Building your own house – easy enough?

I’m thinking about building my own house at some stage in the next 12 months. Need to find a location but also would appreciate any how-to advice from those that have done it.

I’ve no idea of what is involved but think the following –

Find land
Design house
Get planning permission
Find builder
Build house
Plumb and wire house
Kit out house

No idea of costs but thinking 3 bed bungalow and some low cost solutions (still to be thought of), maybe solar panels as well. Design with a garage into a utility room.

Where do I start to find indicative costs for this? I’m thinking 70k for land, 20k for house, 15k build, 25k pto wire, plumb and kit out house…with a top figure of about 150k…how pie in the sky is that?

Ta.

I looked into this. There are some good resources on the net. I took away the facts that the land was v.exp for anything worth the effort, spending money on a good architect that would also be on site was worth it (but but it’s tricky to find the right ‘sized’ architect company for a few reasons further research will explain) and financing wasn’t that hard (if you’re mortgaging)- higher deposit but some good schemes; I think most release the money in 4 stages.

I came to conclusion that without any knowledge/contacts in any of the required industries, it was a bit risky for me to keep on budget!

Prefab house? How hard can that be?

Getting a piece of land should not be difficult too if you got the £££.

I would definitely self build if I can afford to.

🙂

If you’re in the neighbourhood this[/url] place is worth a visit.

Self build is the way to go in the long run because most of what are available now are designed by bureaucrats …

You forgot ‘services’ to your plot, and location is key and ultimately the decider of land price.

I think £100k is enough to build a quality house. Yes, the land will cost you another £££ K.

150k is possible, but unlikely.
Land price is the killer. Any land big enough for a 3 bed bungalow is also big enough for a 4/5 house, so you’d be competing with a builder for the land, and he is likely to pay 10k over whatever you pay, as there is far more profit in a 5 bed house.
If you can get the land for 70k (many areas it is still possible) then you have a good chance of completing for less then 150k, but it will be tight.

If your learning curve is to be steep, is 12 months not a little optimistic? A good trawl of self build websites, shows, centre alternative technology etc will take an age, then location, again location & again location, then getting an architect in and getting planning. Good thing is, I believe you can claim you vat back on a self build.

Dick the builder I have used (for extensions) is from Clackmannan and has done a few full builds if you are serious I can give you his number. Does what he says for the price and within timescale but you will probably have to wait for him. email me if you want his details.

How’s it funded during the build? I think there are self build mortgages that release funds at main stages, but you may need to fund some up front.
Get trade discount at the local builders supply if you’re doing the build yourself.

This sounds like it’s going to make a great Grand Designs. I’ll give Kev a ring.

Budget around £1,000/m2 for a moderate spec build managing subs yourself and making all major purchases such as kit and kitchen yourself.
Unfortunately the latest incarnation of the Scottish Technical Standards have done nothing to reign in costs due to the need for higher spec insulations and air tight houses!
Something to bear in mind is that a lot of kit manufacturers will do your planning and building warrant drawings free if you sign up to purchase the finished kit from them.

If you’re serious buy this book as a starting point – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Housebuilders-Bible-10-Mark-Brinkley/dp/190595946X
It’ll give you some really useful pointers – although you may end up a bit disappointed with your current costing estimates…

I’m thinking about building my own house at some stage in the next 12 months

If you haven’t got the land yet I’d be quite impressed if you were even on site within 12 months.

I’ve done it with a very talented builder friend.

One of the best things I’ve ever done. I live in a house I designed that works pretty much perfectly for the way we use space. I learnt a lot. And continue to learn more and stay interested in building stuff 4 yrs later.

Top tip, got to the self build centre in Swindon

Beware of land bank scams – never ever consider buying a plot without planning permission. So adjust your list in your OP with that in mind.

Beware also of builders – builders have been known to disappear/go bankrupt/piss people off, often after front loading the job, ie, all the profit is loaded on the early stages of the build so there is little money left for the later stages – quite a problem if you intend to get another builder to finish off.

imho

I thought prefab should take away plenty of the headache? Yes?

😯

Yes it saves a lot of problems chewkw, you just need to decide where to put it.

And then simply plug it in.

It will take longer than you think.
It will cost more than you think.
It will be harder than you think.
You will build bigger than you need.
It will be worth it in the end.
That’s my summary five years on.

