AliMcLeod Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 (edited) Hello all, I’ve been reading the forum for a few weeks now and thought it was time to introduce myself, share our story and hopefully get some advice. I will contribute where I think I can add something, but we are inexperienced self-builders and there are so many experts on this hugely valuable site. This was meant to be a short introductory post, but has ended up anything but! The plot we own is 0.24 acres and sits on the north bank of the River Forth in Fife, Scotland, looking over the water to the Lothians. The plot came with full planning permission for a south facing 2.5 story contemporary house built into the sloping hill (3 stories at front, 2 stories at rear). The plot was one in the middle of 3 plots, with a 2 story build already taking place to the plot on the west (self-build with the owners project managing and sub-contracting), and the plot to the east was already sold and a local builder selected by the plot owner. We purchased the plot in the summer of 2015. I work full time and my wife cares for her mother, and with no previous self-build experience between us, the safe choice for us was to go down the main-contractor route (I'm not sure whether than qualifies us as self-builders). We decided to approach the builder who was (meant to be) soon starting the build on the house to our east, and, taking into account the shared mobilisation costs, he came up with a quote to build the planning approved house that fitted with our budget and expectations. It all sounded so easy… We first viewed the plot back in January 2015 but, other than lifting a few hundred tonnes of soil off the site, we’ve not yet broken ground. We’ve been through quite a journey, and the path forward is still not 100% clear. Our journey has involved: Buying the plot (against our solicitors recommendation) with a 3 foot high-pressured gas and oil pipeline running along its east boundary, which restricts development in a 3.5m strip of the plot due to a Wayleave agreement and the owner of which has to approve our foundation design (planning condition) Selling our home and moving into temporary accommodation for what was meant to be 6-8 months, but we are still living there 20 months later Realising our builders structural engineer solution to any issue was “more concrete and steel” resulting in the approved strip foundation design being 4 meters deep (and therefore very expensive) Appreciating the difference between an architect and a builder appointed technical drawer; the latter created the first draft warrant drawings based on the the approved plans, without recognising that having only 5 foot 3 headspace above an en-suite toilet is perhaps something you should be pointing out Finding an architect to replace the technical drawer and redesigning our house, taking into account the restrictions of the pipeline Dealing with planning and the seemingly subjective means by which they make decisions Realising that, despite giving them your budget, architects are wont to designing things that are expensive but by that time you’ve already convinced yourself that you need! Getting the dreaded call finding out that our builder had gone into voluntary liquidation, costing us our timber kit deposit which was not passed onto the timber kit company, despite us having confirmation that it was Not feeling so sorry for ourselves after finding out that our future had neighbour lost significantly more than us Having to find a new builder Spending too much time building a 3D model of our home and using that to annoy the architect by suggesting changes to his design Learning way more about house self-building than we ever intended to. I hear myself having conversations with builders now and think “I wouldn’t have understood a word of that just 12 months ago” Finding out that house building (or not house building in our case) is stressful, causes arguments at home and can test the best of relationships Realising that, despite all the problems, issues and stress, I’m still managing to extract some enjoyment from the process But, now wondering whether we should just move to another home and sit on the plot for a few years until we have a bit more time to invest in the build And I’m sure there’s more.. I’d quite like to do a series of posts covering the above. Some of that is for selfish reasons - I think documenting our experience would be quite cathartic - but it might also help others avoid some of the pitfalls we’ve made, and hopefully also be of interest as some of the challenges we have, whilst not unique, cannot be that common. What would be the best way to do that? I was going to split it up as multiple replies to this post, but that does not seem right. I see there is a blog section here, but I’m not sure if anyone can have a blog. Alternatively, I could host it over on Wordpress. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, and thank you to the regulars here for providing such a educational, informative and entertaining forum. Edited March 21, 2017 by AliMcLeod 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Welcome ..! If you want the cathartic writing option, why not create a blog on the forum ..? Plenty of subject matter to get you started and we all like a picture or two, especially of 3D models ..! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pulhamdown Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Welcome. That sounds like a REALLY steep learning curve. Almost makes me feel guilty at how easy our first self build was. Mind you, I don't think we'll be doing another one anytime soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Gosh makes my story sound idyllic ! Plenty of very good advise here from people that have "done that, been there" not " we can sell you that ". Chin up and best foot forward, looking forward to seeing your blog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliMcLeod Posted March 21, 2017 Author Share Posted March 21, 2017 Hi all, thanks for the kind welcomes. Stupid question, i can't see where I can create the blog. Is it restricted in some way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Just ask either @PeterW or @recoveringacademic ( Ian ), our Admins, and they'll update your blog privilege . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nickfromwales Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Oh, and welcome to the forum. . Feel free to start as many varying threads as you wish The info gathered here is priceless, and we'll never grumble about hearing and documenting what went wrong, how to put it right, and from 'new-to-building's favourite...., how not to do those things in the first place . 2 hours ago, AliMcLeod said: Learning way more about house self-building than we ever intended to. I hear myself having conversations with builders now and think “I wouldn’t have understood a word of that just 12 months ago” That's my favourite excerpt 2 hours ago, AliMcLeod said: Realising that, despite all the problems, issues and stress, I’m still managing to extract some enjoyment from the process Chin up, and crack on. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMitchells Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Looking forward to reading the blog! As the other say - chin up and carry on..... I am still looking for a site after severeal years. Hubby keeps saying we should move to Scotland as there's plenty there but I'm settled here and dont really want to move far. But Oxfordshire isnt the easiest place to find affordable plots. I totally agree that Blogs can be quite cathartic and the rest of us love reading them, especailly with lots of pics please. I'm doing a renovation while looking for a plot and I regularly include the things in our blog that I got wrong - hopefully others can avoid doing what we did. Learning from mistakes is often the lesson learnt best. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said: Just ask either @PeterW or @recoveringacademic ( Ian ), our Admins, and they'll update your blog privilege . Done ..! @AliMcLeod if you log out and back in you will see a "Create Blog" button at the top of the blog page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC45 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 The human brain has a great nack of fogetting pain. Keep plugging away. I've been juggling a full time job & on the tools on our selfbuild for 2 years now, manage your expectations & get some good people around you. Good luck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Hi Ali and welcome to the forum. To give you a bit of encouragement, if you managed to sell your old house, then that's one respect you are doing better than us. 2 years and 4 months on the market..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliG Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Welcome to another Ali from Scotland. I'd just get on with it, the faster it is built, the faster you will be able to enjoy it. Sorry about the builder issues. Do you have permission for the new design all sorted? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexphd1 Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Hi, welcome. You are in a good place here! Sounds like you have been through the mill. We are building north of you in Aberdeenshire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vfrdave Posted March 22, 2017 Share Posted March 22, 2017 welcome to the forum I sympathise with you regarding design issues. I am battling through a design by the structural engineer for a block on the flat internal wall which brickies are not liking the prospect of. Look forward to some blog posts, I havent managed that yet with my foundations poured 2 weeks ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliMcLeod Posted March 22, 2017 Author Share Posted March 22, 2017 Hi All, thanks for the additional warm welcomes: I've just posted my first blog post. Its really just another introduction, so pretty light on details, but I'll add more specifics in my next post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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