Were on earth do i begin. hmmmm

 

ok, about five years ago i came across a part built house for auction. It didnt sell and about three months later my money came through from the divorce settlement.  I really fancied finishing this build off and have a great house sitting on 3/4 acre of land for only £38,000 seemed a good punt.  Well various legal issues were thrown up and getting a mortgage took time.  Finally got both resolved, and sale agreed for t eEcology building Soc to pull out, stating they had changed their critieria.  So there i was stuck with a part built house with no funds to build my dream !!!

 

Not wanting to be stuck, I used my credit cards to fund building materials, took out a loan to put the roof on( loan finishes next June) and just got on with it on my days off.  Now I had time to research a lot of ideas that were floating about and decided to go as near to Passivhaus standards as i could.  That way i was doing my bit for the environment and i would end up with a warm cheap to heat 4 bedroom detached house...

 

Well, then three years ago i found a new partner and the dream house became both of ours. We were able t oget a mortgage and now novel stuff like walls and plastered board appeared, but the £20k odd i had used on the cc's was starting to make things upcomfortable, to the point of eating cornflakes for dinner ( we rent a house and have the mortgage on our new house).  So i told the mortgage a wee pork pie, we had finished plastering and could they realise the next stage monies, which they duly did.  Now we our stuck with a nearly plasterboarded house and no monies to actually plaster it.  Work has taken a downturn so my overtime has gone and i am left with a baisc wage that just doesnt keep us afloat ( we have two wages coming in).

 

So we our stuck living a life we never intended in a house we hate.  I could really do with some perspective as to what my options are???? Please help

 

Paul

 

 

Hi, stick with it, you'll get lots of ideas hopefully from people. I'm hoping you mean you hate the rented house not the dream build? Can you give up the rented house and rough it a bit for a while? 

Can you not turn one room into a “flat” and like above “rough it” for a while (not everyone can do this ?) . Chemical toilet, camping stove/microwave, fan heater, you can then spend your rental money on completing the rest of the house. I mostly spent two years roughing it in a caravan on site to get mine done.

Edited December 9, 20196 yr by joe90

Try and do small things but several at once, that will make you feel like you are moving forward. Bags of plaster don't cost a fortune, and even if you have never plastered before, you will get better. When i first plastered, i had never done it before, and i still hate it because it makes my wrist hurt like hell. But when i have to do it, i can get by. Also, it's important to not beat yourself up. Take time out with your partner, even if it is only to go for a walk, and enjoy getting away from it.  One room at a time would be my way. That and getting out of the rented, which would give you a bit more money to crack on.

Try to stay positive and brain storm ideas: all the options, however daft, just write them down. Then analyse each option by considering the pros and cons. Hopefully then it will become apparent what you should do.

 

You have two wages, which is a great start! Try not to take on too much negativity as it can get you down and stop you thinking clearly. 

The No 1 has to be STOP renting a house.  Move in to the new build in some shape or form, even if that means a static caravan in the garden for now.  Then instantly your outgoings shrink and you are on site to get working.

 

I hope your credit cards borrowing is 0%?  If not make it so. Virgin are currently offering 0% for 29 months with a 3% balance transfer fee.

I took a top down approach with our first place. Once I'd re roofed it I "lived" in the loft with a kettle and box of Oxo cubes. Next we did an upstairs bedroom and both moved in. The only facilities we had for z bit were an outside wc and tap. 

11 hours ago, Onoff said:

I took a top down approach with our first place. Once I'd re roofed it I "lived" in the loft with a kettle and box of Oxo cubes. Next we did an upstairs bedroom and both moved in. The only facilities we had for z bit were an outside wc and tap. 

I like that Onoff. And being in Kent you might not even be a hard as nails Northener like my Mrs.

I agree about getting rid of the rental and roughing it (can you use friends or family for the occasional bath).

Have you thought about an evening job a few nights a week?

If you get one in catering, you may get free supper (my top tip to students).

Sell your cars, get a cheap van (you can sleep in that) and a moped.

Get the credit card paid off and start again.

Have a crack at plastering.  Do you actually have to plaster or can you just make the seems good an paint it.

14 hours ago, Paul23 said:

Now we our stuck with a nearly plasterboarded house and no monies to actually plaster it

 

Welcome, and congratulations in staying sane. Ish.

 

I am sure that there is a Heath Robinson Perpetual Motion Machine to illustrate that one ? .

 

I would concur on the rental. Can you also do anything wrt car, which is always a big outgoing. Switch to a secondhand electric or something in the £20 tax sweet spot or something.

 

If you have all the credit balls in the air, then can you consolidate anything?

 

Remember that you have a legal right to repay Personal Loans early and recover then interest. Could you move it to a zero interest CCard? Not a game to play lightly however - you cut teh new card up and keep paying off at a rate to clear it.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited December 10, 20196 yr by Ferdinand

Like the others have said. Get 1 room finished and live out of it,

 

Its going to be rough, it going to be cold, but its better than been broke and loosing it all....(this wasn't meant to be a limerick, just a happy coincidence) 

 

Try turning your hand to plastering or perhaps tape and join it for the time being so that you can have a bit of comfort and a clean space. If you can look back every week and see small progresses then it will at least help to keep spirits up.

 

Failing that, a bottle of spirits will keep you warm......

 

Edited December 10, 20196 yr by AdamSee

Move in.

I was deeply frustrated to be forced to move in before our house was entirely finished but the experience has proven rather better than expected.

