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About this blog

Our family of (currently) 4 humans, 2 cats and 1 dog and our journey to getting our forever home in West Sussex

Entries in this blog

Decisions, decisions, decisions

Decisions, decisions, decisions

It's been a while since we obtained planning permission and my last blog entry but we've not been idle. it seems that the last 3 months or so have been a constant stream of decisions that need to be made to get this project started. It's also been a period where money seems to be going out but we don't have much to show for it!   The majority of the decisions have stemmed from the architects needing to get the detailed BC drawings finished. here's a nice summary of our decisions so far
Thorfun

Thorfun

4
Now the fun/hard work begins

Now the fun/hard work begins

<drum roll>.....we have our planning application approval! yay!!   I was really expecting a long drawn out process but pretty much a month after we hired our planning consultant we got our approval.    I'm pretty gobsmacked to be honest but we're over the moon. can't believe it all happened so quickly.   I had discussions with the planning consultant about what we were willing to compromise on and what we weren't. we also determined what we could potentially b
Thorfun

Thorfun

6
Planning woes

Planning woes

Why is it so hard to get planning approval? Such a simple thing is mired in bureaucracy, pettiness (at least perceived), personal interpretations of the planning policy (e.g. the definition of disproportionate to the existing building) and, in some cases, pure incompetence!   One such example was from Southern Water who said they couldn't approve the proposal with a sewage treatment plant and we had to apply for connection to an existing sewage system. err....the nearest sewer is about
Thorfun

Thorfun

49
We hired an architect and he drew plans

We hired an architect and he drew plans

Once we'd exchanged on the bungalow we knew that completion would happen and so we didn't waste any time in interviewing and hiring an architect. We got 3 different architects to come round to see us (it was supposed to be 4 but the 4th didn't seem to be interested as after I phoned and left a message with details as to what we wanted I got a voicemail back saying he'd received a message about an extension or something rather than the complete demolition and self-build we're doing! it goes witho
Thorfun

Thorfun

31
The journey so far...

The journey so far...

A long time ago (about 15 years) in a county not so far away I met and married my wife. Soon after we had a couple of kids and started thinking about our future.    When I was a teenager my parents moved us abroad and built their own house and I think that sowed the seed for me as it seems that I've always wanted to build my own house and would sit down and watch Grand Designs back in the day and be drawn to the idea of it all.   So about 10 years ago we decided that we wante
Thorfun

Thorfun

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