Thedreamer

I emailed the planning office to confirm whether putting down hard standing, formation of access and getting services was enough for a meaningful start and it was. Perhaps you could do less.

It might be better to amend the question to carried out a self build or commenced a self build. Quite a few users may be on the forum as they are currently self building. You may get more responses if you reconsider the question. I.e. I'm self building on Skye currently at first fix.

Disagree on the dreamer part ?. Dreams and determination will get you where you want to be.

Opening paragraph is pretty much how I feel about mortgages. Add on student loan debt and pensions being rammed down our throat it's a great life to look forward to. We decided after graduating that we didn't want to be in a city, renting a flat surrounded by people and concrete and tarmac. We are about 2/3 ways through building a modest 3 bedroom home on our croft in the Isle of Skye. It's been a ten year project to get here and should be done in December. As a starter you need to look where the land is cheap, Western Isles & Central Highlands, rural wales. But a balancing act in getting a job in a rural location and then obtaining a self build mortgage.

It's hard enough to get a self build mortgage with out the extra complications. Our build incorporates render and timber cladding.

Looking good, just out of interest are you not going to need put scaffolding up again for rendering?

Is the site secure from theft?

I'm sorry, but don't beat yourself about it. Worth opening ASAP and then it's up to you how long you wish to save and wait. Pretty much everybody on the forum has stuff like this. So, so, so much to know. You really have to be a sponge. And soak up as much information on the forum, read books like the home builder's bible and pretty much google every week for 'self build' to see if you find any new news about self building.

I did look at that one, but I think they had a clause about Islands, can't remember.

Okay just seen that. Double corrected! Nice to see self builders benefiting from the bonus rather than those fat cat housing developers. Might be worth posting a topic about your experience with the scheme as it could be useful to others.

Similar to us. I'm 32 and it's been a ten year plan for us to date, including five years of living in the loft of my wife's parents. I would look again at the help to buy isa. We didn't qualify because before the scheme was released we had already de-crofted agricultural land for our house site, so this counted as residential land. If you don't own the land you should qualify, but you will need time before to ensure you save enough to get the full bonus if opening the ISA now. The full bonus is £3,000! I mentioned on a previous post last month that it would be unlikely for a self builder who did not already have access to land and had never owned property before to benefit from the scheme, I stand corrected! Can I use a Help to Buy: ISA bonus to buy land to build my first property on? Assuming that you meet all the other eligibility criteria, you will be able to use the government bonus towards the purchase of the land for a self-build property which is the only home you will own, be where you intend to live and be purchased with a mortgage. The land must be in the UK, have a price of £250,000 or less (with a higher price limit of £450,000 in London). https://www.helptobuy.gov.uk/help-to-buy-isa/faq/

Prehaps this is one other members were suggesting similarities with. https://www.ruralhouse.co.uk/houses/r3/ Is your plan for a kit or will it be a bespoke project?

If you haven't already done so I would recommend opening a help to buy ISA. If your a first time buyer then you should be able to get a bonus when you make the purchase. Ideally you would have wanted to be saving a few years before to maximise the bonus. Your in Aberdeenshire so your mortgage possibilities will be limited. Scottish Building Society, Ecology, Buildstore or Scottish Government self build loan scheme (borrow £175k for construction). All of these had different advantages and disadvantaged for us, but we decide on SBS, I am also a first time self build and buyer. Just out of curiosity how did you decide on self building?

I agree would make little sense to do this just a hypothetical question.

This might sound a bit daft, if you buy a plot which has already had the foundations put in and the previous owner didn't want the building warrant to lapse and continued to to renew could somebody buy the land and the old building warrant and build the original house to the old building regulations. I wouldn't want to do this if it was me for many reasons, but could it be done?

No problem. I'm accountant so we deal with all sorts of clients. Understanding matters such as VAT are just as important as being able to do work yourself.

