tjredding

Hi all, I'm hoping those experienced veterans out there can just check our thinking here and suggest anything we've forgotten! We are considering buying a plot, which originally had outline planning for 3 houses, changed to 2 after consultation. Our original idea was to partner with a timber-framed developer, split the plot, they build a large house on our bit, and a slightly smaller one on theirs. However the quote for getting mains water to the plot was rather eye-watering (£110K) and along with some charge that applies to them (CIL charges?) the developer has been scared right off. We are wondering now if we can buy the whole plot ourselves and get water another way (a borehole, or there is literally a river running past the site). The ball park quote for gas was high (£10k) so I can see we are going to pay quite a bit to get utilities to the site. I know the seller was originally hoping to get £400k for the 3-house site, and that they are likely to accept less. Given the high services costs, the fact we are just building one house and the fact we can pay cash quickly we were planning to offer £250k. There's also the twist that they want to keep some of the land as an access road and they are going to need a wider road than that shown on the outline planning documents, so there is a need for negotiation and compromise here. Build costs are a big unknown, but probably £400-500k. It's possible we end up with a house that is not quite worth what we've paid for land+services+build, but that wouldn't be the end of the world as we will have out perfect house in the perfect location. Can you veterans see any flaws in this plan? Are there any other costs/factors we've not considered? Is it normal to say 'we will pay you £X, assuming we get planning permission/borehole is possible/sewage processing thing is allowed'. I guess we would have to pay for planning and any tests needed and there's nothing to stop them hiking the price. Should we get a proper contract drawn up? Any thoughts very welcome!