miike

I do agree that the feeling of the finishings have to match the value of the property but I think that, especially with contemporary houses, a lot of that expensive feeling comes down to the design. Have a good look at the finishes of this similar style new build which is under offer at ~£23k sqm currently https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/130717802#/media?channel=RES_BUY&id=media1&ref=photoCollage Those finishes and fittings are not ultra expensive. I recognise those bathroom fittings from lusso stone and they would have cost £2-3k per bathroom. Tiling is minimal, instead carrying the wooden floors into the bathroom with plastered walls. The stair case is relatively simple but has good use of LED lighting to elevate the premium feel of it. The kitchen has maybe 4m2 of granite worktop, the rest is painted wood cabinetry. More pictures here - https://amazingarchitecture.com/houses/thurlow-road-residence-in-hampstead-london-by-square-feet-architects

Prelims + scaffolding are included in the basement quote. Plumbing I've been quoted £2k per bathroom (I've used them to do a new bathroom previously and they were able to complete the plumbing for 2k then as well). Baths/showers/sinks/toilets/taps are at £16k with Lusso stone. I've used them before and their stuff looks good without being hugely expensive. £6k/m2 would actually be about £400/m2 below the area average, so I'm not targeting the absolute max £ pm2 value. Good advice! This time last year I was working 100+ hours a week and stress was off the chart but I've made the business much more self-sufficient now so I'm comparatively pretty zen now! There are already 5 year fix mortgage rates below the current BoE base rate, this signals that banks strongly anticipate that the BoE will lower rates below their current level in the next few years. They're high to try and control inflation - that's predicted to drop to 4% by the end of year and then continue to fall after that. When inflation is around the 2% target, the BoE has more flexibility to provide low interest rates, and subsequently low mortgage rates. Also, remember that only about half of owner occupiers actually have a mortgage, the rest own their property outright and aren't affected by current mortgage rates. There is also a supply/demand issue that will prevent big drops - if it costs more to build a house than you can sell it for, developers will stop building. The housing supply then drops, and if there are more buyers then sellers then prices rise. This essentially is a box, with extra glazing. It is three rectangular boxes sat on top of each other, it was specifically designed to be simple to build. I previously spoke with a turnkey builder that specialises in mansions on the Wentworth estate and even they'd build you a palatial spec house for sub £5k. This house is quite similar in spec to what I'd be looking to achieve - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/130717802#/?channel=RES_BUY

Something I didn't clarify is that while the basement is 250m2, it was originally only supposed to be 175m2 but this didn't fully follow the floor above so there still would have been additional foundations work. The basement company offered to do the extra 75m2 for £30k which would put a basement under all of the upper floor, as it wasn't substantially more work for them. The top floor is also 75m2 and is a fully open plan space, its primary function is to lead out onto the upper terrace where you have nice views. This total of 150m2 of space should bring the overall average down as they're very basic rooms but the cost of bathrooms/kitchens gets absorbed by them too. I think you can then start to look at this in two parts - a 350m2 house costing £2000 sqm and a bonus 150m2 of enclosed basic space for £100k.

Budget is tight because I'm attempting to do it without a mortgage. There'd be an additional ~£500k available if I did opt for one but I run my own company and haven't paid myself a salary this year as I've been reinvesting all the profits back into the company, so getting a mortgage now would be a big pain. 2. Roof edges haven't been specced yet. I'm looking at simply rendering them or potentially a black charred wood cladding which I've seen used quite effectively. 4. For the kitchen, if I didn't find a suitable ex-display or used one, I'm going to buy the carcasses from B&Q then purchases premium doors from a separate company so you can get the expensive look without spending a huge amount. Equipment wise, I'd be looking at £2k on an induction hob with built in extraction fan and 2.5k on a built in oven. Add a £400 no-name wine fridge and people will assume the whole kitchen must have cost a lot. 5. Correct on the two stairs. The estimate was based on figures I got from an ironmonger to make the skeleton of the stairs and then fit timber steps. The quotes for the stairs were all over the place though - I sent the same plans and reference pictures to several stair companies and they were quoting 80k+ but ironmongers with joiners were quoting <10k. 6. The engineered wood floor pricing is within the the 'floor' category. I can source this at £30 sqm but will be used throughout the house. Tiling is going to be kept to a minimum in bathrooms, pretty much only in the showers. Roof is the big unknown one currently though, which I'm trying to nail down.

