A very good place to start

[CanIDoIt]

Hello

I was directed to this forum by another user so here's about me and my first of probably many questions.

 

Me:   Almost retired, divorced, single lady who has wanted to build a house since I was a child.  Just didn't want to rush into it !!!   

Where:  I live in North Somerset

What:  I possibly have a plot, about 1/2 acre from a friend, rural, but with an old barn

Build:  A timber frame built by a package company (probably)

Size:  3 bed single storey.

 

Q 1.  I know generally what I want, but nothing else and I am extremely cautious about trusting anyone and want to be very sure that I'm being told the truth.

         So, I guess I need planning, but what else, I've heard of Building Regulations, Structural Engineers, Fixed Price, Main Contractors etc etc.

         Can anyone tell me what these are and what order they should be done in.

         I've read a few books, but they all seem to talk about the actual building process, not the 'preliminaries', a word that's mentioned lots, but what does it cover.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Anne

 

[Bitpipe]

Welcome.

 

At a high level, you normally start by working with an architect to come up with some 'sketch' schemes for the plot with a view to what meets your needs, your budget and is likely to get planning. This normally focuses on external size, appearance, position on plot, access, parking etc etc. You may need to pay for a topological survey of the plot and street scene and also acquire map data on the surrounding area to build your plan upon.

 

Once you have a good scheme the architect can work on the detailed design to get to the planning approval stage.

 

You may or may not get planning immediately and if not be required to go around the loop again. 

 

Once you have an approved plan you can think about how to get it built.

 

Some choose to stay with the architect who will then to take you through the next stage and use in structural engineers etc to create a set of detailed drawings that you can take to tender. Services (power, water, sewage, telecoms) also need to be considered if they do not currently exist on site - some of these can be very expensive (10s of thousands) so best to get early quotations on these as it may make or break your build.

 

Many package builders can take your planning documents and create their own detailed design from those, using their in house SE etc. You may stick with the architect or part ways at this stage but there are still jobs like discharging planning details etc that are required.

 

You may need to design the foundation system, separately (again, this is primarily a SE job but requires information on the ground conditions which can require a survey). Some frame companies will include this in their package.

 

At this point you should have a good idea of the frame cost but that is only a fraction of the build - you will need to spec and cost up the rest of the build which may require a project manager or a quantity surveyor.

 

Once you have all of that, you should have a budgetary cost and perhaps even trades identified to do the work. You then need to finalise your finances and then contract to get it done.

 

These are the preliminaries ....

[Thorfun]

welcome. I can highly recommend Mark Brinkley's Housebuilder's Bible as a great book to start with. he covers a lot of stuff from beginning to end and is a great reference to refer back to during the build.

 

oh....and spend the next 3 months reading the forums on here! Although 3 months might not be enough. ? 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Thorfun

[Mr Punter]

Preliminaries:

 

https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Preliminaries_in_construction

[SteamyTea]

Welcome.

 

The main things to look at first are site access, services and if you can build on it. Just because there is already something there, it means nothing.

Your local authority website should have lots of information about its planning and building strategy.

 

[CanIDoIt]

I think getting planning may be the biggest hurdle, otherwise I suspect that it would have happened before as it is a field, with houses either side, but old ones not new.

My friend has her stables there and is prepared to sell me the house plot size and keep the rest, but no money discussed yet.  I suspect she wants to boost her pension pot.

She has power and water so they are in the area, does that make anything easier.

 

[SteamyTea]

5 minutes ago, CanIDoIt said:

She has power and water so they are in the area, does that make anything easier.

Usually, but not always. How about mains sewage?

 

Should be all sorts of things here.

 

https://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/my-services/planning-building-control 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by SteamyTea

[Bitpipe]

2 minutes ago, CanIDoIt said:

I think getting planning may be the biggest hurdle, otherwise I suspect that it would have happened before as it is a field, with houses either side, but old ones not new.

My friend has her stables there and is prepared to sell me the house plot size and keep the rest, but no money discussed yet.  I suspect she wants to boost her pension pot.

She has power and water so they are in the area, does that make anything easier.

 

 

Having power and water nearby can help but it's up to the utility companies as to how they supply you, from where and at what cost.

 

A planning consultant or experienced local architect would be a good first port of call - don't bother with your local authority as the days of a friendly chat with a local planner are sadly long gone. They only respond to formal planning and pre-planning applications.

 

[CanIDoIt]

Just now, Bitpipe said:

 

Having power and water nearby can help but it's up to the utility companies as to how they supply you, from where and at what cost.

 

A planning consultant or experienced local architect would be a good first port of call - don't bother with your local authority as the days of a friendly chat with a local planner are sadly long gone. They only respond to formal planning and pre-planning applications.

 

thanks Bitpipe, I shall start investigating these 'consultants', one of my pet hates in business, but perhaps if they are dealing with individuals and not business they might be better.

 

[Bitpipe]

4 minutes ago, CanIDoIt said:

thanks Bitpipe, I shall start investigating these 'consultants', one of my pet hates in business, but perhaps if they are dealing with individuals and not business they might be better.

 

 

Like anything, a personal recommendation is always useful. There will be good and bad in every profession.

 

The good thing about planning is that all of the law and govt policy is in the public domain so you can do a lot of due diligence yourself and many here have successfully gone through planning without any recourse to professionals. 

 

Equally, qualified and experienced professionals will not impart their hard earned skills free of charge but you can usually pay a fixed amount for specific advice and take it from there.

 

Unfortunately there is a degree of risk and uncertainty at every stage of a self build - if you are extremely risk adverse then it may not be for you. A degree of healthy scepticism is useful though.