Given you've already been 'through the mill' on your build you are pretty emotionally invested and have already demonstrated patience and determination. 

A spell in a half finished house will just be an enhancement to your adventure and (eventually) your memories of how you dragged the house into life.

We sleep in a plasterboarded bedroom that isn't taped/jointed and has no insulation in the studs or pb on the other side.  The pb screws give it a kind of 'padded cell' look in the dim night light which I find quite cosy!  Power to this room is via extension lead and its unheated, as is everything beyond it in one direction.

In the other direction we walk down a plasterboarded corridor to an open plan room containing a wholly temporary kitchen that cost around £300 to create.  We have come to really like it and realise the total lack of need for an expensive fitted kitchen (which at best can only ever look like just another 'follow the crowd' kitchen)...so our budget, when we get around to it, is now 30% of our original plan, and i credit these enforced living conditions for this saving.

Pointing at the other end of the open plan room we have a temporary staircase with a few bits of 4x2 creating the balustrade/banister.  Living with this has helped me realise my actual plan for the stairs would have been a mistake.  I'm also about to put £10 of temporary pb on it to make a false wall which I can 'do art' on and get mates to 'do art' on at our nye party.

We do have ufh operational here but the reality is we can keep it adequately warm by doing 5 star jumps an hour each.....we are not Passivhaus but moving in that direction.

We have the small lobby bathroom operational....we'd like more but really this is all we need.

If we got lazy (not entirely unlikely) we could live like this for many years.

Your house sounds like its at a stage where you still have opportunities to have creative fun with it, evolve and test aesthetic ideas in-situ, and combined with constrained budget that means you could end up with a far more unique, personal and interesting result than if it was just easy.

From a point of view of viably moving in, where are you at with 1st fix plumbing and electric?

I wouldn't know if you smoke/vape, drink, eat meat...but if you do there's an opportunity to get much healthier which will amongst other things improve your outlook and resistance to the stress of the build, but it'll also save you money.

41 minutes ago, mvincentd said:

a wholly temporary kitchen that cost around £300 to create.  We have come to really like it and realise the total lack of need for an expensive fitted kitchen (which at best can only ever look like just another 'follow the crowd' kitchen)

Estate agent said my house needed a new kitchen (and windows) when I first looked at it.

10 years later, estate agent said 'I love your kitchen, is it new'.

 

 

4 hours ago, mvincentd said:

If we got lazy (not entirely unlikely) we could live like this for many years.

 

I'll be moving in to my house at the earliest opportunity, i.e., functioning kitchen, shower room and one bedroom so there's at least somewhere sane to retreat from the mess in the rest. I fear I'll just stop there.

update

 

have checked at credit cards with a soft search and can only get six months balance transfers for £1000 such is my credit rating

have got one credit card to reduce monthly payments by half and working on the rest

 

my partner refuses to move into an unheated house in winter in fact she now wants to stick the house up for sale

 

how easy is it to plaster? what prep work needs doing?

 

not sure what to do next

 

Paul

You, your partner, or both need to increase your income if you are both fit enough.  Can you move temporarily to get work elsewhere? Take a second job?

Make a list of everything you need to do to get the house habitable. Plastering is nice but not essential. You could fill and tape which would be much cheaper and definitely a diy job unlike putting wet plaster on a wall.

Things like somewhere to cook and clean and to be able to heat the house. Once you are at that stage move in and then go room by room when the money is available.

41 minutes ago, Paul23 said:

 

my partner refuses to move into an unheated house in winter in fact she now wants to stick the house up for sale

 

Understandable at some part of it, but at the other end, it s a silly idea to sell a half finished house while renting at the same time.

+1 on all the previous votes for getting 1 room ready and going bit by bit.

 

Heating isn't such a huge problem tbh. I m in an old council house and everything was on electric heaters when I bought it. Never bothered changing it to gas when I bought it and just put an oil filled electric radiator in the extension when needed. Keeps It nice and warm and it's by no means well insulated.

Main question is, do you have electricity on site (is it connected), is there running water, is there sewer connected? If there is some kind of bathroom, and electricity connected (alternatively a friendly neighbour nearby - you can run extension cable connected to a plug in meter, so neighbours can be reimbursed for extra usage)

happy days

that's all you need to move in.

 

plastering is easy.

it s difficult to do to perfection or to a high standard, but if you are diy hands on, you'll figure the basics out within 1-2days. At least to do it to a level to finish 1bedroom off. I am not a neat and tidy worker. And I never plastered before, but done my office/outbuilding within 3days(40sqm of wall/ceiling surface) . It s a bit rough in some parts, but with the help of YouTube, and a lick of paint, it will look half decent very quick.

 

The main question really is

 

Is there water

Is there electricity

 

Because a bathroom and cooking facility is the main bit to make it habitable.

Getting hot water is easy (electric water heater) as long as there is electricity.

 

Edited January 4, 20206 yr by Patrick

Getting a basic finish on a bedroom to make it habitable should be cheap. ~£100 for the cheapest laminate and underlay, plaster it yourself or 'tape and joint' if you have that sort of plasterboard and a tin of paint would have it looking 'homely' for <£200. Your build is well insulated, so a couple of oil filled radiators would make it locally warm. Living on site would help you to get jobs done on a little and often basis.

 

You spirits may well start to lift when the days get longer and warmer. Hopefully in a few months you'll be much better set with some progress on the house and the finish line seeming more realisable.