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In the beginning.....

Square Feet

Entry posted by Square Feet in General

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Hey everyone.  I've been a forum member for a number of years as a renovator of properties in Scotland.  I joined with the goal of one day building my own house but as happens to many, this has been postponed and pushed back many times.  In the interim I have really enjoyed reading your blogs and posts and I have learned an enormous amount about self-building.  I am now at the point where my ducks are sufficiently in a row to embark upon my own self-build, which is scary but very exciting. I've found a plot I want to buy, which has brought things into sharper focus. As ever, I have a million questions and decisions to make to ensure I get this right.

 

I'm aware that some of this could be questions in various different forums ie design, planning etc but I thought it would be easier to start this blog from the very beginning in case it helps others by keeping everything in one place.  So here we go.....

 

The house I want to build

 

The house I want to build is c.150sqm, two storey, passivhaus standard with enough eco features so that it is as off-grid as is practicable.

 

I currently live in a top-floor flat that has been extended into the attic - a 'double upper'.  It feels like a house when inside, but lacks the amenities such as driveway parking for my EV, private garden etc that a house would bring. It's also in a town and I want to live in the countryside. My flat is 150sqm in size and is costly to run.  It feels like a good size, albeit with a rubbish layout.  So I'd like my new house to be similar in size but with a better layout and good insulation, eco heating etc.  Downstairs would be the usual - kitchen, dining, living rooms plus a small office/spare bedroom with downstairs shower room for guests or future proofing. Upstairs would be two/three bedrooms and the main bathroom. 

 

I'd like a separate garage/workshop.  This would perform a lot of different functions and hopefully keep a lot of the mess of my work and hobbies out of the house as this is a problem currently in the flat.

 

The plan

 

The 'back of an envelope' plan is to buy the plot, move onto it in a touring caravan and first build the garage/workshop.  This would be fitted with solar panels and a battery, inverter etc to generate electricity for the build and to charge my electric van.  It would also house a small basic kitchen, lunch room, toilet and shower room which would operate as the welfare facilities for the build, plus a small site office for delivery notes, plans on the wall, etc.  If allowed I would sleep in an attic floor above this, but if not then I would continue sleeping in the caravan.  If needs be I would remove the welfare facilities after the build in order to not create a habitable building out of the garage.  I would then build the house while living on site, with the main goal to get it wind and water-tight as quickly as possible.  If funds have run out by that stage then I will have to earn some more to finish the inside but it's absolutely imperative that I can get a sealed house before that happens.

 

The house

 

The house will be around 120-150sqm, 3/4 bedroom, near-passive house. It will be stick-built on site. I would like it to be 150sqm but might only be able to afford to build a 120sqm house.  I would like a two storey house, but planning might only allow a 1.5 storey to fit the local vernacular. I like wooden finishes but I have heard what has been said in here re timber cladding and insurance etc so I am aware that some of it will need probably need to be render externally. 

 

The plot

 

I am going to be deliberately coy about the plot at this stage as I haven't yet signed on the dotted line for it and don't want someone stealing it out from under me.  Plots don't come on the market very often so I have been shopping for one for years. These were my criteria:

 

  • In a specific Scottish rural area which I love and know well (I work there and have lived there in the past).
  • South facing for passive solar gain and solar generation, also a sunny garden.
  • Rural outlook
  • Space for a separate workshop/garage building
  • Space to park my EV and charge it at home
  • I also had the idea that I wanted to find a plot with planning consent for more than one house so that I could build a second one to sell on to help pay for the house I keep and live in.  This may change however as I know there's complications with this!

 

I have now found a plot that ticks all these boxes. It has planning for two 4 bed detached houses with a separate detached garage building shared between them. The planning lapsed over 10 years ago. It is south-facing, in the area I want to be and has an outlook to die for. 

I can afford it now if I just buy one plot (the sellers are willing to split) or I can buy both plots together if I sell my flat quickly or get creative with finances.

 

The budget

 

After buying the plot I should have around £1,500 per sqm for the build. This includes the workshop. I'm very aware that this isn't a great deal, which is why I have opted for stick-built on site for the construction method.  The plan is to do as much of this as I can myself, with the help of unskilled labourers, plus skilled trades only where absolutely needed ie spark, plastering, heating engineer etc. I have an idea of how I want to do this, but I haven't seen anyone else do it yet!  So I am not sure if it's a brilliant idea or a really stupid one :D  As I said above - the main focus is to get to wind-and-watertight within budget and I can figure out the rest from there. I've waited over 20 years for the chance to do this so if I have to wait an additional couple of years in order to get it finished inside it won't be too much of a hardship.

 

The first issue to make a decision on:

 

Do I buy both plots or just one?  My finances are tight, so it would be better for me to buy just one, but buying two ensures I can control who my neighbours are to some extent and ensure I get the best bit of the land.  I could build the first house and sell it and that would give me enough money to build the second one for me to keep and live in with less need for compromise. I would also have the opportunity to learn a lot by building the first house and could put these lessons into practice in the second (keeper) house.   All of which sounds good, but it means a lot longer to wait until I am living in my own house.  I might be completely done-in by the time I've built one house and not want to go ahead and build another.  There may be CGT, VAT implications etc which would make things unworkable. There's no CIL in Scotland but my area does have a railway contribution that developers need to pay. If I have to live in the first house for 3 years before I can sell it this would stretch the whole scheme a bit too far into my old age (I'm 55) and would impact my ability to cope with build 2.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

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Mr Punter

Mr Punter 2708

Posted

Unless you have someone in mind to take on the second plot, just offer for the one you like best. Major hassle and risk once you step outside the self builder role.

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Oz07

Oz07 755

Posted

And ask for the whole garage

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Square Feet

Square Feet 64

Posted

1 hour ago, Oz07 said:

And ask for the whole garage

The planning has lapsed and the seller has put a condition on that the buyer must have planning approved before an offer can be accepted. This must mean they will be willing to consider an offer subject to planning as it won't work otherwise. I will speak to the agents about this on Monday morning.  I will need to make a fresh planning application which would just be for my house plus a solo garage. I completely understand that land registry don't like to split a title when the owner is the same person, so I get why it's being sold as a twofer, but there's a lot of details to figure out with the agent before I jump in.

BotusBuild

BotusBuild 592

Posted

1 hour ago, Square Feet said:

the seller has put a condition on that the buyer must have planning approved before an offer can be accepted.

This would make me VERY nervous - you pay out for all the planning application, surveys and reports that may be needed to support the application,  it gets approved,  and then they pull out, up the price and you can't afford to buy and are out of pocket for the planning.

 

Something needs to be put in place to protect you.

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