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Yay. 1st in topic. Given that the mortgage and house market has changed rapidly recently, and may change some more, I think we perhaps need a thread mainly about different ways of financing self-build. I'll do a separate thread about tips and tricks to cope with the volatile environment at present. This post is a combination of what I know, and questions where I don't really know. Note that this area may change rapidly, and for each category all kinds of limitations apply and homework is critical. It would be useful if others could add more specific comments for each category, perhaps particularly about specific Buillding Societies and other gaps. This post is a list of thoughts - not financial advice. Savings The most traditional route. Perhaps pension draw-down (you can currently have 25% of your pension pot tax free at age 55) comes into this category. Normal Mortgage Take out a normal mortgage on your existing home. Self-build Mortgage. The best known providers are probably Buildstore (who are a broker (?) working with financial institutions) and the Ecology Building Society. Differences are that some providers will insist you start the build yourself before financing, which reduces your savings and your flexibility. Some providers may let you borrow against the value of your plot, eg when Outline Planning has been achieved. Local and regional building societies may have offerings for their area. Buy to Let Mortgage If you make your project (or your current house while living in a caravan) a rental, Buy to Let mortgages can be available. In the current market interest rates from around 3 per cent are availalble, with a brokers fee of perhaps £500, which (from where I am sitting) seems cheaper than self-build mortgages. You will need to talk to a broker. Build to Let Mortgage This is a possible future market segment. Make your project a rental, and then pay off the mortgage with a normal one once it is built. You will need to talk to a broker. Worthy of note for some expenses: In a low interest rate envirnoment there are other options for some expenditure: Personal Loan. Currently available at around 3-3.5%. At present packages are sometimes done for loyal customers - move your account some time before, or take out another one? Credit Card Balance Transfer or Interest Free introductory purchases. These are available for up to around 2 years at present for as little as a 0% fee, or for longer periods as a eg 2% fee. Ali-Shuffle: Buy something else at as % interest rate, eg car or nearly new car, to free up the cash for your build. It goes without saying that the more solid a credit rating you have, the better. Ferdinand

That second one looks very clean ..??? are you planning on welding it up and plating over for additional strength ..??

I know the site pavingexpert.com was much recommended over on eBuild. With my boy driving soon (hopefully) need to think about extending the parking area. Just been looking at it and thinking what a cracking site it is. Posting here for the benefit of new members: http://www.pavingexpert.com/

Unless this wet weather continues it might be a bit late to sow seed? In the spring I have to cut some of our grass weekly then in the summer it slows down, the last cut was the first of the fortnightly cuts this year. We turfed our lawn in and if you go that route make absolutely sure you have an adequate water supply. Depending on the size of your lawn one outside tap might not be enough! Ours is quite big and we had two sprinklers going almost 24/7 and they had to be moved around regularly. This was only just enough to stop the turf drying out and shrinking in the hot weather. Forget to move one and an hour later you could see the turf had started to shrink in the dry patch. Would be easy to ruin a area if it was hot and windy.