Planning approved, need to start building

[JaneM]

Hi All,

 

We were granted planning approval in July for a 4 bed barn style home.

 

We needed to gather information for free as this is the first time my husband and I have built a whole house.

 

After months of bedtime reading of buildhub I've bitten the bullet and registered so that I can enlist help from you all with your obvious vast knowledge of planning and self building.

 

Our first hurdle was the archaeological condition (still not completely sorted), Norfolk is littered with archaeology and we are lucky enough to have some on our plot of which we were not previously aware.

 

The 21 conditions on our planning permission could take a while.

 

The steering on the dumper we bought packed up, there is an oil leak on the digger and we haven't even started.

 

I think we will need a lot of help any information would be gratefully received.

 

I hope I can help others along the way although I don't know much and I look forward reading many more hints and tips from the buildhub community over the coming months and years.

 

Let's hope it's not too many years until completion.

 

[ProDave]

Hi and welcome to the forum. You are in good company here.  21 planning conditions sounds like hard work so just work through them one at a time.

 

Sorry to hear about the digger and dumper problems. There are a few on here who bought their own plant (including me but I have now sold my digger as its work was done) who may be able to help. 
 

[Gone West]

Hi Jane, welcome and good luck with the build. From experience I can tell you that the years pass by far too quickly when self building.

[jack]

Welcome Jane.  Sounds like an interesting project. 

[ToughButterCup]

Hello Jane, welcome and good luck.

There isn't one builder on this forum that hasn't had several minor  and the odd major hiccup(s) Rolling with the punches or tide or whatever cliche you fancy is the norm.

 

Make a simple table of your conditions. Have a column about what you're doing to fulfill it and then a 'by when column', followed by 'whom'. I made a folder in a filing cabinet and kept all the relevant documents in sub folders. It's too easy to lose track.

Your pre-commencement conditions are the ones on which to focus just now.

Regards

Ian

[joe90]

Welcome and good luck, my dumper is useless and my digger uses more hydraulic oil than diesel but it's the best fun ever to play with ?.

[Temp]

Yes work through all the conditions starting with any that prevent you starting work. There is a fee for getting conditions discharged but it is per request not per condition so you can save money by applying for several conditions to be discharged at the same time. 

 

That said I wouldn't wait too long to apply. For example it's possible for someone like the conservation officer to tell you verbally he is happy with a proposal, then before you get it discharged he quits and the new man takes a different view. So if you get verbal agreement on a difficult condition get your application to discharge in as soon as possible.

[JaneM]

Thank you all for your warm welcome and advice.

 

You all make it sound so simple.

 

Good news, the man we brought the dumper from has said he'll try to fix it. 

[Ness]

Hey Jane.... welcome! I am a fellow Norfolker.... where abouts are you? We're near Thetford forest and I hear you on the conditions. We had 21 also, but in some stoke of genuis.... well a huge accident, we had amendments and actually had 2 live applications. One with only 12 conditions which is the one we are building too now, although the council accepted all the plans from the 21 conditions so we have way less hoops to jump though now. 

 

Hubby is a builder and although this is our first complete build, we have done quite a few renovations etc.... so if we can help, just give us a shout. Since planning, we have pretty much done most things ourselves.... so I have learnt some of the lingo.... lol! Good luck with everything  

[JaneM]

We are also near Thetford Forest near Great Hockham and would appreciate any advice as we are planning  doing as much as possible ourselves.

Our architect has just finished the foundation drawings and after reading about your problems I am a little apprehensive.

 

[Ness]

Sorry for the late reply @JaneM..... I've been really poorly this week  

 

I cant believe your in Hockham.... it's crazy..... we are practically neighbours! We are in East Harling..... it's a small world.... lol! I will message you, maybe you could pop over next week for a cuppa and we have a nose at these conditions. Breckland have been pretty good (I bug them a lot.... lol) Also Holdens are great at repairs of the digger and dumper, we use them all the time and they are really reasonably priced.  

Edited January 8, 2017 by Ness