Thank you! I learnt this tip from my architect when discussing window options - I've budgeted 70,000 for them but if I went through a UK company to place the order then I'd be paying double that easily.

I've had that issue as well. Solution is to get your Lithuanian 'friend' to make the order for collection from the factory and then organise the shipping yourself.

Basement is actually 250m2, middle floor is 175m2 and top floor is 75m2. The area being clad with the larch isn't actually huge, the majority is render and as the bulk of the house is underground, so it's more like cladding a 300m2 house than a 500m2 one. I've budgeted £80m2 for the supply of the burnt larch though. There's some economies of scale with the third floor, the cost to add that extra space is pretty minimal which helps bring the overall average down.

It's on a sloping hill, only about a third of the basement is really a basement, the other parts open up out into the garden. It's also an upside down living arrangement with the bedrooms on the bottom floor. I don't need 500m2, but property values in the area are £6000+ sqm so it made sense to go big from an ROI point of view.

I'm about to start building on my contemporary 500m2 house. Planning ended up taking 2 years longer than expected to get, so while the original plan was to give the whole project to a single builder, the increase in construction costs during the past 2 years have put this option out of my budget. I'm now going to be project managing the build and sub-contracting out the work. I've put together my list of expected costs and the total comes out at £794,750 (£1590 per sqm). The house will be three storeys, with a semi-submerged basement and a two storey timber frame sat on top. 4 bedrooms, all with en-suites. Cladding will be burnt larch and polished plaster. The confirmed costs so far are for the basement (includes prelims, site clearance, excavation, muck away, waterproofing and drainage), timber frame (supply and erection) and professional fees (engineer + architect). Everything else is ball park at the moment. Utility connections will be simple to this site. Do any of the below costs stand out as too high/low? I'm also looking for any suggestions on where I could save money as at my estimated build cost, a lot of stuff is going to end up being put on credit cards. Some places I thought I could save is on the flooring and kitchen - I'll be using engineered oak flooring but happy to buy used, same with the kitchen. I'll have about 6 months to source some good deals on these items, which could substantially lower their cost. Basement - 285,000 Connections - 9,000 Timber Frame - 120,000 Windows - 70,000 External Cladding - 40,000 Professional Fees - 25,750 Warranty - 5,000 Roof - 20,000 Rainwater Goods - 8,000 FF Joinery - 9,000 FF Plumbing - 15,000 FF Electrics - 10,000 Screed - 12,500 MVHR - 9,500 UFH - 10,000 ASHP - 10,000 Floors/Ceiling - 35,000 Stairs - 8,000 SF Joiner - 9,000 SF Plumbing - 15,000 SF Electrics - 10,000 Kitchen - 25,000 Decoration (inc tiling) - 14,000 Landscaping/fencing - 20,000

Thanks for these figures, looks like I was quoted a pretty extortionate rate. Looking at the work which goes into laying the pipe, it seems like something I could potentially do myself if I can't get a sharp quote. It's a three storey house, the bottom floor being a semi submerged basement. I'm currently staying in a well insulated (but nothing special) apartment and I haven't had the heating on once in the past month and it still stays around 20c, so I'm thinking that in a well insulated property you only need occasional boosts to keep it heated. That's the thing, I've seen quite a few places using them in other countries but they're a rarity here. So it does seem viable in other places. The company I'm looking at produce IR panels that are mirrored for use in a bathroom as well as towel racks. May get one of them even if I opt for the full UFH system.

I've got a 500m2 new build that is about to start and I'm looking at heating options. I was originally planning on an ASHP with UFH throughout but I had an interesting alternative pitched to me recently. A friends family owns a german manufacturer of infrared heaters and are willing to provide their units at cost to me. Never heard much about them but they seem to be quite popular in other European countries. The ASHP will be £10k and the UFH would be £55 sqm - total £37,500 to heat the house. Infrared would be £15k, although I'd still probably add electric UFH in the bathrooms so call it £20k all in. So there's a pretty decent saving with the infrared and the budget is already tight. The question is whether I'd then be putting potential future buyers off or affecting the property value with the infrared heating system. Does anyone know of any new builds that used infrared?

Why do you wish this? I have a semi submerged basement (sloping site) that is already ~200m2 and almost matches the floor plan above. My architect is encouraging me to expand the basement floor to be a box shape which would line up with where I'd need to build the foundations for the floor above anyway but would take the basement size to ~260m2 which seems a bit excessive as budget is already going to be tight.