As others suggest this sounds very strange @Chris S But considering all possibilities. The job he worked on before, was it £200,000 worth of his own work, could he have been a subcontractor for somebody else and just been supplying labour and been the face of the build with tax deducted under the CIS scheme by the main contractor. If he is the main contractor for your job then CIS is irrelevant. Certainty should not be VAT on his labour if he claims he is not VAT registered but in theory for the materials he could be stating that he has prices up the materials and these included VAT but not charging VAT himself. Sensible VAT planning would be going with a contractor which is not VAT registered (but not one who states he is but then charges VAT!). Often this can be achieved where contractors expect you to buy the materials and just charge labour, if a contractor is keen to stay under the threshold this could be attractive work for them. Some builders such as joiners work in pairs for big jobs but do plenty of work separately to ensure they are not working as a single entity and go over the VAT threshold as a partnership. Think about this carefully at this stage and you could save thousands. The bottom line with materials is that at some point you will suffer VAT. Again if you can get a non VAT registered builder on side they could provide the list of materials and prices they would expect to pay. If they have good working relationship with the building merchant then prehaps you might be able to get ok rates. Might be worth getting back to clarify the position as he could be good builder(?) but just doesn't understand VAT and tax etc and suggest he speaks to his accountant. Probably worth getting some additional quotes as well.

I'm keeping my eyes open for a wee sail boat and also kayaks, but got to stay focused and put in all resources for the house. I would also like to put in a small jetty at some point.

We are now working our way through first fix for the self build. Our electrician has been busy drilling holes and threading many reels of cables around the house. The other area where we have made some progress is the ducting system. I’ve never ordered ducting before and it took me some time to order all of the parts and then have them to delivered to Skye. This came into two deliveries, both times some of the items were dented and buckled. Some were easy fixed but others required replacements to be sent. I wonder now if this is a common occurrence with others that have ordered ducting online? Once the last parts arrived, I was able to lay it all out to check back to the plan. My plumber will be fitting the ducting which should happen soon. Our brickie will also come back to construct the blockwork for the stove. My next job will be painting the house as the render has now had sufficient time to allow any impurities to be washed away. Although I have been busy with the house and work over the last few weeks, I was lucky enough to be given a wee boat. It was a group effort taking it down the croft and felt great to be on the loch after a few years. Might be the start of a new hobby.

I doubt you would need to give up the day job if going down the project manager route. Most of your work will be in the design, finance and getting the remaining paper out the way. Big advantage if your 3 minutes away. I'm project managing my self build on Skye. Usually when there is activity on site the routine is: Go down in the morning speak with the various contractors and then in the evening check the work/research next step. During your lunch hour, order materials/pay bills. Book annual leave for the landmark days and when all hands are needed on desk (fitting windows etc) Have you consider using a surveyor to carry out inspections and provide certificates to your lender? Might be harder in London, but if you can find a good contractor you can trust, they might have other trades they work with regularly. Your be working on a contractor by contractor basis but you can create synergies if your contractors talk to each other, know the standard of each others work etc

Going off the point, but the build is looking good!

In our area, community land ownership with the exception of managing estate assets is less focused upon agricultural and more on large projects like harbour development, wind turbines etc. Both UK and Foreign land owners often have no interest in improving the vast areas of land in the Highland and Islands, but communities have the ability to do this, by accessing grant funding, raising fund through the community which then allows projects such a hydro or wind turbine to go ahead. These projects then allow funds to be distributed back to the community to help individuals with the costs of completing training or start up grants for small new businesses. Yes this an emotive subject but who has more rights over land, a community that have members who have lived there for generations or a foreign sheikh or billionaire tycoon?

The report touches upon community land ownership in Scotland. This has been very important in the Highlands and Islands to ensure that regeneration and development can occur which then creates job opportunities and improves the local economy.

@K78 I have a suspended timber floor which was specified by our engineer. We did the insulation ourselves took a while. Biggest pain was hopping between joists and not being able to store stuff inside. Slab would have been cheaper and lot less work. You also have a workable surface once it has set.

@nod What is a WD? I've been looking at photos of rendering done around here for older properties and new builds which are probably timber frame. Some incorporate a bellcast bead but they are also rendered underneath but not with a smooth finish so is this render not prone to damp, frost/cracking as well?