noobuilder Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Hello all, We are planning to build a 300m2 house around 6 miles outside Cambridge. We already own the land which is to the front of our bungalow where we live. Have tried to sell the plot for a few months as the planned house is too large for our needs really but maximises the use of the 1/4 acre plot. Having struggled to find a buyer, we have now seriously started to look at the feasibility of building it ourselves and this seems to have reignited our desire to self build. We are getting quite excited about the prospect now! We've been to all the shows and had an interest in self build for many years. We did consume a bungalow 5 years ago, transforming it into a 4 bed chalet house so we've come close to building but the feeling that we haven't done a scratch build is still there.. Anyway, just introducing ourselves and saying hello. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Alphonsox Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Hi and welcome to the forum. It sounds like you have a fun project about to take off, what are you planning to build on your plot ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Well @noobuilder, its good to feel the energy in your enthusiasm. 52 minutes ago, noobuilder said: [...]We did consume a bungalow 5 years ago, [...] Now that, that takes skill. Ian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Welcome. The one point that I would make is that making money from self-building is far less likely these days if experience of our members is anything to go by, if that were your aim. But I am sure you will be running your numbers carefully. Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 (edited) You've also got to consider your finances, do you have the financial wherewithal to pay for the self build whilst retaining the original home? Some here have struggled financially when to finish their self build, when all their capital is tied up in another property their trying to sell. Edited January 14, 2017 by Triassic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noobuilder Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 1 hour ago, Alphonsox said: Hi and welcome to the forum. It sounds like you have a fun project about to take off, what are you planning to build on your plot ? Thanks Well, its a barn look/style, featheredge clad, half hipped house in a T shape. 4/5 beds and fairly standard layout but we love the idea of a vaulted dining hall (hence the 4 bedrooms as an alternative). We want to build in masonry as we are fairly near to the road and think that will give us better sound insulation. Currently confusing ourselves with MVHR benefits to possibly further reduce sound from outside...but then we need to put up with the noise of the fans! Much to consider. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noobuilder Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 2 minutes ago, Triassic said: You've also got to consider your finances, do you have the financial wherewithal to pay for the self build whilst retaining the original home? Some here have struggled financially when to finish their self build, when all their capital is tied up in another property their trying to sell. Good point and its something we are thinking about at the moment. The answer is yes, we could afford to borrow the build cost against the bungalow or do a self build mortgage but are worried that we would be left with the bungalow to sell at the end. It would be good to live on site of course so staying put makes a lot of sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noobuilder Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 1 hour ago, Ferdinand said: Welcome. The one point that I would make is that making money from self-building is far less likely these days if experience of our members is anything to go by, if that were your aim. But I am sure you will be running your numbers carefully. Ferdinand Yes, I agree. We fall more in to the category of self building our "dream home" but a design that would have suited us a bit better a few years ago when all three kids were at home! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triassic Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 (edited) I agree, living on site has its advantages and it saves money, no rent to pay for temporary accommodation. You've just got to consider how easy it will be to sell the bungalow, a few on here have found that they've had to spend time and money on things like painting and decorating, gardening etc, the sort of things that can be neglected when all your focus is on the new property, but things that can put buyers off when viewing. Edited January 14, 2017 by Triassic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMitchells Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 How exciting and good luck. From listening to others on MVHR, it shouldnt make much noise at all. If it does, it might mean its not set up correctly. We are planning to build too hopefully soon but I have always preferred the timber route and they are brilliant these days, no noise from outside, warm and comfortable and its easy to move walls around afterwards. We'll be building a low energy house, looking towards Passivhaus but not bothered if its not quite there. Keep us all informed and we'll enjoy the build with you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noobuilder Posted January 14, 2017 Author Share Posted January 14, 2017 4 minutes ago, Triassic said: I agree, living on site has its advantages and it saves money, no rent to pay for temporary accommodation. You've just got to consider how easy it will be to sell the bungalow, a few on here have found that they've had to spend time and money on things like painting and decorating, gardening etc, the sort of things that can be neglected when all your focus is on the new property, but things that can put buyers off when viewing. And, will it be easier to sell the bungalow when the house is completed and we are living there (we are nice neighbours..) as opposed to selling it with a pending building site for 12-18 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, noobuilder said: And, will it be easier to sell the bungalow when the house is completed and we are living there (we are nice neighbours..) as opposed to selling it with a pending building site for 12-18 months. That is all true, and you can be tax efficient when building in your own garden. However, I would still put a question mark over building your dream home as it would have been a decade ago. I hope you don't mind trenchant arguments - most people welcome strong opinions as "iron striking iron" even if they reject them. If you plan to stay then don't you need to be building the dream home you want to live in in 2025 not 2005 or you could end up with lots of cleaners and 2 or 3 permanently empty bedrooms? Is it better to reconsider? I currently live in somebody else's dream home which didn't suit them after their kids left, and then stopped coming back as much since they developed families and responsible jobs away. Unfortunately for them they never completely finished while they still needed it and then the market tanked and the cost won over the benefit. However it suits me perfectly and they had to drop their price by 20% as it was 2013. All I did was build the conservatory and gravel the drive, and have fixed some corners they seem to have cut, and I have a lovely home. To be fair I had previously had to drop *mine* by significantly more than that to shift what was my parents' house of 35 years. Options could be to have a design which