Things are starting to move with my dream self build, hopefully this week I shall own the building plot, also this week final planning shall be submitted, as soon as I own the plot I can insure it and start some tidying up, put up security fencing, etc.

I am going to document everything and keep spreadsheets and all receipts for Vat purposes, I have been very thrifty with money throughout my life and apart from a mortgage never had any loans, storecards, etc., a member of family said maybe I should consider getting a credit card to pay for services/materials, this worries me but seemingly as long as I have money to cover credit card costs at end of month then interest rates are not charged and this is the way things are set up, has anyone done this and if so which provider gives the best rewards, any advice would be very much appreciated!

Kind regards,

Kevan.

We are retired and have enough cash to build our house and make it wind and watertight. We need to fund the fitting out of the house with money from the sale of our existing home, which is mortgage-free.

Is the best way to use a bridging loan secured on the existing home we are going to sell, or is there an alternative approach?

Can anyone recommend a company/financial advisor who could help arrange a loan if this is the best route?

Thanks

I am a private self builder and have got about 2/3’s of the complete plot and build purchase saved up, once I get the new build to a certain stage I’ll put my own house on the market and move into my caravan so my question is:

My savings are in a personal bank account so would it be wise to open up a separate dedicated bank account  so that transactions for the build are coming out of one bank account?

If so does it need to be a business account as I would pay charges for this?

To get started I could buy the plot from my personal account as this shouldn’t affect VAT payments as their is no Vat on the plot and I would only do this if I can’t get a separate bank account set up in time?

kind regards,

Kevan.

Can I save a few bob by paying the land deposit directly to the seller's account instead of to my solicitors? I'd save £42 for each payment

I’ve been through the various threads and there are similar questions to mine, but not exactly. I’m sure there’s a simple solution, but I’m struggling to see it.

• We have recently retired, so our current income is not huge.
• We own our current home, mortgage free and worth c£1.5m.
• We are (hopefully) about to exchange on a plot for c£1.2m, paid for from savings.
• The new build is estimated at c£1.0m.
• We have some savings to start the build, but will need some sort of finance to complete. Including contingency, a £800k up-front facility which we could draw down against as and when required would be ideal.
• Once complete, we will sell our current home and pay off the finance.

My first thought was a traditional loan secured against our current home and the plot (£800k on £2.7m equity), but have been told that traditional lenders wouldn’t lend with our low income. A bridging loan sounds ideal, but they appear to be very expensive.

Any advice, much appreciated.

ive told him that i will now need to go to a lender with his quote and apply for a mortgage, he says he will send out a contract to sign for now and an invoice for a deposit, im just curious is this standard practice and what sort of deposit is common? are the deposits normally refundable if the mortgage application is refused?

thanks 

As most will be aware payment for windows tend to be made in full prior to delivery, so it's one of the more financially risky packages, unfortunately I have experience having loss a ~£30k deposit to a bastard window company on a previous project. 

There is a great previous thread here which says that if any amount >£100 is made by credit card towards the payment, regardless of how the balance is paid the protection offered by the credit card covers the entire payment.

I was just wondering if anyone know if this is still the case as the thread is a few years old.

Cheers

Vijay

I have agreed a price with a contractor to do groundwork’s and interior fit out of timber frame house.

He wants 15%on signing and 10% two weeks before starting. So 25% up front which is a big cheque. Thankfully this doesn’t include the timber frame/windows/roof/PV/and most internals are on fit only, but still a big cheque.
 

we are financing with the money from our house sale but expect to need a mortgage at the end or we will just have a pause.

What is normal?

I want to negotiate this down so at least I am only paying up front for the next stage rather than the something 9 months in the future.

Any advice would be greatfully received.

The lender is only lending us 20% of the purchase price, so zero risk to them as the plot alone would be worth more than that.   My only concern here, is that we get the structural survey / damp report done and they expect the associated works to be completed before they would lend.   The vendor is not going to do that, as it's a probate sale ...

ps - we had a level 2 survey done ourselves and the surveyor stated that the damp / cracks were nothing to be concerned about as we are planning of demolishing the extension.  He mentioned high damp under the suspended timber floor, but I had factored in having the floor ripped out and a concrete one put in.

