Self build in Sussex - complete newbies

[Helen Vowls]

Hi,

We are just in the process of buying an acre plot of land in Sussex.  We are utter newbies and one minute I think we know what we are doing and the other i realise we’ve no clue!

We are talking to Scandia Hus and have been really impressed with them - not salesy and for novices like us they are able to really guide us through a process.  We are thinking of getting them to take us to watertight and then we will take over and either employ a project manager we know or co-ordinate it ourselves.

Are we looking at this way too simplistically?!  Scandia to us seem a great option as they are local.

Would love advice!

[Bored Shopper]

Hi and welcome! An acre plot sounds like a dream

Can't comment on Scandia Hus, but to be honest, if you survive until the watertight stage, you won't need a PM - by then you will be quite confident to finish the whole thing (as long as you pay attention and learn from Day 1).

[Mr Punter]

Hi Helen

 

I am also in Sussex.

 

Have you got planning consent for a design you are happy with?

 

Scandia Hus do fairly standard timber frame and can be quite expensive but worth keeping on the list for comparisons.

[nod]

It’s as easy as that 

No need for a manager 

Just take your time employing trades

and remember good trades are always busy and worth waiting for 

Book well ahead 

 

Good luck 

 

 

[Thorfun]

welcome. I was where you were about 10 months ago.

 

we had a quote from Scandia as well as many other TF companies and Scandia without a doubt were the most expensive company ever! even for just the TF they were nearly double anyone else. I know they're local but do look further afield (although there are also TF companies local that aren't as expensive) as well. if you want a package company to get you to watertight then possibly consider MBC. many on here have used them and we have good friends that have used them who are also in West Sussex. They did the foundations, TF and windows/doors and I can guarantee you it's a lot less than Scandia will charge you.

 

We've gone for Flight Timber based in Essex as they were local-ish to West Sussex and we were impressed with the quality of work when we visited another site they were building. it was a good price as well! the only reasons we didn't go for MBC is that we're having a basement and so they wouldn't do the foundations and also, as we needed to cut costs by adding the insulation ourselves, their TF without insulation was substantially more than Flight Timber. here's my blog post detailing our decisions on TF and other things.

 

 

I wish you the best of luck and get lots of TF quotes!

Edited November 7, 2020 by Thorfun
typo

[Helen Vowls]

Thank you everyone for your comments.  My husband is keen to go with SH as they have been the best in terms of comms so far but you're right, we need more quotes.  We have oakwrights but to be honest whilst we want a traditional house (we are in a conservation area), we don't want it packed with beams. 

Now going to spend my afternoon reaching out to other firms!

 

Also, SH have an inhouse architecture service which we would use.  We have planning agreed however want to tweak, although not significantly, so will also reach out to architects as well!

 

Thanks again for the support , I feel like an utter novice!

[Thorfun]

if you want a turnkey solution then Scandia and Oakwrights would probably suit, but if you want to project manage then they'd be incredibly expensive to get you to a watertight stage when compared to other companies as those other companies will do that much cheaper. ultimately, you want someone to build you a timber frame and put windows in and a roof on. 

 

by doing some of the project management yourself or just getting to watertight stage then you'll be losing the benefits of a turnkey company.

 

that's just my 2 cents btw and you need to do what you're comfortable with.

[Helen Vowls]

On 07/11/2020 at 14:57, Thorfun said:

welcome. I was where you were about 10 months ago.

 

we had a quote from Scandia as well as many other TF companies and Scandia without a doubt were the most expensive company ever! even for just the TF they were nearly double anyone else. I know they're local but do look further afield (although there are also TF companies local that aren't as expensive) as well. if you want a package company to get you to watertight then possibly consider MBC. many on here have used them and we have good friends that have used them who are also in West Sussex. They did the foundations, TF and windows/doors and I can guarantee you it's a lot less than Scandia will charge you.

 

We've gone for Flight Timber based in Essex as they were local-ish to West Sussex and we were impressed with the quality of work when we visited another site they were building. it was a good price as well! the only reasons we didn't go for MBC is that we're having a basement and so they wouldn't do the foundations and also, as we needed to cut costs by adding the insulation ourselves, their TF without insulation was substantially more than Flight Timber. here's my blog post detailing our decisions on TF and other things.

 

 

I wish you the best of luck and get lots of TF quotes!

 

Thank you.  I’ve actually spoken to the two you mentioned this afternoon so quotes are underway!. 

Be really interesting to see how they stack up.  

[Thorfun]

20 minutes ago, Helen Vowls said:

 

Thank you.  I’ve actually spoken to the two you mentioned this afternoon so quotes are underway!. 

Be really interesting to see how they stack up.  

Great! Let’s us know how it goes. 
 

we got 9 quotes in total I think it was. And then whittled them down. 

[Helen Vowls]

I’ve attached our designs.  The unmarked ones are the ones that have planning approved but we want to change for the following reasons:

 

- the majority of the garden (south facing) is in front of where the current lounge is situated.  We don’t use a lounge much - only really in winter and in the evenings so want the focus to be on the kitchen diner area, which is where we spend the majority of our time

- the lounge jutting out into the garden and taking away from the patio doens't make sense to us.

- haven’t tried to reconfigure upstairs yet - but want to maintain 5 beds, 3 of which will be en-suite and my husband likes that our room is separate to the kids rooms.

 

would love any critique / ideas 

 

TIA

Woodland House Plot Ground Floor Plan OL.P02 4.pdf Woodland House Plot First Floor Plan OL.P03.pdf Woodland House Plot Site Plan OL.P01.pdf Woodland House Plot North and East Elevations OL.P06.pdf Woodland_House_Plot_Ground_Floor__Plan_OL.P02_2.pdf

[Thorfun]

if you're going to go back to planning can you start just start over again with a house design and layout that you want from the off rather than trying to adapt someone else's plans? that's what we did. when we bought this place it had approved planning for a bungalow and outline planning for a 1 1/2 storey house. we didn't want either of those (although the bungalow would've been a fallback approval in case ours got rejected) and got an architect to design a 2 storey with basement and full pitched roof house which we, eventually, got through planning. now we get to build the house that we want.

 

it's taken a lot longer than had we just put a minor amendment to the existing planning but it'll (hopefully) be worth it!