with a slope, a complex shape with cantilevers and several roof slopes, large areas of glazing and a plot that machinery can't reach. It comes down with a simple volume, a gable roof, a compact plan with short service runs and decisions made before materials are ordered. The final cost is set on the basis of the design, after a visit to the plot and once the estimate is agreed. In the contract the price is split into stages and doesn't go up unless the scope changes.