Selfbuild second home in my late 20's - too ambitious?

[RockandGrohl]

Looking at the dire state of housing in the UK it's little wonder I'm put off for slapping down £220,000 on a bog-standard uninspired brick & mortar cube with cracked concrete driveway in a crap area, just to have 3 bedrooms to start a family

 

Myself and my partner have been looking down the route of self-building and at heart we are DIY'ers, so we're not afraid of a challenge, can recognise when certain tasks absolutely require a pair of professional hands etc.

 

We're looking at prefab A-frame homes courtesy of Avrame, their Trio 150 house would probably be the last house we ever need and comes in at approximately 35,000 Euros for the kit, which is just the frame, inner and outer walls, flooring, roof, insulation material and instructions that state -  "So easy two people with an intermediate knowledge of DIY can build it in a short timeframe"

 

Now let's say the whole kit and caboodle is going to cost us about £70,000 - that's about £30,000 for the "home", then the rest for the essentials - finishing, kitchen, bathroom, appliances, electricity, plumbing and heating.

 

So now have to look at land. Need 140m2 for -just- the house footprint and ideally would want a garden area and driveway. Looking in Gloucestershire and I hear the best places to look are to actually just start inquiring whenever you see unused bits of land that you may be able to obtain planning permission on after purchase. Failing that, plot websites seem to range between £80,000 - £120,000 depending how lucky you can get. Then we need electricity, water & internet connection. Various applications to councils, plus the rest. I would rather not require a gas supply so we can look at a heat pump as an alternative to a boiler, but that's another £10,000 tacked on.

 

So where are we now? >£150,000... Well we have a shared ownership mortgage at the moment valued at something like £65,000.

 

My question is, we are definitely going to be over our heads, but is all of this worth it? Is it possible for a young couple in their mid to late 20's can do a self-build home, getting help where needed, with a final outcome that's both cheaper and more spacious than just buying a property?

 

 

[Lesgrandepotato]

Yes it’s possible. You’ll need reserve, guts and drive to do it. 
You’ll probably want access to angel capital to help with liquidity. 
 

You are going to have to really want to do this. It is worth it. Did I mention it’s hard ? 

[Bitpipe]

Yes it's possible - every self builder at whatever stage of life is somewhat in over their head!

 

Your immediate challenge will be secure the plot.

 

Also consider dilapidated properties already with services with a view to demolishing & rebuild. These type of properties are not always that attractive to commercial builders, especially if there is only room for one unit, tricky plot etc.

 

Take account of the pre-build professional services which can rack up cost - while you can circumvent some, others are unavoidable. 

 

Look at your current earning capability and decide if you're better off working and hiring someone to do critical skilled bits (like frame erection) vs those jobs where  you can do them yourself in your spare time.

 

Where will you live ? This is a frequently overlooked build cost - If you secure a plot then you can get a cheap second hand caravan and live on site which will save ££. Sell it on after. You have no kids (I assume) so should not be too much of a hardship.

[Temp]

I recommend "How to find and buy a Building Plot" by Roy Speer and others. Try for the latest edition (2010?) and beware planning rules may have changed since your copy was printed

 

The normal advice is to find a plot first then see what sort of house suits the plot. Planners like uniformity of design...except when they don't. In other words if all the houses around your plot are stone clad houses of identical design they are unlikely to allow something radically different in shape and use of materials. However if the plot is already surrounded by a variety of different contemporary/modern designs then one more might be looked on favourably.

 

9 minutes ago, RockandGrohl said:

Need 140m2 for -just- the house footprint and ideally would want a garden area and driveway

 

Ideally you want the plot to be at least twice the foot print of the house because later additions (sheds, garages etc) can be built without planning permission (using Permitted Development Rights) if the total built area would remain less than half the plot.

 

14 minutes ago, RockandGrohl said:

I hear the best places to look are to actually just start inquiring whenever you see unused bits of land that you may be able to obtain planning permission on after purchase

 

Yes and no. That might be the way to get a plot for the lowest price but it's also the highest risk. No land owner sells land without considering its development potential. When you find land for sale without planning permission you have to ask yourself why on earth hasn't the seller tried to get planning permission themselves. Why sell a field for £50K when it might be worth £500,000 when it has planning permission?  Perhaps they have tried and failed. 

 

You also need to beware the land banking scam - people buy a field, divide it into 20 plots and get plans for the whole site drawn up showing roads ets. Plots are sole off at a price that makes them look cheap for a plot with a promise that they will get planning permission for you. Many people have lost money and some are stuck with land they cant even get access to in order to maintain.

 

There are safe ways to buy a plot that doesn't have permission (eg Option to purchase contracts).  

