Bitpipe Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 On 29/10/2019 at 22:45, ykhan16 said: My wife pretty much made it clear from the start that we would have to stay at our current house whilst the build was taking place. It is much closer to her workplace (and the train station for me), and my parents literally live opposite and really help out looking after and collecting our kids from school. Mostly though we dont want to disrupt our kids studies and they need space and some quiet for that. How old are your kids? We moved into a caravan on site with ours aged 8 & 10 and moved into the new house just before the oldest started senior school. They loved it to be honest, we muddled through but was not as bad as you'd think - in fact our van had more floor space than the sister in law's new build flat in London. We were 10 years older than you when we started and both working full time - I was lucky in that I did not need to go to office every day but was in and out of London regularly, week long trips internationally etc. Totally understand that your other half is not keen (and that is important) but if your budget really is that tight then you need to be prepared to make some significant but short term sacrifices to achieve your goal. If your plot is really 7 mins from your existing house then that's hardly insurmountable logistics for getting to and from work, parents etc. I know our pre-design budget more or less doubled but we stayed close to £1500 / m2. There are a lot of non build costs that you need to factor in, professional services being the main one, but also utility connections, access, landscaping etc. Take all that out and divide by £1250 (being generous) and see how many m2 you can get away with. A professional PM will want 10% of build budget, a general contractor will add a similar overhead to the build cost. How much is your rent / mortgage per month? Times that by 12 (or 18) and that's money you can spend on the build. A decent 12ft x 40ft caravan can be got for a few thousand and sold on for the same at the end of the project, ditto a big site container for your stuff. Our 18 months of caravan accommodation had a net cost of £1250 which was £70 per month. Even a two bed flat in our town would have been the guts of £1500/month. We even made a profit on the container If you were very wealthy then you could commission a turnkey built house, maintain an un-interrupted life style and waltz in when it was complete without ever getting mud on your shoes , otherwise... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 24 minutes ago, Bitpipe said: How much is your rent / mortgage per month? Times that by 12 (or 18) and that's money you can spend on the build Typo? Per year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 1 minute ago, Ferdinand said: Typo? Per year? Monthly accommodation cost x number of months the build takes = savings (assuming fixed cost of living on site) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Living on site will incur council tax for the static caravan. I am currently paying £98 per month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 What I did as I knew the build would take a long time I.e years . Is buy somewhere . Then no rent . Also ‘n’ years later property has appreciated ( buy what will appreciate not what you want ! ) and you’ll get your deposit back + uplift !! . All to spend on your build !! ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, pocster said: What I did as I knew the build would take a long time I.e years . Is buy somewhere . Then no rent . Also ‘n’ years later property has appreciated ( buy what will appreciate not what you want ! ) and you’ll get your deposit back + uplift !! . All to spend on your build !! ??? But it drove you mad along the way... Edited October 31, 2019 by Ferdinand 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 Just now, Ferdinand said: But it drove you bonkers... Yeah ; a small price to pay ..... ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bitpipe Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 23 minutes ago, ProDave said: Living on site will incur council tax for the static caravan. I am currently paying £98 per month. Cheaper than living in a band D house though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 26 minutes ago, Bitpipe said: Cheaper than living in a band D house though... Yes band A for the caravan, and they don't seem in a hurry to value the house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ykhan16 Posted October 31, 2019 Author Share Posted October 31, 2019 4 hours ago, Bitpipe said: How old are your kids? We moved into a caravan on site with ours aged 8 & 10 and moved into the new house just before the oldest started senior school. They loved it to be honest, we muddled through but was not as bad as you'd think - in fact our van had more floor space than the sister in law's new build flat in London. We were 10 years older than you when we started and both working full time - I was lucky in that I did not need to go to office every day but was in and out of London regularly, week long trips internationally etc. Totally understand that your other half is not keen (and that is important) but if your budget really is that tight then you need to be prepared to make some significant but short term sacrifices to achieve your