A case officer ended up crying at a recent committee meeting after they overturned their approval and the head of the LPA has now quit as well. So it does seem that all is not sunshine and smiles in the planning department. I only had to deal with these councillors for one application and it was an absolute nightmare, I can't imagine having to deal with them on a daily basis as part of my full time job. I'd be out the door too.

I did apply for costs and was unfortunately denied - the reasoning being that design is an inherently subjective matter, so not liking a style and refusing it for that reason would not be considered so unreasonable as to justify an award of costs. Most of the money was spent prior to the appeal anyway and you can only get back your costs that were specifically for the appeal (~£4k from what I remember) so not the end of the world. The first CO repeatedly asked if we wanted to withdraw the application, seemingly hoping they wouldn't actual have to write a refusal that we could then appeal. When I found out about the councillors putting pressure on the LPA to refuse the app, I treated it like an all out battle and threw everything at it - every comment/criticism/concern they had, I responded with reports/surveys/drawings until everything was so comprehensively covered that it was irrefutable that the house complied with all planning rules. I'm fully aware that a lot of people would have caved at the start when the CO was saying to withdraw it or they'll refuse it - it's unfortunate that people can be bullied this way. That's why I wrote this up, for anyone else who's sure their app complies with the planning rules but is getting push back at their LPA, to not give up.

In the LPA case to the appeal Inspector, they actually said it was a good design and they'd be happy to approve it in a different location, just not in this one. But then failed to provide a reason why it shouldn't be approved in this location. I feel a bit sorry for the LPA when they've written a 20 page report throughly analysing an application and why it meets local planning guidelines and should be approved, for the committee to then overrule them and then the LPA has to justify at appeal why actually their original report was wrong.

Turns out its entirely the councillors own decision about whether they are required to recuse themselves or if can be objective about a decision. If you disagree with their decision then it goes to the council who then refer it to the standards committee.. I actually brought up the comments they'd made at the planning committee and said they were pre-determined and should abstain from the vote, their response was just to laugh and smirk at me.

It's the final modified plans, which is essentially 95% of the original and I'm still happy with. In hindsight, I should have appealed for non-determination after 8 weeks. I actually had a far more traditional design submitted at the same time as the appeal was submitted as a backup option - we received pre-app advice saying they had no issues with the new design and would approve it. Can't believe the appeal was actually decided quicker, and I've been advised to expect at least another 3 months before the LPA issues their approval for the new app, not that it makes much difference now.

I did raise a complaint about the councillor duo to the council, they informed me that even if they found and agreed that they had violated rules or the code of ethics, it would then have to be voted on at the standards committee before any action could be taken. Guess who chairs that committee...

