Bournbrook

We still need an architect for ideas of layout, exterior design, best use of space, best solar gain etc etc

Yes, this was my plan. We are fortunate (and unfortunate in some ways) that there are 3m hedges the whole way round which means there is no overlooking at all at first floor level. I’d be intrigued to know what they’d think about roof windows…. we would also need to consider overlooking from our current house but our neighbours have mitigated this will some high planting.

Live in ourselves and sell off the main house. Otherwise the CIL just wouldn’t make it viable. the ridge height of Nextdoor is 5.7m but I would be interested to know if they would allow any roof windows (not dormers) to have rooms upstairs. Even without this I think the GIA would be enough for us. I think there is possibly a better use of space on the plot but both architects we’ve spoken to think it is not a bad location and size. We can deal with all that once we know the parameters of what the council would consider. Our main aim is to create a light space that is well connected to the garden. If we can’t build what we want we would consider fencing it off and selling as a plot with planning but this doesn’t seem a very lucrative thing to do at the moment! Hopefully house prices will sort themselves out.

Thanks. I have just mirrored Nextdoor for ease at this stage as it’s a good use of the space and does provide a turning circle.they have an identical size plot as it was parcelled off from a larger house in the 1800s. The turning circle was stated in their planning docs and was a condition from highways. We can always shift things a little. thanks for advice!

Hi all. I have a preplanning meeting over Teams on Wednesday to get advice about whether building a new house in our back garden would be feasible. I have just provided a current and proposed site plan I mocked up for now and would like them to advise on height, design, position etc. I also included a design and access statement referring to all relevant planning regulations. does anyone have any advice on important things to ask at this stage?

Is that to get to watertight stage?

I genuinely don’t know where any services are! I just know water is by drive and sewer in front of garage. See attached plan.

I think utilities should be ok. I know water comes from the front of our current house so that could easily run through, but not sure about electricity. Architect I spoke to that came to visit didn’t seem to think it would be an issue when I asked. no idea on sewers. I know a new soil pipe we had was going to be connected to a drain right in front of the current garage which is actually behind our current house (see previous posted site plan) so that would only be 10m or so from the new proposed dwelling. No issue with access as obviously we own the whole site. Maybe there’s something I’m not considering though?

Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of excitement and getting really involved, but would love to! we know we will be paying a premium, but willing to factor that in and still feel the gains are worthwhile for us (based on what we know so far)

I don’t think we have any clay round here. I have the results of a desk study for a development opposite our house. Photo attached. Seems to indicate 60-90cm to bed? Although we are about 15 miles from Guildford.

Thank you. We have heard quite a few horror stories. I really wonder how much of these stresses are avoidable with good research and use of a fixed price option?

Yes, I had worried about this. If we time it right, we could move out to my parents for a couple of months to get the last bit completed.

Thanks for advice. I had definitely thought about contingency. Is the amount lessened when dealing with a fixed price main contractor or turnkey service? tree is a sycamore and it’s sandstone

Oh and just to add, the absolute total budget for everything ( including contingency) would be 450k, but some of that would need to be released after sale of main house. Would be interested to know what sort of things could be done whilst living in the house- external cladding, landscaping, flooring, a bathroom etc.

Thanks. This is basically exactly what I am trying to do - plan well in advance and avoid potential pitfalls. Also work out if this is actually realistic! if we just sold up and moved, we would be leaving a house we love and there is very little that comes on the market in this area. That’s why self build seems to be the best option, but I want to make sure I’ve considered everything. so far (from lots on info mining on here) and advice from architects, mortgage brokers etc I am thinking the following: - get pre-planning advice to see if there are any complete deal breakers (submitted request yesterday) - if all seems like it could work, get an architect to draw up some initial designs to make the best of plot and see that we could build something that would suit our family - go to planning either through architect or through taking initial designs to a turnkey design and build company - if we get planning then sort how to finance. Looking like some kind of second mortgage but would need to split deeds (will seek legal advice at this stage) - explore turnkey options through companies such as MBC, potton, HebHomes, Danwood etc and also through main contractors. - get building regs and SE stuff either via architect or company we choose. - possibly delay build for a year or 2 until interest rates go down/ house prices go up. - get house to point we could live in it, even if not fully complete and sell main house. Release funds to complete the finishes. This would be planned in from the start. - live in house whilst completing the final parts. any thoughts on this would be really appreciated!!

I should also add that we are both public sector workers so our pay is not going up (despite what the media seems to show)

I get your point, but if we self build we could be mortgage free. That’s the aim really. updating our current house would cost even more money (that we don’t have) and if we were to borrow more to do this our mortgage would increase even more. the most financially savvy thing to do (based on estate agent advice) is to split the plot and sell them separately (with pp for garden). However, we really love our location and our priority is to stay in our village. The housing stock in our village isn’t great so we feel this is the most affordable way of staying where we live and being mortgage free

Mainly financial but also living sustainably. in 4 years time when our fixed rate ends, who knows what interest rates will be doing but it’s likely they’ll be higher than what we’ve fixed at (1.82%). We could afford it but would mean taking overtime and we now have 2 kids and would much prefer to be able to work less and enjoy time with them more. we would hugely miss our house but 2 things we would hope to improve on are - connecting the house to the garden more - cheaper running costs

The new plot would start about where back of garage is

Thanks all. Definitely not rushing. We have 4 years to actually move in as that’s when our current fixed rate mortgage deal ends. I have attached a proposed site plan I created to go to preplanning with. Any thought on shape, position welcome. Worth noting that the NE corner has a tree with TPO and the ground raises quite a bit at this point. Will attach photo out of current back window to show site (separate post due to file size)

Thanks both. I’ve just spoken to a broker actually and it may be that a self build mortgage is a safer option for us. Just need to weigh a few bits up and maybe beg to the bank of mum and dad and offer them a decent interest rate! in terms of copying neighbours, I certainly don’t mean building the same as them (it’s a horrible retirement bungalow), but more the footprint. It’s actually just the most sensible shape and maximises the house size whilst keeping a sensible shape garden and avoid a root protection area. It also allows for a turning circle as cars need to be able to leave in a forward gear. If anyone’s interested I’ll happy pm the site plan over for you to take a look at but would prefer to keep out of the public domain at this stage!

Thanks. I think MBC are coming our tops from my desk research. many idea on cost per sqm on their turnkey stuff? What’s the sort of build time?

Thanks. I did do an introductory post and now spoken to a couple of architects and it seems we could do something for about 3000sqm. They suggested keeping it very simple to stay within that budget. I think we may end up getting up a basic version and then adding/finishing bits once we’ve moved in and released capital from the sale of our house. I like the idea of just using a local main contractor to do it all, but I just worry about speed! I’ve been looking into finance and we would need to take out a development (bridging) loan which would be thousands per month, so we’d be keen to get something build as quickly as possible! (And then suffer the stress of trying to sell off the main house)

Thanks for this Kelvin. Are you using an ‘off the shelf’ HH design or is it modified? If so, I’d be interested to see your floor plan vs the standard HH version. I love their longhouses but we need an L shape due to our plot size. Have spoken to a couple of architects now and they both think so. We don’t have a tricky plot, it’s just small. It may also prove difficult to get good solar gain due to the orientation of the house (architects said it was better to keep it similar to next doors in order to improve pp chances). They can do some feasibility drawings and basic designs for about £1500, so I may go for this and then take those ideas to some companies. I’ve drawn some basics site plans which essentially just mirror the nextdoors property footprint onto our plot (as it’s an identical plot) and drafted a D&A statement just to put the feelers to planners before committing to money on an architect!