goal. If your plot is really 7 mins from your existing house then that's hardly insurmountable logistics for getting to and from work, parents etc. I know our pre-design budget more or less doubled but we stayed close to £1500 / m2. There are a lot of non build costs that you need to factor in, professional services being the main one, but also utility connections, access, landscaping etc. Take all that out and divide by £1250 (being generous) and see how many m2 you can get away with. A professional PM will want 10% of build budget, a general contractor will add a similar overhead to the build cost. How much is your rent / mortgage per month? Times that by 12 (or 18) and that's money you can spend on the build. A decent 12ft x 40ft caravan can be got for a few thousand and sold on for the same at the end of the project, ditto a big site container for your stuff. Our 18 months of caravan accommodation had a net cost of £1250 which was £70 per month. Even a two bed flat in our town would have been the guts of £1500/month. We even made a profit on the container If you were very wealthy then you could commission a turnkey built house, maintain an un-interrupted life style and waltz in when it was complete without ever getting mud on your shoes , otherwise... I have two boys aged 9 and 13- youngest is gearing up for 11+ entrance exams and my eldest will be in year 10 next year so beginning his GCSE's. Dont really want give them too much disruption- I know I would blame myself if they underachieved after living through upheaval or none ideal conditions. But about the caravan idea- well definitely my wife's not keen on it. More than just the lack of space, there is a real stigma (in asian cultures at least) of living out of a caravan which some people might find hard to understand. Personally i'm not really sure there's a huge benefit of selling up and caravaning. A year in a caravan would save £5k on repayments and I would get maybe £20K from the sale with the current equity. Is it not a better option to stay at home- ignore the landscaping, leave the ensuite unfinished, keep my old furnishings etc (i.e. equivalent short term sacrifices as you put it)- then finish up on these things after moving in and selling the old place? Anyone can suggest if this is realistic or is there something i'm not considering? (which is quite likely! ) It is definitely frustrating though. We've saved for such a long time, bought land and even with decent jobs we're struggling to build something thats not in the least bit extravagant. Oh well i'm going to the Homebuilding and Renovating show tomorrow in Harrogate. Hopefully i'll pick up some useful info there! Maybe see some of you there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roundtuit Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 We rented for what turned out to be 2 years. A big lump of cash gone, but with 2 teenage kids studying, it kept family life on an even keel whilst the build was progressing. If we'd tried the caravan option, I'm pretty sure I'd only be seeing the kids every other weekend now! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 (edited) On 29/10/2019 at 22:47, Onoff said: I'd love to live in a caravan whilst my wife stays in our current house...... Not sure if it has been mentioned, but a common approach here is to bring the electric in to a cupboard or kiosk near the site boundary so you have a site supply from the go, then to put in on eg a zero standing charge tariff. Then your own electric superhero version of Storm (see Marvel) can do in-site work later. I do not see why that requires drawings. Ferdinand Edited November 1, 2019 by Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue B Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 On our last build our kids were year 12 and the older one just left school. We could only fit a 28’ caravan on the site so we rented a house for 10 months that they stayed in and we lived in the caravan with the cats - the cheapest houses to rent were in the middle of the town so I couldn’t move the cats there (there were 5 of them). We just couldn’t all fit it in the caravan. It meant £10k wasted but we couldn’t have lived any other way. We moved into a water tight shell of a house. No heating, one working toilet and shower and no kitchen for 2 years. It’s hard work and stressful but worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ykhan16 Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 Eeek that doesnt sound very enjoyable @Sue B- glad you've made it through to the other side though! Homebuilding exhibition was good- mooched around the stands, spoke to some suppliers and listened to some experts. Came away feeling upbeat and positive about the road ahead- which i suppose the show is designed to do! Got a few ideas now and some pieces of the jigsaw seem to be slowly coming together in my mind - time for more research! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteamyTea Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 On 31/10/2019 at 23:01, ykhan16 said: Anyone can suggest if this is realistic or is there something i'm not considering? (which is quite likely! There is the VAT position and the certificate of completion. But then there is also cashflow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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