I like square box like this … 😀

Conversely felltop, we:
Were under budget by about 5%
We wwere ahead of schedule completing in 11 months having allowed 12
It was surprisingly incident free and relatively easy, losing only half a day to bad weather delaying a materials delivery.
It is bigger than we need, but we won’t move for 20 yrs
It was definitely worth it and I’d love to do another – smaller and different. But not till the kids have gone.

Stoner did you go prefab? 🙂

ernie_lynch – Member

Yes it saves a lot of problems chewkw, you just need to decide where to put it.

I think you have mistaken me for a red neck but never mind if that is free I will sit outside with my rocking chair and Benelli M4 with me while smoking my pipe.

Never use any pals or contacts in the process. Architects/builders/trades If it goes wrong you have to take them to court.

we knocked two houses into one and I learnt a lot the hard way about managing the different tradespeople – still I’d go for it

I picked up a cheap subscription to this magazine and its well worth reading for getting a feel for the issues and seeing how some people manage a lot on a budget – sadly give you some idea of the insane prices land sells for

http://www.homebuilding.co.uk/

It’s much more common here in Oz as a way to get what you want. However what you want will cost more than whats on offer in prefab/kit/builder with a set of plans.

If your going to do it make sure it’s the home you want not just a house.

The inlaws are architects which may make me bias but they can be worth their weight in gold in terms of maximising space, light and living comfort. Also getting them to project manage it as a build makes sense. Advise from a few friends who have self built was if you can’t be on site everyday pay somebody to be. Saves on the phone calls that ask a very specific question like are you sure the plugs need to be at this height? Only to come home and find they have cut a hole in something rather than lift the plug 20mm.

But in true grand designs style make sure you set an unrealistic budget, mad timescale and then discover you’re actually building on a swamp 😉

We’ve built our own, been in 3 years now, it took 9 months to complete and came in £27k under our £250k budget.
Very lucky to have had no problems only snow on ground at start of build. The secret is good planning , organisation and a project manager with Lady Luck smiling on you.
As someone mentioned above the price of land is the killer, ours was valued at £300k for a 1/5 acre plot.
The house is 4bed/ 4 bathroom detached and app 3500 sq/ft.

Do not find land, then seek planning permission, you may end up with an expensive paddock. I’m currently in the throes of building another 8. In reality it’s actually turning a school into 4, the school house back into one and three new detached. Wanting to make one of the detached into a pair of semis it’s causing grief already!
Beware.

We’ve built our own, been in 3 years now, it took 9 months to complete and came in £27k under our £250k budget.
Very lucky to have had no problems only snow on ground at start of build. The secret is good planning , organisation and a project manager with Lady Luck smiling on you.
As someone mentioned above the price of land is the killer, ours was valued at £300k for a 1/5 acre plot.
The house is 4bed/ 4 bathroom detached and app 3500 sq/ft.

As I said early, land pricing where you want to do it will (probably) be the most expensive item, but where we live you could easily buy an already built 4 bed detached for less than mtbmaff’s 1/5 acre land price – and for the £525k they spent in total, a mansion on a few acres.

I live in a converted cowshed I did myself. When I say I did myself I mean I had a man in to lay a carpet in the bedroom. Other than that I did everything, building (block and natural stone), plumbing, plastering, electrics, roofing, and I made all doors, windows and furniture from scratch using my own wood from the farm. Apart from normal hand tools I invested in a cement mixer, a circular table saw and a planer thicknesser. I also bought a pile of used scaffolding for £200. However, I lived in a building site for 5 years and it took another 5 years to finally finish, so 10+ years to complete.

If I can do it, then anyone can. I had to learn everything from scratch as I went along.

BTW I have a very understanding partner

Hi, yes, very serious about it but I’m not expecting it built and done in 12 months…just started. I need to get extracted from current mortgage to fund anything so for now it is a research and fact finding process. Thanks for suggestions so far…I’m taking it that my plan is loosely ok but need planning permission first and may be another 20k of budget.
Falkirk-mark, will email soon, ta.

As AD advised, the house builder bible, or get home building and renovating magazine, this has a £psm guide for various parts of the country, and loads of useful info.

I have built over 10 in my time, and now usually have some build or renovation project on the go at all times, although I now just sell them on, or rent out, however, there are still things that catch you out, so do as much research as possible before, such as ground conditions, and pipes or cables on the land, and specialist finishes, such as slate or stone that planners may insist on.

It’s a great, rewarding thing to build your own home, so long as it’s done right, and rolling your sleeves up and getting stuck in, even more rewarding in the end. Good luck