Bournbrook

Thank you. who did you use? Do you remember what the rate was and when? How long did it take to arrange? thanks again

Hi all i hope I’m posting this on the right place. Just exploring some options in terms of building and designing. currently looking to build a singe storey dwelling in our back garden (around 130sqm). We have a young family and both work full time so realistically need to use some kind of turnkey service, even though it will cost a lot more! Ive done quite a bit of looking around prefab turnkey services and the likes of haufhaus, scandihus, scotframe , hebhomes etc etc seem to offer a design and architectural service. We wouldn’t want to use an off the shelve version. I have a couple of questions: - are these architects actually as bothered about getting the most from a plot as possible or just shoehorning in their existing designs? - any idea how using their service works cost wise vs taking an architects drawings to them. - can you just take some initial designs to these companies (from an architect) and then they take it from there? - does anyone have any prefab turnkey company recommendations? As I say, the reason for this approach is lack of time to manage the process and also it’s time sensitive as we would be taking some kind of bridging loan/second mortgage (tbc). Totally open to other options though! Thanks

This level of detail is incredibly helpful - thanks so much. actually we would need a fair bit of excavation anyway as our garden seems a bit higher than the next door neighbours, so good to have an idea of costs. As is probably the case with a lot of people, whether we could afford to do something like this all depend on how much cash we can release from our current house! Definitely makes sense to maximise value, but all a balancing act. really appreciate you taking the time to write this all out!

Thanks Peter. Hadn’t considered that for the roof. Good idea. isn’t ridge height measured from ground floor level? So even if we dug down a bit the ridge height would still be set? I imagine there may be wiggle room with planners though if this was explained. I imagine though having a semi basement adds on quite a bit of cost??

Yes definitely. Very worried about this so have posted on the finance thread to see if anyone has any advice on better finance methods!

Yes and no. Apparently precedent means nothing in planning. I guess it counts for something though. In all fairness we wouldn’t even have considered it if it wasn’t for that! I think the big argument will be ‘overdevelopment’ , but we are within a defined settlement boundary which is listed as an area for development on the local plan and if we can go down the environmental route I think we may have chance. Don’t want to overpromise though in case it blows the budget, so it’s a fine line! we get on really well with our neighbours and they’ve both done big extensions (and obviously one has built a bungalow) so hoping they are ok with it. Will wait until after preplanning meeting before we mention anything.

Thanks for this. To be honest I’ve already written over 5000 words myself as I’ve geeked up a bit on planning rules and previous applications. I’m sure they can do a much better job than I can however, I’d at least like to give it a bash! I’m going to send in some preplanning plans I’ve drawn up and test the waters. We are in no rush. any info on major hurdles you faced and counter arguments greatly appreciated!

Would still need to pay upfront and reclaim, no?

Hi there. This is what we’d be looking to do. What finance company did you use? Was it a bridging Lon or self build mortgage? we have a lot of capital in our current house, but still have a mortgage on it and don’t have much cash!! Would much prefer to stay in current house whilst we build if we can. Would be really grateful if any advice since you’ve been through this. thanks

East Hants

Yes we are prepared for this!! I have reviewed all planning policies and looked at all planning applications for similar in our area. They all seem to be rejected first and then won on appeal. where are you? if you don’t mind me asking, how much was a planning consultant? thanks

Thanks so much for this. I was working on around £3000/m2 but I didn’t know if things had gone up a bit and that was now unrealistic?! Out of interest, is that cost for internal floor space or external footprint? Do integral garages count too? re: flat roof. We’ve considered it but I just don’t think the planners would go for it! We are in a village with lots of nimbys and I think a high flat roof would be too imposing as it’s backland development. thanks again

Hi James. If you happen to have any photos I’d really appreciate it!! I can’t find anything about this anywhere online to visualise. Thanks for your reply. k

Hi there I have been trawling through this forum for a while and decided now is the time to actually post and introduce myself! we are a young family looking to build in our back garden and sell the main house. The idea is to live more sustainably and significantly reduce our mortgage. our neighbours have done exactly the same as we are looking to do about 15 years ago and managed to build a bungalow of about 140sqm. They have a ridge height of 5.7m, so I’m guessing we wouldn’t be able to go above that, but we are going to preplanning shortly to give us an idea of what we could build. I just had a few questions for all you experienced people that would be useful to know. - with a ridge height of 5.7, would it be possible to get any rooms upstairs or even a mezzanine to give us a little more floor space. I understand it depends on the pitch, but as a general rule wound this be possible (even though not a very cost effective way of getting useable space). We live in the SE in Home Counties. - we would like to build a home that is cheap to run, so following passivhaus principles. We have booked to see some architects that have done this type of new build before, but we just wondered if our budget was realistic. We have about 400-450k for everything (including architects fees), but both work full time and have 2 small kids so couldn’t really do much ourselves. We’d like to use prefab to reduce time (as we’d need bridging loan), timber clad, and energy efficient. I know it’s vague, but that’s all I have!! - what’s the best single piece of advice you have (for those that have done this or part way through)? Thanks so much all and I hope to share more specifics with you as our journey progresses (hopefully). K