Hello! Completely inexperienced and probably out of my depth!

[Ellkell]

20 minutes ago, pocster said:

Anything is only worth what someone will pay for it . Even with no plans you can get a rough valuation on what ( for example ) a 4 bed house at x sq metres is worth . Then you can get a build cost ( unless you are planning to do the work yourself ??? ) .

Nope. That would not end well. 

[Pocster]

1 minute ago, Ellkell said:

Nope. That would not end well. 

Disagree 

[Ellkell]

23 minutes ago, AliG said:

Although the theoretically correct way to price a plot up is to remove a developer's 15-20% profit from the price, the reality is that self build plots often go for a price that means they are around breakeven. So the plot plus house build is roughly the value of the finished house. Self builders seem happy with this as they benefit from getting the house that they want.

 

I suspect that developers look at it in a much more hard nosed fashion as well as having volume/experience benefits, so their build cost would be 15-20% less and that is where their profit would come from.

 

I found the planing site and planning application. It is not a conservation area and it looks like other houses have been built in garden ground nearby in the 80s. I thought 500sq metres might be small sites but nearby they have allowed houses to be built taking up most of the site, the houses are described as 4/5 bed with double garages.

 

So you could probably build a 200ish sq metre house plus double garage valued at around £450,000, guessing from values in the area. This makes the site a little overpriced depending on build costs.

 

Reading the planning permission there are a number of conditions re landscaping etc. I think it might be quite difficult to buy and build on one only and they probably want to sell it as a whole to a developer. It is also not clear how access would be shared between the three houses if you just bought one plot. No site plan was available on the council site.

 

 

I asked the vendor about access when I met with her as that was a concern. And another concern is what a neighbour may build and as you say, take up the plot. We figured that size based on those plans but that wouldn’t really be worth our while and in all honesty can’t see them selling for that price. She doesn’t want to sell to a developer. She’s already had an offer and a note of interest, she said she’s rather sell to families. 
Can I ask where you saw the part about landscaping please? Thanks. 

[AliG]

Decision notice here

 

https://pad.renfrewshire.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00419042.pdf

 

Handling report here

 

https://pad.renfrewshire.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00419043.pdf

 

Have they shown you the layout that they gave to the council? One of the sites the council say would probably have to be single storey.

 

Just reading the reports it seems like it would be quite hard to meet the conditions without applying for the whole site at once. I think that this makes it somewhat more complicated than normal and I would want legal advice.

 

I would think that the sites are worth more like £100-125k if you reckon that my value for a finished house is correct.

Edited September 6, 2020 by AliG

[nod]

1 hour ago, Ellkell said:

This is interesting, thanks. 
And yes, this is an issue here. It’s split as three but should only be two. Ideally we’d buy all three, develop one and sell on and then do our own behind it. There’s no conditions with planning so if three people buy they can develop exactly at the want so could block light etc. Also, because squeezed in a bit the gardens are north facing but if we did two we could turn them 90 degrees and go with west gardens which I’d prefer. We can’t do that at current asking price though. 

Yes we are buying two plots and considering  yielding just one 

 

The problem with sellers is they seem to think you can build a house much cheaper than you actually can 

 

We looked at one plot The owner new we had just finished building ours It didn’t stop him telling us 

“I know for a fact you could build a cracking house here for a 100 k

?

[Ellkell]

22 minutes ago, AliG said:

Decision notice here

 

https://pad.renfrewshire.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00419042.pdf

 

Handling report here

 

https://pad.renfrewshire.gov.uk/NorthgatePublicDocs/00419043.pdf

 

Have they shown you the layout that they gave to the council? One of the sites the council say would probably have to be single storey.

 

Just reading the reports it seems like it would be quite hard to meet the conditions without applying for the whole site at once. I think that this makes it somewhat more complicated than normal and I would want legal advice.

 

I would think that the sites are worth more like £100-125k if you reckon that my value for a finished house is correct.

Thank you. I’ll get a good look at these. The ideal would be to have the three, develop 1&2 for us and 3 as a 1.5 storey so I’ll read these properly. She didn’t say that about single storey. My gut was exactly those prices you gave so I’m glad about that. Thanks very much. Really appreciate your time. 