 

There are different precautions you need to take depending on the plot and what's around it.

 

[Temp]

I've mentioned this before but one possibility is to find out where the planning department publishes the weekly list of planning applications received. Look out for applications for Outline Planning Permission as these might be from a land owner preparing a plot for sale.

[Russell griffiths]

Ok mr realist here. 

Are you sure that A frame will comply with building regs, I  have looked at these and they struck me as being more for holiday lets. 

Do you live in Gloucestershire now, I live in Cirencester and regularly look at building plots anywhere from Tewksbury to Cirencester for the budget you are looking at they are not exactly sought after plots, they are normally infill blocks squashed on the end of a row of local authority houses. 

I hope you can prove me wrong, and I wish you all the luck in the world, but I think your figures are unrealistic. 

[Patrick]

37 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

I hope you can prove me wrong, and I wish you all the luck in the world, but I think your figures are unrealistic. 

+1 on this one. I started the process completely unrealistic myself and thought I can do it easily for the kind of money you are talking about @RockandGrohl

 but soon realised that it was impossible. There are so many little bits and bobs that add up. 50£ here and 75£there and this a few times a week and you're quickly adding 1000s together.

The only way of getting something for low money IMHO is to build small with the thought in mind of extending later. Maybe already have the foundations ready for the extension....

but a certain size footprint is just going to cost you x1000£ ++. There are many costing /"how much per sqm" topics on here. And hardly anyone manages less than 1000£. And  look really carefully at the ones that do. They take a looooooong time or got loads of free help or skills themselves (or all of these together).

really not being negative. I am young as well with young family and on a tight  budget but reality was settling in eventually. So be very careful with your calculations and read a lot on this forum.

[ToughButterCup]

You need;

• persistence
• optimism bias
• humour
• guts

The rest is easy.

[Lesgrandepotato]

5 minutes ago, AnonymousBosch said:

You need;

• persistence
• optimism bias
• humour
• guts

The rest is easy.

* liquidity of funds 

[Thedreamer]

I would be surprised that this method is the most affordable way to self build a house.

 

Self builders triangle, you can select two out of time, cost and quality, which are most important to you?

 

Provider will be making a margin on the speedy nature of the kit construction. 

 

I had the choice between moving into a crappy developer house in tarmac town with huge mortgage to fund some fat cat's pension or going on the rollercoaster of self building.

 

Started the process when I was 22, now 33, it's been a long old ride. 

[Miek]

11 hours ago, Lesgrandepotato said:

* liquidity of funds 

 

11 hours ago, AnonymousBosch said:

You need;

• persistence
• optimism bias
• humour
• guts

The rest is easy.

You need :

 

Money

 

The rest is easy

[Ferdinand]

15 hours ago, RockandGrohl said:

Is it possible for a young couple in their mid to late 20's can do a self-build home, getting help where needed, with a final outcome that's both cheaper and more spacious than just buying a property?

 

As I have it by the age of 28 or so Alexander the Great (*) had conquered most of Central Asia from Greece, as far as India. So yes it should be possible ?.

 

According to Wikipedia it was down to a sense of ineffable personal destiny and his relationship with his mother. How do you feel about yourselves and do you get on with your parents? (These are actually important questions as you will come under stress.)

 

But then Alexander did not have to contend with the Planning System.

 

Yes it can be done, and yes people do do it. I would say do not constrain yourself to a self-build necessarily - there is much to be said for restoring sold houses from the pre-asbestos era, and more of these are coming on the market if you have the skills. Mr McDonnell is promising somehow to confiscate a big chunk of the pension capital anyone invests in rental, so until we know where we are the type of basically solid properties that LLs would take on are not shifting as well as usual; around here for example some decent bargains are available.

 

Ferdinand

 

(*) I was going to use Amy Winehouse for my quip, but came up with this gem which is quite the wrong type of example and should be in a Punch and Judy show: In 2006, Winehouse admitted to punching a female fan in the face for criticising her having taken Blake Fielder-Civil as a husband. She then attacked her own spouse as he attempted to calm her down, kneeing him in the crotch.

 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Ferdinand

[jack]

35 minutes ago, Miek said:

Money

 

The rest is easy

 

A family acquaintance who made a packet selling his business has spent several million on a massive house for him and his wife. It's turned out to be an utter nightmare, including him ending up in court with the builders.

 

Money doesn't necessarily obviate the need for the traits @AnonymousBosch listed imo.

 

 

[RockandGrohl]

Hello all, thank you so much for the time, encouragement and warnings. All messages heeded.

 

Land may well be, as predicted, the most worrying aspect. Will look at derelict plots and see what can be done!