Jilly

So did the ‘Certificate of Lawfulness’ application succeed? There are a lot of granny annexe companies who offer to do a planning application with the sale. I’m guessing they are hoping it should come under Permitted Development, also the caravan regulations are slightly open to interpretation.

Can’t find any teeth references?

Lovely spot! Everyone on here is very keen on insulation and air tightness, but I expect you have to be mindful of radon gas.

In your situation it often turned out ‘if it looks wrong it probably is’ and would have to go off on a BH rabbit hole to have enough info to challenge them. Go with your instincts as decisions get more complex as the build progresses. If you are expecting a pause, you have time to research someone else.

Nope, it's not arbitary, it's critical.

Is the plot you are interested in actually for sale or are you going to approach the owner? You could offer to buy ‘subject to planning’ and put up the fees. It might suit a vendor with a big garden but no cash to do it themselves and be easiest if you have a trusting relationship. There will be a big change in the value of the land before and after, so you’d need a solicitor to prevent disputes. If you want to make all of the gain yourself you’d have to buy outright and risk it.

@-rick-£25k was the approx total of the professional fees, including some wasted due to inexperience: a planning consultant who seemed to make mistakes, so we parted ways; a very good but expensive architect, who got the planning through, an architect’s technician to do the Building Control drawings (another expensive mistake, would have been better to stay with the architect, but thought I was doing a friend a favour), plus the bats were £6k on their own. Soils surveys, structural engineer, etc etc Also don’t forget electric, water services etc, mine was about £4k, but that can catch you out, some people get horrendous quotes, it’s very variable and site specific. Getting an electric kiosk was a useful tip. Each site/ area comes with its own circumstances and local council foibles. You could look on nearby planning applications to see what issues arise in that area or are favoured by that local authority. For example clay soils often have piled foundations specified nowadays; nitrate run off in some areas; SUDS designs; biodiversity net gain, CIL payments to avoid etc. Some councils have good websites with info their requirements, others seem to be unhelpful. In the south east there seem to be few sites that the estate agents and developers have missed. Someone suggested looking out for people with large gardens in villages who might be up for selling off some land. A good planning consultant would not be wasted money. You’ll have to take some risks on a virgin site. Even if you were buying a house, you would spend on surveyors etc and might have to pull out.

Developers often bank land they think might have potential in future at some unspecified time. Are you looking at green belt because you want to uplift the value yourself and are hoping to save money? My plot was adjacent to village boundary and my fees ended up about £25k. It’s very high risk. All planning consultants are not created equal 🙃

Hats off to you! I really wish I could do more (I want an extension and a garden studio) and so I’m committed to learning how, as I don’t want to get another ‘proper’ job to pay for them with loans.

Can you measure the thicknesses? Call the supplier or better still, go and look in their yard to determine if they have mixed up either batches of the same stuff, which is just a colour issue, or mislabelled part of the delivery, which you’d need to know, to decide if it’s an acceptable substitution. What a pita

Sounds lovely, good luck, it’s a long journey and a steep learning curve.

A door overhang would give the effect, tho’ not quite so stylish.

Interesting that worms might be the canary in the coal mine, as it were.

A door overhang would give the effect, tho’ not quite so stylish.

@Stable3 I’ve done a stable conversion with a messy head too! Looking back, there were loads of times where I’d had too much to think (had to plagiarise that great line). It can help to write pros and cons lists for each worry, sometimes the answer will present itself easily. This forum was amazing and saved a lot of time and money. For windows, I went with a local firm for a triple glazed aluminium option: the frames aren’t perfect thermally, but the customer service was good, they came on site to measure up, advise and hand hold. The lead time from the slinky extra expensive ones was long and I didn’t want to get things wrong with the measuring and selection etc. Prioritise sleep hygiene.

Self building messes with your head!

HMRC run various free courses as you need to suss out the tax side and decide if you want to be sole traders/partnership or Ltd Co, there are pros and cons with each. Explore insurance, a broker might help. Word of mouth advertising is good and might be all you need if you do well, although many people expect a web presence, something like wiz is cheap. Be honest, and stay within your abilities and you should be fine. I wish you all the best.

That's the sink/washing machine/dishwasher outlet into the foul drain

We have had a raised path made up parallel to the side of the house and so have dug out the area alongside the (600mm) foundations (on clay). It’s left a kind of gulley: Should I back fill it with gravel (and will this be ‘strong’ enough?). The gulley seems to have a slight slope towards the corner of the building and the (hopefully sound) drainpipe and it’s a tad damp there. I’m not sure if that’s minor leak or water seeping in that direction. I’m wondering if I can ignore this if I fill it with gravel? Also there’s an earth spike slightly exposed, should that be in clay? The Belfast outdoor boot sink hasn’t been connected up yet. Apologies, the detritus in view is because of my CBA. Thanks @ToughButterCup!

I’ve suddenly got a diagnosis!

Rather than converting the building, I probably should have applied to demolish and build something better, but the planning process was so painful, with all the conflicting advice I was given, I couldn’t face it: I wanted to see my money turn into something. I found it all very stressful, I’m not sure if it would/will be if I ever do it again but hopefully it would/will be easier with the benefit of experience.

Don’t be disheartened by all these comments! It’s looking possible that the design was done to capture the imagination to gain planning permission and a significant uplift in land value, but might not have been intended to be built as there was no budget. Self build is often a once in a lifetime thing, so most of us have a personal wish list which is modified by costs or family constraints. People very often submit new plans after purchase, safe in the knowledge that something will be passed. You enter the game of planning permission with more certainty. I laughed to read the comment about not living in a static, but it’s not unheard of for Grand Designers to go bust/divorce etc so it’s important to be realistic. Many of us on BH have saved £1000’s with the advice and pointers given.

On such a large project you could consider doing it in two stages so that you could move in earlier (rather than the caravan option!)? Loads to think about, but with lots of land you have plenty of options with aesthetics, screening planting etc.

This might not help now, but going forward, in situations where carpentry might have to be removed, it’s helpful to use screws rather than nails, but it’s slower of course. I’d be on to the log cabin supplier making a fuss…

Wow, it looks like an ambitious project which you are tackling head on, well done! You are right to be cautious, self build is a massive learning curve and it’s very easy to go way over budget. Are you thinking of staying with the same architect for Building Control and construction drawings? You could maybe ask them to find cost savings? They will be familiar with, and invested in, the current design. Sorry I can’t help with the concrete question as I did block with cladding, and only a small project, but can offer moral support when you need it😊 Are you planning to project manage it yourself? It might cramp your style to live in a static caravan on site, but it saves quite a lot in rent and means you are on hand for the inevitable questions which arise and early deliveries etc etc. @ToughButterCup has some hard won experience you can read about using ICF. Looking forward to hearing how you progress.