is smaller but suitable for extension but not build the extension (or do a further PP afterwards for an extra wing and just lock in the PP by building foundations), or build something that could be split later, or build two, or do something extravagant for real fun such as a gym or 4 car garage for the classic cars you are about to collect, which could be converted later, or a ballroom. Or think of something to do with the other half of it you may not use. In Cambridge, however, you probably won't have selling problems for a large family house unless all the Sky Is Falling In predictions about Brexit coming from the various Professors Henny Penny in academe turn out to be even worse than feared, as you are in the London penumbra. Ferdinand Edited January 14, 2017 by Ferdinand 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Hi and welcome to the forum. "the planned house is too large for our needs really but maximises the use of the 1/4 acre plot" Well build a smaller house that suits your needs, perhaps designing it so it could be easily extended later if you need more space. We are building a modest 3 bedroom house on a plot nearly 1/3 of an acre. I don't feel I am under usilising the plot in any way, it is the house that suits our needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simplysimon Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 hi and welcome, a 300mm-350mm twin stud or i beam wall fill with pumped cellulose will be warm and quiet, 3g windows, good design and mvhr = passive. i agree on the smaller footprint with founds poured incase of extension. futureproof running costs for the future. simon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Construction Channel Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 Welcome indeed. 6miles from Cambridge means we are not to far apart depending which direction you are going? Dunno if that's a good thing or not but good luck either way. I'm fairly sure the fact you found this place will make it a "better" if not "cheaper" build 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 15 hours ago, noobuilder said: Currently confusing ourselves with MVHR benefits to possibly further reduce sound from outside...but then we need to put up with the noise of the fans! Much to consider. We put MVHR in our build and I think it was one of our best decisions as the air feels a lot fresher than in any of the five house we've lived in before. The fan unit is located in a void over the back door porch so some way from the bedrooms. You can't hear it at all. even when stood under it. Some of the room vents do make a little noise but it's a faint whisper and not something we are really conscious of at all. Our oil boiler and wind outside make more noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noobuilder Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 13 minutes ago, Temp said: We put MVHR in our build and I think it was one of our best decisions as the air feels a lot fresher than in any of the five house we've lived in before. The fan unit is located in a void over the back door porch so some way from the bedrooms. You can't hear it at all. even when stood under it. Some of the room vents do make a little noise but it's a faint whisper and not something we are really conscious of at all. Our oil boiler and wind outside make more noise. Thanks Temp. That's helpful. As we get closer to the decision, we'll try and get to see an installation for ourselves too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noobuilder Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 13 hours ago, Ferdinand said: That is all true, and you can be tax efficient when building in your own garden. However, I would still put a question mark over building your dream home as it would have been a decade ago. I hope you don't mind trenchant arguments - most people welcome strong opinions as "iron striking iron" even if they reject them. If you plan to stay then don't you need to be building the dream home you want to live in in 2025 not 2005 or you could end up with lots of cleaners and 2 or 3 permanently empty bedrooms? Is it better to reconsider? I currently live in somebody else's dream home which didn't suit them after their kids left, and then stopped coming back as much since they developed families and responsible jobs away. Unfortunately for them they never completely finished while they still needed it and then the market tanked and the cost won over the benefit. However it suits me perfectly and they had to drop their price by 20% as it was 2013. All I did was build the conservatory and gravel the drive, and have fixed some corners they seem to have cut, and I have a lovely home. To be fair I had previously had to drop *mine* by significantly more than that to shift what was my parents' house of 35 years. Options could be to have a design which is smaller but suitable for extension but not build the extension (or do a further PP afterwards for an extra wing and just lock in the PP by building foundations), or build something that could be split later, or build two, or do something extravagant for real fun such as a gym or 4 car garage for the classic cars you are about to collect, which could be converted later, or a ballroom. Or think of something to do with the other half of it you may not use. In Cambridge, however, you probably won't have selling problems for a large family house unless all the Sky Is Falling In predictions about Brexit coming from the various Professors Henny Penny in academe turn out to be even worse than feared, as you are in the London penumbra. Ferdinand Its a complicated tale but basically, we had a tortuous process with the planners and had to go to appeal in the end. So the thought of amending the plans isn't something we feel up to... The design doesn't lend itself to a phased build really. I love the idea of a classic car collection though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fallingditch Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 (edited) 16 hours ago, noobuilder said: Well, its a barn look/style, featheredge clad, half hipped house in a T shape. 4/5 beds and fairly standard layout but we love the idea of a vaulted dining hall ... in masonry Welcome! This site has helped me make critical decisions at all stages of the build (and then some). We are now at 1st fix, ten months into a 240 sq m masonry build near Colchester (with MVHR). We chose masonry because of the (very remote) possibility of flooding, However we went lightweight autoclaved blocks so as to avoid a big piling job. Masonry does come with overheads. Happy to show you round Edited January 15, 2017 by Fallingditch typo typo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onoff Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 A big house with lots of bedrooms will no doubt become a grandchildren magnet with the hordes descending for holidays & festivities. Just when you thought you'd got rid of the kids! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noobuilder Posted January 15, 2017 Author Share Posted January 15, 2017 38 minutes ago, Fallingditch said: Welcome! This site has helped me make critical decisions at all stages of the build (and then some). We are now at 1st fix, ten months into a 240 sq m masonry build near Colchester (with MVHR). We chose masonry because of the (very remote) possibility of flooding, However we went lightweight autoclaved blocks so as to avoid a big piling job. Masonry does come with overheads. Happy to show you round Thanks Fallingditch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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