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Grand Designs Gravenhill - Budget vs Reality


Ferdinand

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This post is a record of the initial Estimated Prices, and stated final cost of the 10 self-builders featured in the Grand Designs - The Street, about 10 of the first houses built at the Gravenhill Self-Build development site at Bicester.

 

Watching the first episode, the 10 property street is starting to remind me of the Homeworld 1981 / Future Home 2000 exhibition, which is now Coleshill Place, Milton Keynes. The featured picture is of that exhibition site as it is now taken from Google Earth - looking embedded and conventional.

 

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No 1, The Street - Budget for plot + build £275,000. Out-turn quoted - £335,000. A couple in their 60s.

 

No 2, The Street - Budget for plot + build £275,000. Out-turn quoted - £400,000 approx. A single lady in her 70s. This house had cantilevers fail and the roof split at the ridge-beam, requiring £20k + of recovery work.

 

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27 Comments


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The interesting thing I found was the plot prices.  This show was talking of £100K for the plots, which I think is a reasonable price.  But looking today on the Graven Hill website, the very cheapest plot is £180K with many over £300K for what I would consider a decent plot.

 

At £100K I could see them selling well. At £300K I am not so sure (more than my entire plot plus build price)

 

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Does anyone know what the roof beams/insulation was on Plot 2? Used under steel sheet roofing.

They looked extremely light! All I heard was that the came from Ireland?

 

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It was some form of EPS or similar material with a C shaped steel profile embeded in it to give it strength.

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I believe it is Thermoroof.

https://thermohouse.co.uk/thermoroof/

 

Unlike Durisol, they managed to smuggle the brand name into the programme.


"I can't wait for my Thermoroof".

 

Eventually a list of suppliers should appear on the C4 website.

Edited by Ferdinand
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I thought a £235k build cost for the high spec couples house was low given the luxury finishes. Would that landscaped elevated hottub area have been included or do they normalize the headline cost to a theoretical standard commercial builder's finish.

 

Any guess about the internal area of that house? Sub 2000 sq ft I think.

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1 hour ago, epsilonGreedy said:

I thought a £235k build cost for the high spec couples house was low given the luxury finishes. Would that landscaped elevated hottub area have been included or do they normalize the headline cost to a theoretical standard commercial builder's finish.

 

Any guess about the internal area of that house? Sub 2000 sq ft I think.

 

He said he saved £100k by doing a lot himself so £335k and it was around 130sqm from the footprint I would expect means a pretty eye watering £2,570/sqm

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On 05/04/2019 at 14:10, ProDave said:

The interesting thing I found was the plot prices.  This show was talking of £100K for the plots, which I think is a reasonable price.  But looking today on the Graven Hill website, the very cheapest plot is £180K with many over £300K for what I would consider a decent plot. 

When was the programme made? Prices around here have gone up a lot in the last 3 years or so, can't get anything half decent for less than £150K.

 

On 05/04/2019 at 14:10, ProDave said:

At £100K I could see them selling well. At £300K I am not so sure (more than my entire plot plus build price)

Isn't that why you moved to Scotland from Oxfordshire, not comparing like for like.

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2 minutes ago, PeterStarck said:

When was the programme made? Prices around here have gone up a lot in the last 3 years or so, can't get anything half decent for less than £150K.

 

Isn't that why you moved to Scotland from Oxfordshire, not comparing like for like.

Absolutely.  30 years ago I could have bought a plot for about 2/3 the cost of a 1 bedroom house in Oxfordshire. But nobody would lend me the money for it then.    That very same 1 bedroom house is now worth about £175K so if plots were the same proportion you should be able to buy a plot for about £116K

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12 minutes ago, PeterStarck said:

When was the programme made? Prices around here have gone up a lot in the last 3 years or so, can't get anything half decent for less than £150K.

 

Isn't that why you moved to Scotland from Oxfordshire, not comparing like for like.

 

It is more "when were the plots secured".

 

The McCloud programme was mooted in 2015, and perhaps they were offered good prices to make sure it started strongly, and to make sure they got the TV coverage.

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16 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

 

It is more "when were the plots secured".

 

The McCloud programme was mooted in 2015, and perhaps they were offered good prices to make sure it started strongly, and to make sure they got the TV coverage.

I think the problem with land is they ain’t making anymore of it 

We paid £15000 for our plot 

Came up on a Wednesday Two offers far more than we paid by Saturday when we went to view 

it

We had been looking for seven years Although hundreds of houses have been built locally Individual plots are quite rare 

Another selfbuilder bought a house for £330000 and knocked it down

We thought he was barmy Two more have since done the same 

Buying a plot in Scotland or Wales seems very appealing 

Exspecually if you intend staying put 

 

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Can’t understand why you all want to squeeze into England, as Billy Connolly once said come to Scotland there’s nobody there?