Anyone, have any wisdom they can share about what the options are?

I notice other plots in the same development are also not showing on land registry but some completed ones are.

Any advice appreciated.

We have permission (in sussex) for a 200m/sq (half oak, half softwood) timber frame 2 storey house with oak kitchen extension. Clad 50% brick, 50% softwood. We're aiming for best quality, traditional tiles/bricks/windows and finish etc to exterior.. less worried about fancy interiors which can wait until we have the money!

Here's our current quote of what the builder is going to do:

It's a steel barn this time. More will follow of course: we will share the journey.

We'd like to set up a project  bank account that all four family members could access  with each having a payment card and online access.

One will be the "accountant".

This would make cost control easier, followed by easier accounting at vat reclaim stage.

We've found that the best prices, by a distance, are obtained by immediate payment rsther than credit accounts.

I've heard that some banks don't like the idea because it looks like a business. I don't understand that though.

Experiences and suggestions would be very welcome.

I am delighted to report that as of this morning, the sale of our old house had finally completed, and so ends a long period of uncertainty for us.

It will be a happy Christmas and new year in this house this year.

https://www.mygov.scot/self-build-loan-fund

Cheers

sblf_brochure.pdf

Any of your knowledgeable people who have done this before be able to throw light on the approximate budget breakdown for the key elements of a build?  Had a look at the one Fleming Homes have on their site as a guide.  We are currently getting quotes in from subcontractors and they are varying widely compared to the indicative Fleming Homes breakdown.  Would really welcome some advice on this.  Need to make sure our budget is realistic and that we are not kidding ourselves1

Many thanks. 

My fiancée and I have struggled to secure a mortgage for about 2 months. It is for a plot of land with a Class Q for a barn conversion.

Because the seller wanted to sell quickly and because we wanted to get it quickly as well, we first applied for a bridging loan with the idea of paying it back by remortgaging our current property. 

The first bridging loan got rejected because it is our first project.

The second bridging loan got rejected because the valuation report came back lower than expected. (the valuer missed 1000 square meters of the land, but when we told him about that, his reply was that it would not make a big difference).

We then applied for a remortgage straight away. 

After 4 weeks of our file being with the underwriter and about 1.000.000 questions and documents later, we were told yesterday that the remortgage was rejected because it is our first project and if anything was to go wrong, we could be in financial difficulties.

This really baffles me. They knew from day 1 that it was our first self-build, but took our money and made us pay for a valuation anyhow. But more importantly, they kept on asking questions and documents, which made us think that they were really considering our financing. 

We are thinking about appealing their decision, but even our mortgage broker doesn't think that it will change anything. 
He told us that with any other underwriter, we would have had our offer, but we had the pickiest lady on earth.

We are a bit lost now and unsure what to try next.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks 

This is for the battle scarred.

When we see "+ contingency", do we really mean that should be added to the estimate as it will be spent?

How many have built without spending the contingency, and how many have spent it and more?

What did it add, as a percentage to the build price?

From the reading I've done so far,  I'm thinking a developer loan may be the best option. If anyone on here has done this type of thing before, I'd be interested to hear your opinions.  

Thanks

Matt

just wondering if I could pick peoples’ brains on a financial issue as I’m sure lots of people have been in a similar situation. 
 

we are hoping to build it our back garden. We live in a house worth 825kish (with building plot removed) and have a 373k mortgage - will be more like 350k when we hopefully build). 
 

we need about 400k for the build but need to release this somehow. So far I have thought of the following options, but just wondered what people’s’ thoughts are:

1. bridging loan - super expensive and not sure how much they’d lend us but hoping we could secure again equity in our current house. Would be slightly petrified we would struggle to sell current house to pay it off!!
 

2. self build mortgage - would have to be interest only as otherwise I don’t think we’d pass the affordability checks. Even at current rates, interest only is about 2k a month and there would be early repayment charges when we do sell. 
 

3. Sell current house and rent - we have 2 young kids so this isnt ideal and also I’d worry about potential buyers not wanting to buy a house with an impending building site at the back!!

any thoughts on this greatly appreciated. I’ve dropped ecology an email so hoping they’ll get back to me next week, but nothing like first hand accounts and advise.

thanks 

Thanks