Building Control Completion at last (and some statistics)

[ProDave]

Today was a big day for any self builder. The day the second most important bit of paper ever arrived, the building control Completion Certificate (The most important bit of paper being the granting of planning permission)

 

This “ends” a long chain of events that has taken way longer than we ever expected.

 

It all started in October 2013, that’s a staggering 8 years ago, when we completed on the purchase of the building plot, though it was at least a year before that we started looking for a plot.  Construction did not start in earnest until Spring 2015 when the final design, planning and building warrant was in place.

 

Construction started well with a local building firm contracted to do the foundations and build and erect the timber frame.  But that all ground to a halt by Spring 2016 when it became clear there were no buyers for our old house in a stagnated housing market and we had to terminate our arrangements with the builder, thankfully on good terms with them.

 

Since then it has been a slow “build as you earn” self build doing way more of the work ourselves than we ever expected, and building to what turned out eventually to be a very low cost, and somehow against expectations, we finished the house that we could not afford to build.

 

The VAT reclaim was paid out a few weeks ago and that paid off some interest free borrowing we had accumulated finally leaving us with no debt and a very modest amount of savings left.  Phew.

 

The house is about 150 square metres in total floor area and the final build cost has come in just a shade under £1000 per square metre not including plot price, services and professional fees.

 

So now the house is “completed” does that mean we are “finished”  No of course not.  Some things have been left out for now and some not fully completed.  So our “to do” list still includes the following:

 

• Bedrooms and stairs still need carpets and most rooms still need curtains or blinds.
• An airing cupboard needs to be formed around the hot water tank and we might still build the pantry in the corner of the kitchen.
• Outside there is the balcony still to build, some decking and paving, at least one more shed, a bridge over the burn, the car port and the tarmac entrance still needs it’s top coat and some drainage installing.
• Then there is fencing and making something of the garden.

 

So at least another 2 years work to “finish” which will make it into a 10 year project.  No I would never have believed at the start it was going to take that long, and it was not until I typed this and looked up the dates that I realised we had been working on this for 8 years already.

[HerbJ]

Well done, only another 2 years to go.... Have a cup of tea and get back to it!

 

[jamieled]

Well done. Hoping for ours in the next few weeks.

[Adam E]

Hi Dave , we had  building control out and are in the process of getting a few things sorted including a certificate for the mvhr which I self installed so congratulations on a massive step forward 

we haven’t done anything about the vat as I thought you needed the compleat certificate before you could claim the vat

[ProDave]

You can claim the VAT with a certificate of Temporary habitation which we got about a year ago, the building does not need to be complete for that.  The VAT refund finished the sun room, the last part of the building needed to be finished for completion.

[Adam E]

Ok I understand now. How long did the vat reclaim take.  

[ProDave]

5 minutes ago, Adam E said:

Ok I understand now. How long did the vat reclaim take.  

About 5 months if I recall correctly.

[Adam E]

Thanks for the feedback hopefully everything will work out ok for us and a holiday will be in order next year 

[Thedreamer]

Well done @ProDave 

 

I picked up on a google search your blog on e-build and that was what led me to joining e-build and then when that ended I discovered that everybody had moved here. 

 

You now need to transfer your earlier entries over to your website to complete the story.

 

I hope you and your family have a wee drink to celebrate.

 

[ProDave]

1 minute ago, Thedreamer said:

You now need to transfer your earlier entries over to your website to complete the story.

 

I hope you and your family have a wee drink to celebrate.

Yes completing those early entries was a job I never got round to. I must do that.

 

I shall be pouring a glass of the good Whisky later, and we will be going out for a meal at the weekend.

[nod]

Great insight Dave and great achievement to come in on budget 

well done 

[MikeSharp01]

Well done Dave...

[Marvin]

Impressed with the determination!

 

What an education you have received! 

 

Thanks for sharing your hard earned knowledge.

[ProDave]

I guess the last bit of "paperwork" relating the the new build has just been completed, the dreaded Council Tax.

 

We had been paying band A council tax for the static caravan, and since Covid the assessor has stopped his regular visit to see if we have moved in.

 

So yesterday we had 2 notifications, one saying the caravan has been de listed, and the other saying the new house has been added to the register at Band E.  Both effective from the date of the building control completion certificate.

 

Band E sounds right to me, I have looked at all the houses I know of similar size and none are lower than Band E and some are in band F.  I could not find anything comparable in band D to try and argue it lower so we will just accept that.

 

Interesting that the valuation has been done "off plan" the valuer has not been in the new house.  Last house we built it was done by inspection and physical measurement of the building.

[Thedreamer]

Our build 140m2 was rated band D. Houses around us that are band D were smaller in size.

 

If it had come back as E I think I would have used the special provisions. In our case crofting.

 

Makes me wonder how many borderline band homes could be moved from one band to if these provisions applied. Would be a fair amount of money over 30 or 40 years.

Statutory Assumptions Applied to Banding

The Assessor must make a number of statutory assumptions in determining the Council Tax band. These are:

• the sale was with vacant possession
• the dwelling was in a state of reasonable repair (regardless of its actual condition)
• the size and layout of the dwelling and the physical state of the locality were the same as at the time when the valuation of the dwelling was made or, in the case of a valuation carried out in connection with a proposal to alter the valuation list, as at the date from which that alteration would have effect
• the dwelling was sold free from any heritable security (i.e. any mortgage is assumed to be paid off)
• common parts were in a state of reasonable repair (regardless of their actual condition) and the purchaser would be liable to contribute towards the cost of keeping them in such as state
• use of the dwelling would be permanently restricted to use as a private dwelling; and
• the dwelling had no development value other than that attributable to “permitted development”.

There are also special provisions applicable to the Council Tax banding of properties used in connection with agriculture, crofting or fish farming, and properties adapted for people with physical disabilities.

 

[saveasteading]

On 20/10/2021 at 19:32, ProDave said:

You can claim the VAT with a certificate of Temporary habitation

Does that mean that you forego reclaiming VAT on the remainder of the works?

 

Oh, and congratulations. Was there a moment of joy that it was done, or was it just another stage?

[ProDave]

49 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Does that mean that you forego reclaiming VAT on the remainder of the works?

 

Oh, and congratulations. Was there a moment of joy that it was done, or was it just another stage?

Yes I missed the VAT on the last bit, but it wasn't actually much. The windows for the sun room were included in the VAT claim as the last item so it was only about £800 or materials that missed the VAT claim. 

 

It was a mixture of congratulations and relief that at last we knew there would be no more picking over and criticising minor details of the build.  My wife summed it up by saying "it feels like it is OUR house at last.