Bored Shopper

what a gorgeous plot! Huge potential. We're nearby at J13 down the road, are now 2 months post-completion (bungalow to a normal house).

who did the valuation? We've had nightmarish experience with eSurv - they changed their mind and severely undercut the valuation in the middle of the project (for absolutely no reason as NOTHING changed since the original plans were submitted). This resulted in us getting the next drawdown on the mortgage a month later than the schedule (after a massive scandal with the building society). Luckily we've had some savings to keep us going. On completion, same firm issued a valuation which is c. £75k-85k lower than similar newbuild properties in the area. We've spoken to a local estate agent who was keen to get us sold, and the difference in his valuation and the eSurve was staggering. We had no option as eSurv was contracted with our mortgage provider and we could not use a proper alternative valuator. THe under-valuation cost us a good interest rate deal when we started re-mortgaging on completion - I so hate the guys I will continue shouting from [freshly tiled] rooftops for people to steer clear as much as they can.

We have a walk-through wardrobes area (3300 x 3300mm), stuffed with IKEA PAXs. I hate open wardrobes as the amount of dust they gather is phenomenal, and I can't be bothered to keep dusting all the shelves and clothing. So we went with doors. Overall, I love this area, it is so convenient to have all clothing etc in one place, thus I have NO wardrobes in my bedroom and it is soo much better so! With regards to the width of your walk-in area, make sure you can comfortably pull out a drawer whilst standing in front of it (not being squashed against the opposite wall).

We insulated the garage with insulated plasterboard (were tight on space so had to chose the most space-saving option) but did not plaster (maybe later). For now I just painted over and am having fun painting murals :))))

We've built a 4-bed 2-receptions 3.5 bathrooms to a total of 190 sqm, plus a very generous garage. There are three of us, and the space feels just right, I would be disappointed if it came out smaller. Within M25 that was c. £2600/m2, but we splashed out on sanitaryware and some fitouts.

Apart from gas & electrical certificates (we submitted MVHR paperwork at an earlier stage), ours wanted to check that we have the ramp to the main entrance in line with the regulations (what a pain). And the air pressure test.

Interesting thread. I wonder if the surveyor was from eSurv? We've had nasty experience both during and after the build. We are looking to re-mortgage now to get onto a repayment mortgage from an advance self-build product. Local estate agents value our house c. £900k (very rough estimate). Locally smaller roperties in worse conditions / really dated sell c. £750k-£850k. He valued our newbuild at £800k - and openly admitted during the visit that he has no clue how to value it as newbuilds are rare in his experience!!! We are really pissed off and are appealing - this stupid thing costs us a good deal on a mortgage and extra £600 in product fees! Looks like they play into lenders hands and the lenders are really looking to cover their backs :(( It seems to be a trend, sadly

then keep checking that the materials are provided and delivered to site, and watch out for any delays in procurement.

What a lovely house! Well done, enjoy now!

a schedule of weekly payments with a reasonable upfront deposit and a retention amount. Invoices to be issued on a Friday to cover the work done that week (demonstrable and provable). If work is not done as planned, reserve the right to reduce weekly payments or not pay at all if you are not satisfied with the progress. Who is purchasing the materials - you or the builders?

We had to dig up and remove a couple of tons of clay layer which resided under the ancient shed which we demolished. It was so compacted you could swim there after a mild rain. Then took a couple of days to aerate (a killer of a job!!!). Some patches are still less than ideal, but we're not walking on the lawn for now, leaving it to rest, and will do more aeration come summer. If one spot would be particularly difficult, I'm prepared to concede to a rain garden patch... I wonder if good thick lawn actually sucks out any excess moisture from underneath?? Also we have a mature magnolia bang in the middle (supposed to be a mid-thirsty tree), and will plant lots of borders and roses to help suck out water and break out any hard deposits...

Last week finished landscaping the garden. Now awaiting the start of the spring planting.

I've got an induction hob in my holiday home which I really hate - you have to unlock it every single time you have to increase/reduce heat. It locks itself out in mad panic that a random kid might be around. Really annoying. Still prefer gas hobs - but no option as holiday flat has no gas mains central.