[Bitpipe]

Do the plots have appropriate vehicular access and what about services (water, electric at a min, sewage & gas also)?

 

You can't assume that you can 'tap off' services to the existing house as there are all sorts of rules that may require paying for a more expensive connection.

 

How 'buildable' are the plots, flat and level, easy for construction vehicles to access? Is any site prep needed?

 

You need to cost up these 'preliminaries' as they will come out of your budget before you spend a penny towards the house itself.

 

Any mature trees that could get TPOs or complicate building works?

 

Good rule of thumb for the build itself is £1500/m2 for decent finish - smaller dwellings will cost more and bigger ones less due to economies of scale. Hard to drive that cost down much unless you undertake a lot of work yourself (what is your time worth) and very easy to spend more, especially if there are tricky conditions or the spec runs away with you.

 

As a self builder, I'd not expect to make a profit and perhaps even a small loss against current market value as you're building a one off for your future enjoyment (vs sell on). If you employ a main contractor, they will expect to make a profit on the build.

 

Often, the best way to get a plot is to buy a dilapaded or tired house on a nice plot and flatten it. While you write off the value of the original dwelling, you gain from established services and access.

 

[Ellkell]

22 minutes ago, nod said:

Yes we are buying two plots and considering  yielding just one 

 

The problem with sellers is they seem to think you can build a house much cheaper than you actually can 

 

We looked at one plot The owner new we had just finished building ours It didn’t stop him telling us 

“I know for a fact you could build a cracking house here for a 100 k

?

Ha! As much as I’m inexperienced I think I’m being realistic. Hope I am anyway!!

[Ferdinand]

Welcome.

 

Hmm. If you are out of your depth you:

 

a) Learn to swim

b) Get some flotation device

c) Return to the shallow end or

d)  er .. oggle cockle oggle cockle oggle cockle...

 

(He said helpfully ?.)

Ferdinand

Edited September 6, 2020 by Ferdinand

[Ellkell]

14 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

Do the plots have appropriate vehicular access and what about services (water, electric at a min, sewage & gas also)?

 

You can't assume that you can 'tap off' services to the existing house as there are all sorts of rules that may require paying for a more expensive connection.

 

How 'buildable' are the plots, flat and level, easy for construction vehicles to access? Is any site prep needed?

 

You need to cost up these 'preliminaries' as they will come out of your budget before you spend a penny towards the house itself.

 

Any mature trees that could get TPOs or complicate building works?

 

Good rule of thumb for the build itself is £1500/m2 for decent finish - smaller dwellings will cost more and bigger ones less due to economies of scale. Hard to drive that cost down much unless you undertake a lot of work yourself (what is your time worth) and very easy to spend more, especially if there are tricky conditions or the spec runs away with you.

 

As a self builder, I'd not expect to make a profit and perhaps even a small loss against current market value as you're building a one off for your future enjoyment (vs sell on). If you employ a main contractor, they will expect to make a profit on the build.

 

Often, the best way to get a plot is to buy a dilapaded or tired house on a nice plot and flatten it. While you write off the value of the original dwelling, you gain from established services and access.

 

Thank you. Vehicular access is an issue as it’s a private drive for three houses so I wanted to know who is responsible for that but she couldn’t tell me. 
services are on site as there were previously flats on the land but water board is out this week to investigate further. At the moment there’s a tennis court and a derelict pool on site. Many trees to be removed. Yes, all adding up!!  

[Ellkell]

9 minutes ago, Ferdinand said:

Welcome.

 

Hmm. If you are out of your depth you:

 

a) Learn to swim

b) Get some flotation device

c) Return to the shallow end or

d)  er .. drown

 

(He said helpfully ?.)

Ferdinand

Think this site counts as b ?

I may resort to c though!

[nod]

27 minutes ago, Ellkell said:

Ha! As much as I’m inexperienced I think I’m being realistic. Hope I am anyway!!

We had our newly built home valued on Friday 

Two local estate agents 50k apart on valuation Quite surprising really 

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, Ellkell said:

Think this site counts as b ?

 

 

Some of it ... ???