Indy

I will echo the advice on here (and you should really take that into account) - keep the architect and builder separate. The other things I'd like to add: 1. Make sure the architect is local and has worked with your local planning authority and has proven experience of getting approvals. 2. Don't be swayed by the architect's vision of what the house should look like. Start with the guidelines of what you want and let them add the artistic flair but remember that you have to live in the house, not them. 3. At all stages, keep an eye on costs. Good architects will keep your brief and costs in mind though most will get carried away and design something that will cost a lot more to build than you may be willing to spend.

Finally made a start to our project yesterday (mark the date) where trenches have been dug to relocate the existing gas and electricity cables etc - a long time coming after about 4 years of waiting! Wanted to find a way to view progress on site and do a sort of time lapse video. Looking for any recommendations that people might have used to record the progress. We don't have Wifi on site anymore but there is power obviously through the TBS and the builder is open to having a feed for the camera - although I see that there are battery powered solutions with solar panels that can be totally self contained. Would like the ability to have constant recording for up to a week when I can go and swap out the SD cards and also the ability to login remotely to see what's happening at any given time.

This topic comes up quite often and there are a lot of people on the forum that seem to indicate that TF houses aren't a problem to insure or get mortgages on. I did a lot of research and spoke to a very good friend who's also a partner at a Mortgage brokers, and the general reply was that if it's non standard - you will eventually find what you're after, but it won't be easy and it won't be cheap as you're ruling out the mass market deals which are targeted at the standard, identikit, lower risk options on the underwriters spreadsheet (block built houses). Partly the reason why I chose to go masonry (the other was that TF worked out to be marginally more expensive though that could be offset by lower labour costs and a shorter schedule).

Auction could be a good idea but you need to really know what you're looking at, and then there's the accelerated timescales in which you need to complete. Great if you're a cash buyer and can work to those and there may be an opportunity to look at some bargains - haven't ever done so personally. I guess the riskiest factor with auctions is not knowing what you're buying or what horrors lie underneath the surface, but if you're looking at it as a knock down and rebuild - then all you're interested in is the underlying land and value the plot that way. With regards to the rebuild cost - you'd be looking at a minimum of about £2k/sq m if you're project managing yourself and anywhere between £2.5k - £3.5k for a full turnkey project managed build by a main contractor. That doesn't cover any cost of land, professional fees, specialist landscaping and joinery usually. Work on that basis and you can then calculate the size of house and value of land you're able to afford. As to where to find them - I've only ever used the online portals (Rightmove, Zoopla etc) myself. Some people pay to access plotfinder services so you could try that if you wanted.

One option that worked for me personally was finding an old bungalow / probate sale type property. Large(ish for the area) plot with a relatively small house that allowed redevelopment. It doesn't stack up for a developer as there's no margin in these things but just about work for a self builder to do them up for themselves and live in. What's your budget out of interest (as you've chosen 2 of the most expensive home counties)?

Or the extremely persnickety who wants things to be just so and can't find pre-built houses (new or existing stock) that meet those requirements, leaving self build as the only option.

After a lot of research into UFH cooling with ASHP and Fan coils replacing radiators, this is the approach I'm going with. UFH with standard MVHR. Separate multi-split Aircon system to cool down the key rooms (bedrooms and living area). Heating things keep house nice, warm and relatively airtght. Cooling system blows nice cold air when I want it. Solar PV will mean you can run the air con on extremely hot days for very low costs.

This. Pretty much the only reason why I'm still sticking with the whole process. The market where I am has definitely softened in the last 12-18m, so it's now possible to buy something which offers us the same 'amount' of space as we're currently building and largely delivering the other criteria (area, garden, proximity to schools, transport etc). However, every single one of them will need to be reconfigured and need additional time and money spent to get us the house in the condition that we want, the configuration we want, with the specific finishes and all that jazz. At which point, its just easier to build your own and do it all properly anyway and then you know exactly what's gone into the whole process and what to expect.

Very interesting and quite a reasonable cost. I'm going for a traditional masonry build so makes even more sense to do it as the airtightness inherently will be worse than a SIPS product due to the nature of the build process.

Can I ask how much this cost?

Building a 285sq m house plus double garage will easily mean spending between £600k and £900k for a mid level/good quality finish without going over the top. Add in the professional fees/rental/SDLT and other related costs - you could be touching £1m on top of the £500k plot purchase price.

Agreed. The hard part is how do you find out before you engage which one is honest and decent against which one is an shyster. Unless you plan for worst case scenario and cover the eventuality that all of them are shysters - thus leading me back to his statement (and adding increased cost).

So mixed responses here. I agree (in my head at least) that it seems to be duplicating a bit of cost. However, I do also fully recognise my limitations - in a sense, even if I'm directly staring at some work that a builder/brickie/electrician/plumber would have done, I'd have no way to tell if it was good or not based on a visual inspection. I'd be relying solely on the word of the main contractor. I've done a lot of sifting through and found what I think are people that are trustworthy and people I can get on with - however, I'm not sure how much I can take anyone on their word. As my architect reminded me, everyone in this business is a shark and if they can find a way to charge you £500 for £50 worth of work, they will!

Been working with 2-3 builders to get prices for our build based off the Construction drawings/BR submissions. Did not go down the QS route and getting a BoQ (unpriced) for a formal tender process - as it's a one off new build and probably too small a job to be tendered like that. In discussion with all of them, they've hinted/implied that the price we're working to is based on not having a QS engaged as it means more effort for them / and more money for me - i.e. if they have to demonstrate and argue the toss at each stage payment so they would have to build in some fat into the contract if we choose to go down that route. We're engaging the builder/contractor for a full turnkey finish, so they will have their own site manager/project manager assigned to the project (which I'm already paying for). Do I need to also engage a separate PM that visits the site once every fortnight and work with the builder to manage the stage payments? Not sure how much this would be but it seems like an added cost and is that something I'd be able to take on myself? How have others managed it on their builds?

£2k sounds virtually impossible unless I source odds and sods off eBay myself - which implies I would know what's needed. Even the most basic unit from BPC without cooling was £4200 (Vent Axia) which then climbs up to £5800 for Zenhnder. That's the parts only without install.