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1 hour ago, nod said:

Another selfbuilder bought a house for £330000 and knocked it down

We thought he was barmy Two more have since done the same 

 

We bought a tiny (89m2) bungalow for just under £500k in 2012, and knocked it down to rebuild. This is Hampshire/Surrey borders <60 mins on the train to London.

 

It seemed expensive and a risk at the time, but with hindsight we got very lucky. No way the sums would work out doing something similar now.

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2 minutes ago, jack said:

 

We bought a tiny (89m2) bungalow for just under £500k in 2012, and knocked it down to rebuild. This is Hampshire/Surrey borders <60 mins on the train to London.

 

It seemed expensive and a risk at the time, but with hindsight we got very lucky. No way the sums would work out doing something similar now.

Yes it’s amazing how prices go up

We keep hearing about ceiling prices 

But it doesn’t seem to apply for a one off

One simalar to ours sold for 720

It was built in the 80 s The chap plans to spend a whopping 200 

Nice area fantastic house But it will be a long time before it’s worth a million 

But will it ?

I suppose houses are worth what someone wants to pay 

A lot of wealthy people out there 

 

I was looking online at the company that specialises in second hand high end kitchens

The amount that people have paid only to be taken out twelve months later 

 

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1 hour ago, Christine Walker said:

Can’t understand why you all want to squeeze into England, as Billy Connolly once said come to Scotland there’s nobody there?

 

Probably to avoid being heckled by Billy Connolly making "sssssssss" noises as he talks about his bowels !!

Edited by Ferdinand
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1 hour ago, nod said:

But it doesn’t seem to apply for a one off

 

Our house is very modern. Other than one other on a private road half a mile away, I think it's literally the only house with a flat roof for miles. According to an estate agent friend, it's modern enough to put off a lot of people, but the minority who would want to live in it will be willing to pay a significant premium. Haven't tried that theory out yet!

 

It doesn't hurt that we lucked into the catchment area of two of the country's best state schools. There's very little housing turnover, so even when the market is slow, decent family homes on reasonable plots tend to sell when they come up.

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On 05/04/2019 at 23:35, PeterW said:

 

He said he saved £100k by doing a lot himself so £335k and it was around 130sqm from the footprint I would expect means a pretty eye watering £2,570/sqm

 I wish.....

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Our house, we bought for just under £400k in 2015.  It is Dorset and 1.5 acres with PP.  we were terrified we were making a huge mistake.  Once we have built, we expect the kids to be able to sell for over £800k (at today’s prices).  We don’t intend to be here on Earth to see it happen ?

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5 hours ago, nod said:

Another selfbuilder bought a house for £330000 and knocked it down

We thought he was barmy Two more have since done the same  

You calling me barmy? Exactly what I paid for our old bungalow.

 

New build is valued at £100k + above the total cost of the bungalow, demolition, build. Now that is barmy, but no complaints from me ?.

 

I had done the maths before we demolished, a local estate agent have an estimated value of the plan, on paper should have about broken even.

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1 minute ago, ragg987 said:

You calling me barmy? Exactly what I paid for our old bungalow.

 

New build is valued at £100k + above the total cost of the bungalow, demolition, build. Now that is barmy, but no complaints from me ?.

 

I had done the maths before we demolished, a local estate agent have an estimated value of the plan, on paper should have about broken even.

?

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I don't think a knock down and rebuild is viable here, particularly as bare plots are available and cheap. But that didn't stop a neighbour paying £180K for a small cottage then finding out it was in very poor shape so he knocked it down and rebuilt.  I am convinced he now has a (very nice) new build house that has cost him a lot more than it's market value would be. That is fine if you can afford it and have no plan to sell but not a position i would choose to be in.

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2 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

 

You are on Buildhub, therefore...

 

So case of pots and kettles...

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1 minute ago, ragg987 said:

So case of pots and kettles...

 

Calling me barmy is a compliment.

 

Barmy is a word well used around painting ceilings.

 

 

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53 minutes ago, ProDave said:

I don't think a knock down and rebuild is viable here, particularly as bare plots are available and cheap. But that didn't stop a neighbour paying £180K for a small cottage then finding out it was in very poor shape so he knocked it down and rebuilt.  I am convinced he now has a (very nice) new build house that has cost him a lot more than it's market value would be. That is fine if you can afford it and have no plan to sell but not a position i would choose to be in.

 

Agree with that. Same here except for particular locations.

 

It is about finding garden plots.

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