Just wanted to tell about my long and hard fought planning battle to finally get approval for anyone else in a similar situation who's losing hope. I bought a plot of land in a development area of a town with FPP for a traditional detached house back in 2020. I then worked with an architect to create a new highly contemporary design that better suited my needs and preferences and submitted it to the LPA, optimistically expecting a decision in 8 weeks time. There were no objections from the local town council nor any technical objections. The plot isn't in a conservation area, AONB or in any other special zone which might cause planning issues. Myself and my planning consultant expected this to be a quick and simple application. My planning consultant had an initial call with the case officer who said they didn't see any issues. All seemed good so far. Then a month later, after chasing the CO again, they came back and said that they had decided that there was no way they could give us approval for the house as it was too out of character for the area and that there was nothing we could do, revise or prove to change their mind. We argued that it wasn't out of character for the area, and that the same case officer had actually themselves approved several applications for contemporary houses nearby and written in their reports that there was no overriding architectural style in the area. They told us to argue it at appeal. At this point, I contacted the head of the LPA who seemed confused why the CO was refusing to allow us to even submit any additional evidence to show that it wasn't out of character. The CO reluctantly relented and said we now could submit additional evidence. I went all out on this - I had drone surveys mapping the whole area showing the house would be completely screened from the road, additional consultants came in to conduct character reviews of the local area, numerous additional architectural drawings etc. Upon informing the CO that all additional evidence would be submitted the following week, they replied and said they'd changed their mind about allowing additional evidence and were going to just reject the app. I contacted the head of the LPA about this to complain a few days later, who replied saying that the CO had actually just quit their job, we would be assigned a new CO and they'd be happy to review any additional evidence. A friendly local councillor passed on information about why we were having so much difficulty with this app - a local married councillor duo, who had a reputation for 'shouting the loudest' to get their own way, were doing everything they could to get the LPA to reject my app. At the town planning committee when my app was discussed, they had said they wanted to prevent all contemporary houses from being built and were apparently outraged that the committee sided with me and voted to raise no objection. This was their revenge. The new CO was far more amenable - he wanted to work with us to tweak the design to something he felt he could then approve. We spent two months going back and forth with designs and changes until he finally said that he was satisfied and would write a report giving us approval. This was about 7 months after the application was originally verified. I was obviously very pleased with this outcome and patiently awaited their report. A month passed before we followed up with them to see how they were getting on. Imagine our surprise when we were informed that this CO had also quit two days ago and we'd now get a third CO. The third CO looked at the original plans and the redesigns and said he much preferred the original plans to the redesigned version and would be happy to approve it with some minor tweaks, which we happily obliged. He then began writing his report recommending approval, and we waited and hoped this one wouldn't quit too. A month passed and we received confirmation his report was ready and just needed to be signed off by their line manager. A few weeks later and we find out there's a problem - the line manager refuses to sign off on it and tells him to re-write it as a refusal, stating 'overlooking' as the reason. This particular line manager is known to be friendly with married councillor duo. We obviously push back very hard on this as we have 3d drone surveys showing that overlooking is not possible, and that there is substantial distance between neighbouring properties which are well above guidelines for new builds anyway. I once again get the head of LPA involved and the line manager agrees to at least to do a site visit with the CO. At the site, the line manager begrudgingly admits defeat and allows the recommendation for approval. It's a little over a year since the app was verified. The journey's not over yet though, as it turned out that a ward councillor had called in the app to committee when it was first submitted but had gone unnoticed due to the multiple CO changes. I felt reasonably confident going into the committee though - we had an officers recommendation for approval, there was no 5 year housing supply in the area so development was favoured, and I wrote a very strong speech putting forward my case. At the committee I gave my speech and then listened the councillors debate. To my horror, this was when I found out that councillors don't actually bother to review planning documents for applications they're voting on - multiple councillors said they couldn't support it because they didn't know what materials would be used (despite all materials been listed numerous times in the docs) and one even saying they couldn't support it based on architectural drawings as they wanted illustrations (but there were multiple CGIs submitted in the docs). In the end, 4 councillors voted to refuse the app (2 were the married couple duo who said nothing during the debate and the other said they 'didn't like it' as their reason) but that was enough to overturn the CO recommendation as so many others abstained. Not willing to give up after how much work had already gone into this, I had my planning consultant start work on the appeal. We submitted a 50 page rebuttal of the committees one reason for refusal (contemporary design would be out of character). The LPA barely even tried to justify the committee decision, they submitted a 3 paragraph argument, seemingly acknowledging that they were fighting a lost cause. 6 months later and just in time for Christmas, we received the Inspectors report that the appeal was allowed. Almost exactly two years to the date after the app was first verified. The two year battle cost me ~£30k and building costs have gone up ~£300k during that time (the GDV has gone up by more than this but it is still painful). It was worth it in the end though to finally be able to build the house I want to build. Just wanted to tell my story for anyone else who's in a similar struggle at the moment and advise you to just keep pushing forward.

Is it not common to have 'granny' annexes that are fully equipped and self contained though?

So this then raises the question of when is an annex not an annex?

The CIL exemption seems to cover residential annexes. I don't think it would be unusual for a 3000sf house to have a 750 sf annex/guest house on the site with all facilities and that seems to be covered by the CIL exemption. So is there any law stopping someone building a 3000sf annex/guest house for their 12000 sf house and receiving the CIL exemption for both? It would be proportional to the above example.

This is just out of curiosity after seeing an estate that's been divided and put up for sale. If you were doing a self-build for a large country estate, and you wanted to build a staff/guest house on the site as well, would this be included in the CIL exemption? What would happen if in the future (after 3 years) this guest house was split from the primary plot and sold as an individual house?

Has anyone gone longer than this waiting for their case officer to give their report? I'm now on month 15 and on my third case officer, with the other two having both quit before issuing their decision. I was told by this current case officer in November that they're recommending it for approval, but as of yet I still haven't got the report. They also found that a councillor called it in to committee if its recommended for approval, so it won't end at the officers report! All three of my officers have had different opinions - 1st was going to refuse, 2nd said they'd approve with alterations and the current likes it as is. So at least that's improved with each subsequent delay! The planning app is just for a redesign of the currently approved house on the plot, so nothing overly complicated.

More info just got published today - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/over-150-million-funding-to-kickstart-self-building-revolution