Welcome! We've built in Surrey within M25. Expensive, but doable. Good luck - you're in for a hell of a ride

now, after 2.5t of walling Cotswolds stone and 6x days of manual labour in pissing rain, this is what I built. (I.built.a.wall.Me.a.middle.age.admin.woman.zero.experience). ?

Not every proposal goes to the planning committee (unless this is mandatory in wherever you live). So if you are lucky this may not even happen in your project. Being on extra-good terms with all potential neighbours before submission would also help minimise objections and hence over-complicating the case and hence the planning committee. (requires some legwork, minimal budget and a lot of sucking up). With regards to discharge of conditions, we paid our PM on an hourly basis to discharge these. Probably because we just could not be bothered to fight with him any further. IN essence, he could not care less, and I ended up chasing the planning officer, producing the required evidence of compliance, doing basic drawings etc. Totally doable. Our PM claimed he could not get hold of the officer for 3 weeks - I picked up the phone and got throught in 5 min.... In essence all discharge of conditions is about proving that you've taken the necessary steps. E.g., you must present evidence that your side windows are obscured (send them the paperwork from your window people and some pick), that your ground has been checked for contamination (send them the relevant report), that your fancy new fence is in line with the street vernacular (take a few pics and send). Not really worth paying someone a heap of buck to do this for you.

We've already disposed of a few tonnes of rubble, but when forking up the soil for levelling keep coming across patches of gravel and gray base building sand from previous builds. Lift these and keep them for the retaining wall foundation (am sifting the soil through a vegetable basket, gives me screened topsoil to 10mm (facepalm))...

Now that we're done drinking to celebrate the completion, time to get digging to get the garden landscaped. The case: - the new house sits a bit lower than the old one, so the original ground (with the construction debris cleared off) turns out to be a bit higher than the new patio, and visibly raises towards the bottom of the garden. - we want the lawn with some planted borders. - if we level the ground out at the existing level (eg lay turn flush with the patio or 1-2 cm lower) then it would require removing 2-3 bulk bags of extra soil from the raised end of the garden. Not ideal. Would it be a good idea to build a low retainer (c. 30-40cm high) and have the bottom end of the garden raised a bit? It seems permitted development rights allow raising the level to the max of 30cm against existing level. But in our case the top of these 30cm is already existing, we're just kinda formalising it. Any caveats I'm missing here? Also, how to protect the side of the single-skin garage (blockwork + render) which would be c. 10cm below the raised area (we'll add a bit of topsoil on top there to allow turf). The white curve on the photo is approx location of the retainer.

I have put in composite fencing on one side of the garden (the neighbour's fence on that side was nearly destroyed and the neighbour did not care). Bloody expensive, I must admit. But I absolutely love the look. The panels are sturdy. We've had some cutouts left and I've been using them as steps out and around the garden, they can take alot of abuse.

Congratulations!! Looks amazing and very spacious. Celebrate! :))

1.9m x 4m - two doors (to kitchen and to garage) - a washing machine - a butler sink and under-sink unit (with a drinking water tap) - a drinking water staged filter - a water softener - a boiler - a HWC - 2x tumbe dryers (stacked) - UFH manifold - 6x wall storage units - an extra base unit (leftover from kitchen as bought an extra one in case the main one did not fit) - a plastic movable 4-drawer storage unit. - The cat's sleeping place The utility is the warmest room in the house (+29), so is the officially designated "cat's spa".

Once we clear the house of all the s**t in the movers boxes, will try and post interior photos. (might take another 61 weeks!..) Garden still looks heavily bombed though...

we were supposed to be completed on 29 May! Quick & easy job, they said. You'll do it in no time, they said :)))

We did it! Today we received a completion certificate for our new house - our home! It took us 61 weeks from breaking ground - and these included a very wet winter seasons, a change of builders mid-project, difficult neighbours, sacking the PM, a lockdown, tons of remedial works, and another lockdown! What a journey - feels surreal! Could not have done it without you lot here - love this forum totally Before and after pics are below

Welcome! We are in Surrey, within M25, 30 min commute to Waterloo. We demolished our old bungalow and rebuilt as a proper 4-bed, the plot is small (well, infill build in town, not much room), but it is doable. Good luck with your search, and enjoy reading the forum!