flanagaj

Ouch. It looks like a simple case of digging a large hole and putting it in the ground. How did they justify 17K given the units are 3-4k?

Having identified a plot, does anyone happen to know what web sites exist for identifying where the existing utilities are in the area so that you can get an idea as to what utilities are available and the rough cost of get them connected. Obviously, a 5 metre trench is going to be considerably cheaper than one 100m away. Thannks

We viewed one yesterday that had this problem. Have to use a Graf treatment plant solution as they don't want additional Nitrates being added to the River Test by connecting the house to the existing foul water system down the road.. The cost is about £3000 - £4000 for the plant.

I would like to know what figure / m2 you would be looking at if you were to literally move in after all first fix / plastering has been done. We would literally move in as soon as I have fitted one bathroom and put a cheap kitchen in and then do the second fix interior work using the proceeds of my wages. I would use a single builder for groundwork and up to plate height and then get individual trades for first fix roof ... I am fortunate that my nephew is an electrician and my brother in law a roofer, so could maybe save in that regard.

Hi All. So my wife and I have sold our house in Dorset and we are ear marked to purchase a property near Newbury (cul de-sac), but we are now reconsidering everything and wondering whether now is a good time to instead go into rented and try and find that elusive plot that has always evaded us. We have 350k equity for a plot and so long as it's within 1 hour of London via train we are pretty flexible regarding the location. I am quite fortunate that I am very practical and cut the roof, made the kitchen, plumbed and fitted bathrooms .... in out current property, so am hoping that we could save a fair amount if we can do a self build. My only concern at present, is whether more plots will come to market, or whether the market will simply just stagnate with people just sitting on plots until interest rates come down and normal service is resumed. Just wondering how others are perceiving the market at the moment and whether it is a good or bad time to be considering a self build. Thanks

Well said! Lockdown and furlough was an absolute disaster. That is why we now have 9% inflation. 99.9% of people had no cause to be worried about covid and we are now all paying the price for the policy response. Taping off outdoor gyms and not being allowed to buy certain good in the supermarkets, is absolutely laughable.

And that is the issue. So not sure how it would work.

It was mainly upstairs that I wanted the extension for.

I'd like to understand whether a planner could refuse simply because of how it would look relative to the other houses. They don't exactly look aesthetically pleasing on the eye as it is.

Can anyone provide any guidance as to the likelihood of being able to get planning permission for a two story extension of the property below. Basically, we are looking to infill the left hand corner to create a utility room and upstairs ensuite. The property is not in a conservation area, and the aerial view is as below. The plan would be to hopefully extend with a contemporary vertical clad based approach. Any pointers welcomed.

That's some really interesting points and ones that I will raise with the agent when I speak with them tomorrow.

It was granted a Application for a Lawful Development Certificate for an Existing use or operation or activity including those in breach of a planning condition. So looks like it was being used as a dwelling for 10 years and they got it granted on that basis.

Thanks Conor. There isn't anything to go on regarding recent planning in the area as it's a very small hamlet and quite a few of the properties nearby are listed. The image below shows the dwelling circled in blue and those which are listed in red.

I have spotted a small coach house https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/135398666#/?channel=RES_BUY that is only 60 sqm, but it sits in a lovely location and has potential to extend. I am just wary of what I need to consider in determining whether it could be extended enough to make it 100 - 120sqm in size. The plot size is shown below (circled in red) and the current dwelling is circled in the smaller circle. Things I have noticed. 1) There is no frontage so could potentially extend on the side and the front? 2) The large tree to the left of the property does not have a TPO (checked on Berkshire interactive map), but wonder if that will be a problem if trying to get it removed to extend that side? 3) Property does sit within a conservation area. 4) The outbuilding is a garage, which burnt down and has planning for replacement (Planning Documents (westberks.gov.uk)) The other thing was whether you could do something very contemporary and join the two structures together and have a glass walkway between them? Would love to get people's thoughts on this one as I am keen to ascertain what possible reasons you could be refused planning to extend on.

I want to add a side extension to the garage. The extension sits on the gable end side of the garage and the garage resides at the back of the property. As I need an internal roof height of 2.5m (need that as it's going to be a gym room) I appreciate I will have to submit a planning application. I want to know whether that will then mean I have to comply with current building regs, eg 100mm insulation in the cavity. I was hoping to use 50 or 75mm insulation in the cavity so as to keep costs down. Thanks

I converted our under stairs area with pull out drawers. The runners are weight rated to 90Kg and allow the drawer to be opened fully. The drawer boxes I constructed were 800mm deep and it enables so much of the space to be used. The other great advantage, is that due to the space being enclosed it keeps really cool, so you can store food stuffs in there too. We find potatoes last so much longer as it's cool and dark. You can store beer in there and it's basically cool enough to drink.

I installed the electrics to our detached garage via a building control notice and the council then sent around their own inspector to check and sign off the works. I now have a new project that I would like to tackle myself (really enjoy plumbing) which is to replace an old open system HW cylinder with a sealed system and at the same time move the cylinder downstairs and also introduce a two zone heating arrangement rather than the current single zone. I just want to know whether you can do this yourself by notifying building control and if so, do I just need to supply them with a diagram / details of the pipework?

Yes. That must be quite a recent video taken. Can you clarify what you mean by "Definitely need a condition report and loads of photos of that road surface before starting. " what is the potential issues that one could face here?

Thanks for the link. I have not looked at an application with just OPP before, so the reserved matters are new to me. I do see that the plans on the agents site are from the reserved matters which were approved.

The LPA searches going back 5 years show no FPP application. I'll speak with the agent regarding what you suggest, eg offer based on the FPP being accepted based on the proposed house.

So I have come across a plot of land with OPP being marketed by Savills. Having cross referenced the application online, it is very clear that their advert of "with full PP" is blatantly incorrect and I am concerned that they are trying it on. The plot has OPP and when I look at the documents online at the LPA I see the following drawing (Image1). On the agents advert, they also show the two drawings of a finalised property and floor plan. Having looked on street view, the next door property and the remainder of the road is full of the properties shown in image 4. So what I am trying to deduce is what due diligence can be done to determine whether the proposed house is something that would be acceptable to the planners, before parting with the cash. My main concern here, is that the block plan which was submitted as part of the OPP application is nothing like images 2 / 3 and I am concerned that those drawings have been made up to try and sell the plot even though you'd never get that approved in the FPP application. Thanks

Looking at street view would seem to suggest that most of the properties are indeed set back from the road.

Is it true that getting planning for a garage that will sit in front of the main house will be problematic? The bungalow is shown below and there is plenty of room to the left of the house to put a garage in angled at 90 degrees to the main property. This would then enable the single garage attached to the property to be used for other accommodation purposes?

Thanks. I was absolutely shocked when I looked yesterday and saw moisture resistant 18mm * 600mm * 2440mm chipboard flooring at £22 a sheet!. I nearly fell off my chair. In 2007 when we refurbished our current property, I was paying circa £4 / sheet Would be good to understand what products have been hit hardest by inflation. For example, knowing that timber has gone up a lot, might change the design decision to use oak or cedar cladding to clad the whole upper floor of a contemporary build, and instead have to rethink or use an alternative material.