New member, building at Graven Hill

[newhome]

2 hours ago, DarrenA said:

 

The Aston Martin man/luxury Moscow woman house is definitely unfinished and empty. One of the later episodes with the lift and lady in a wheelchair (very nice house I thought) might be empty. This is based on the fact that the level entrance isn't done so surely they can't be there. I can't remember the other one and maybe I'm mistaken. I'll check next time I go for a walk. 

 

Thanks. I'm not surprised about the 'Moscow' one but the 'lady in the lift' is surprising as I thought they had actually moved into their house. I liked that house too. 

 

[Visti]

Hey @DarrenA, glad to see another one of us on here! It's Oliver from plot 156 btw. Come by for a chin wag if you fancy!
 

A stunning design, can't wait to see it in person.  The internal layout for the bedrooms is very similar to our own, which given it is square and near the same GIA as ours (184m2) just goes to show it's a fairly solid one too.

 

Plot 290 IIRC? Walked by it today and could see you'd completed as you've moved in a whole bunch of plants in already. Even got a nice little house number painted on a stone too. Congratulations! Big step and hopefully now you can shake off GH and enjoy the project in earnest.

[Visti]

In more general terms:

 

The prices have gone up a lot at GH. Below are the prices of equivalent plots for each phase as I've been tracking them.

• 100k, Phase 0 (Pioneers, The Street)
• 230-250k, Phase 1A
• 300-315k, Phase 1B

Given we paid £255k for 500m2 in Phase 1A, a golden brick of £62k, and actual already at £245k before getting weather tight... That leaves £20k remaining from our budget and we're not finished getting weather-tight. We'll be making no 'profit' as is typically marketed.

 

And that I think is the point, and why GH's prices are high:

1. People are so starved for land to build around here that they are willing to pay such high prices
2. They don't want those who see the project solely as an investment 

I commend them on point #2 in particular, but it doesn't excuse foundation costs being x2-3 the norm nor the absolute inane bureaucracy they put in place. 

 

I'll stop there, GH does no good for my blood pressure!

Edited August 24, 2019 by Visti
Grammar

[eandg]

Looking in from afar, it seems that you'll be getting the house you want for roughly the same £/m2 that a volume developer (or Graven Hill's equivalent) would sell you the identikit house they want for, which doesn't seem a bad deal if you are happy to take a bit of risk and do a bit of graft. 

 

That said, it's a bit frustrating that they seem to be taking the piss with the whole idea of self build for the masses, particularly when a fairly priced golden brick model could be a great idea for replication across the UK. And like some of the other posters on here have alluded to, if those wee 3s are going for £413k how can the average family afford live in that part of the world? We might have more rain but at least shelter from it is  (relatively) cheap in Scotland. 

Edited August 24, 2019 by eandg

[DarrenA]

On 24/08/2019 at 20:19, Visti said:

Hey @DarrenA

Plot 290 IIRC? Walked by it today and could see you'd completed as you've moved in a whole bunch of plants in already. Even got a nice little house number painted on a stone too. 

Yep 290. My wife Christine painted the stone months ago. Also did a painting of the house and 3 different cardboard models. It's so exciting to actually get on site and do some real work. 

We're building in brick and starting with the garden ?. First job is to plant the transplanted trees that are very unhappy with the move and now the weather and putting up our welfare greenhouse. We're keen to sow the grass for the garden but it won't last long on a wet day when the telehandler is around. You can tell this is our first build. 

Sure we will bump into each other soon. 

Edited August 26, 2019 by DarrenA
Tyoo