Concrete modular homes: what they really cost

It is the only one on this page with a public price per square metre and per region: you know what it will cost you before talking to anyone, but only if you build in Madrid, Catalonia or Andalusia.

Its published price is for the “construction only” option in Madrid, without VAT, and it already covers earthworks, foundations and transport. It leaves out the design, site supervision, building licences and ground surveys. Its more expensive “all inclusive” option adds the design, the licences and the technical fees, and the notary and land registry are extra too. In Catalonia and Andalusia the price per square metre goes up. If you compare it with a turnkey home that does include the design, add those items first. The concrete walls are made in a workshop and the roof is flat; Barcelona is the name of the model.

It is not a house you can order as it is: it is the design Puzzle drew for a plot in Tomiño (Pontevedra), and its website has still marked it “at project stage” since 2021.

What it shows is how the company works: it designs the house for your plot and delivers it turnkey at a fixed price, with the design, the licence and the declaration of new construction included. The price is fixed when the design is drawn up; before that there is only an indicative one. Two warnings before you call: its offices are in Tui and Vigo and all its published projects are in Pontevedra, and its projects after 2022 are light steel, not concrete. Ask whether it still works with this system.

Of the houses on this page with a published price, it is the one that puts the most into it: the design, the permits, site supervision, the health and safety study, earthworks and foundations, as well as the finished house.

With all that included, its price per square metre is below the median of 2,025 €/m² for concrete homes sold finished (40 homes from 7 manufacturers), even though it is small, where the kitchen and bathrooms weigh more on each square metre. The price is for its highest finish (T6); the lower finish levels exist, but with no published price. The modules are made in a plant, on a steel structure, and arrive finished. It works in Madrid and the surrounding provinces, such as Guadalajara and Toledo.

It is the only one on this page with a timber structure: a timber and steel frame wrapped in insulation, and the concrete is the mortar that finishes the façade.

It comes out cheap per square metre for a turnkey home: 29 % below the median of 2,025 €/m² for concrete homes sold finished (40 homes from 7 manufacturers). What you pay for is a framed house that looks like concrete, not concrete walls: it suits you if the look is enough and you want a well-insulated house, and not if you are after the mass of the material. VME builds it on your plot in stages and with no payments in advance, and works all over Spain from Sueca (Valencia): Cantabria is the name of the model.

It is the smallest in Hormipresa's range and the one that needs the least land: its ground floor takes up about 10.6 × 9 m, and the bedrooms are spread over two storeys.

Hormipresa makes the reinforced concrete elements at its plants in Tarragona and Puertollano and assembles them on foundations on your plot. It is bought in a particular way: the quote is fixed in a preliminary design that already includes the topographic and geotechnical surveys, and the company handles the licences with its own team. There is no price for the model: it only publishes an indicative starting price for its projects in general, which is not the price of this house. It works in the Barcelona, Madrid and Valencia areas and on the Costa del Sol.

Hormitech designs it as a first home for young families, with a white concrete façade that, according to the company, needs no maintenance.

It is built on the plot with reinforced concrete panels that have the insulation inside, a solid wall that holds on to warmth and coolness. Its energy saving relies on design rather than equipment: orientation and natural cross-ventilation do not have to be bought or maintained. It has no price of its own: the builder only gives a starting price for any of its turnkey projects. It works from Madrid and Málaga.

Its concrete and steel modules leave the factory in Valencia about 95 % finished, according to inHAUS, and are assembled on the plot in a single day.

It is on two floors, with porches. Its system, EMOHA, is the company's own and, according to the company, it shortens the timescale considerably compared with conventional building, because all that is left on the plot is assembly. inHAUS delivers it turnkey with interior design and landscaping included, but it only shows the price if you register on its website. If you compare it with another concrete home, ask for the price broken down by item.

It is the only one on this page you can see before buying: Teide has a show home you can visit, and there are three TM1s built in Tenerife and La Palma.

Its price is a Canary Islands one, with IGIC rather than VAT, so it is not compared with the mainland median for concrete homes; what you can see is what it includes: it arrives with the kitchen and bathroom fitted, thermal-break window frames, solar or heat-pump hot water and an A energy rating. If you do not need that finish, the same house is sold as structure and façade as the TM1 Magma (in Spanish). It manufactures and delivers only in the Canary Islands, where IGIC is charged, and it does not say whether its price includes it.

It is the only one on this page that fits four bedrooms and three bathrooms on a single floor, with no stairs.

Viprehome presents it as a modular concrete house, with modules the company makes itself, and it suits anyone who needs plenty of bedrooms at ground level: a large family or one with older people at home. It is one of the smallest in its VHome range, which goes up to much bigger houses, and like all of them it is bought by asking for a quote.

Its H-shaped plan separates day and night into two parallel wings, joined by an entrance with a courtyard, and the large windows in both wings seek light and cross-ventilation in every room.

ALC sells it as a concrete house, but its load-bearing walls are Termoarcilla clay block (a ceramic block): the concrete is in the slab, the ring beam and the floor structure, and everything is built on your plot. That said, it sells it at a fixed “all inclusive” price, from the geotechnical survey, the design and the professional approval to the foundations, the kitchen, the sanitary ware and utility connections up to 5 m. You have to ask for the figure. It builds from Vila-real and works mainly in Castellón, Valencia, Alicante, Tarragona and Teruel.