We Move In ....

[Fallingditch]

We originally said we are definitely not going to move in until it's ready.

But the build is going on longer than we thought, and we planned for. The rent is a significant drain on resources.

 

So never say never.

 

We have two working bedrooms and an office.  In the kitchen we have hob, granite worktop, dishwasher, sink and kitchen table.

 

Bathroom-wise we have one WC (3 to go), 0 showers (1 promised for tomorrow), 0 basins (there's always the kitchen sink) -  but hey there's a door on the WC.

 

Balustrades and handrails, kitchen extract, nine more doors,  washing machine, freezer - who knows?

 

The big question however is whether the fact that we are on site will cause the builders to take longer (because they can't find anything anymore) or complete the work faster (because having the customer on site is so irritating.)

 

But ultimately, 13 months since we demolished the house we've owned for forty years, we've now built and moved into its replacement.

 

Feels strange.

 

But I have to say I absolutely could never have done it without the help and support of contributors to this site - so a big thank you to all.

 

And for anyone thinking of embarking on a similar journey - well I think it's a pretty cool thing to do. ?

 

[Roundtuit]

Congratulations and good effort! 

[PeterW]

Congratulations ..!!

[Nickfromwales]

Good luck for the remainder of your efforts. Don't get lazy, and keep all your crap out of the builders way. I hate when people get in around me tbh, but you've had no choice so don't 'move into' unfinished spaces, just stick to the bedrooms and you'll keep momentum to the maximum . 

Keep pushing and driving so it doesn't stall . 

[Guest Alphonsox]

Congratulations - we made exactly the decision, the saving on rent was too much to ignore. Even if completion takes a little longer it will be worth it.  

[ToughButterCup]

7 hours ago, Fallingditch said:

We originally said we are definitely not going to move in until it's ready.

But the build is going on longer than we thought, and we planned for. The rent is a significant drain on resources.

So never say never.

[...]

Feels strange.

But I have to say I absolutely could never have done it without the help and support of contributors to this site - so a big thank you to all.

And for anyone thinking of embarking on a similar journey - well I think it's a pretty cool thing to do. ?

 

 

You couldn't have put it better.

[Onoff]

Good decision. Enjoy!

[Ferdinand]

8 hours ago, Fallingditch said:

In the kitchen we have hob, granite worktop, dishwasher, sink and kitchen table.

 

That is enough to butcher and eat a pig, so good call :=).

 

Ferdinand

[ProDave]

Got a door on the WC. What luxury. When we moved into the last house we only had a cardboard door on the loo.

[curlewhouse]

Excellent!  AND a door on the loo?  I mean what's not to like?     We too plan to move in "early". A. for security when the expensive kit starts going in and B. for the rent + mortgage issue too.    Really pleased for you!  

[ragg987]

Double-edged sword. We moved in early (but not as early as you - only finishing jobs in the main house and Annexe remained). On the plus side it meant I could define priority day-to-day rather than weekly and the builders would change it without consulting me, however living around the mess was not a great experience.

 

Also, having a drop-dead date prior to moving in was helpful - it helped everyone focus.

[JanetE]

I'm interested to know wether you can move in before sign off from the BI and the Planners?  We are reaching the stage where we are running out of cash and need to sell the old house. 

[ProDave]

29 minutes ago, JanetE said:

I'm interested to know wether you can move in before sign off from the BI and the Planners?  We are reaching the stage where we are running out of cash and need to sell the old house. 

In Scotland you cetainly can. You ask building control for a certificate of temporary habitation. For that the house has to be basically safe, have at least one working bathroom and some heating.

[Crofter]

54 minutes ago, ProDave said:

In Scotland you cetainly can. You ask building control for a certificate of temporary habitation. For that the house has to be basically safe, have at least one working bathroom and some heating.

 

And I presume at that point they start charging you council tax? Not much incentive for them to delay you

[ProDave]

13 minutes ago, Crofter said:

 

And I presume at that point they start charging you council tax? Not much incentive for them to delay you

No, that's quite separate. That is up to the council tax valuation surveyor to decide it is "finished", which may be before or after building control decide it's finished.

[Fallingditch]

2 hours ago, JanetE said:

I'm interested to know whether you can move in before sign off from the BI and the Planners?  

 

Er, that didn't come up. My Project Manager didn't mention it, and he has built a few houses.

 

Guess I'm following Scottish regulations ...

[Nickfromwales]

Would anyone WANT to move in without the completion certificate  ?

You wouldn't be insured for starters if anything happened, like fire / flood for eg. . 

[MikeSharp01]

Its good news week ( - Hedgehoppers Anonymous 1965). Well done....

[ragg987]

1 hour ago, Nickfromwales said:

Would anyone WANT to move in without the completion certificate  ?

You wouldn't be insured for starters if anything happened, like fire / flood for eg. . 

We did and our build insurance covered this scenario. BC told us is was quite common for people to move in prior to completion certificate.

[Nickfromwales]

With contents etc cover too?

 

edit to add : quite interested about this as I've had conflicting info and am holding off with a customer occupying a refurb because of it. 

[ragg987]

Content cover was low - something like £5k (don't quote me). We decided to move in with it as-is, though we could have bought contents separately (did not investigate if the extra content cover would be valid - for domestic building and content cover we had to get a completion certificate).

 

The conversion from build insurance to building insurance for any remaining period was a feature of the original policy, so just notified them when we moved in. This is a very expensive way to get cover, mind, our annual house+contents was cheaper than 3 month extension on build insurance.

[Nickfromwales]

6 hours ago, ragg987 said:

for domestic building and content cover we had to get a completion certificate

That's what I had heard. 

These are refurbs though, so don't have any specific existing cover other than the original building cover. 

They were flats, and now they're 'nicer' flats.......one with bloody sprinklers ?

[Gone West]

As site insurance was so expensive, and I didn't really need it, I've converted that to unoccupied buildings and contents cover. It works out at less than half the price of site insurance and I've got contents cover for £20,000 included. I don't yet have a completion certificate.

[ProDave]

Interresting about insurance.

 

My site insurance is due for renewal this week. It's a pretty much complete building structurally but only just starting first fix inside.

 

Do I renew the site insurance for another year, or convert to unoccupied buildings insurance?

[Pete]

Why did you not need site insurance @PeterStarck, was it because you built in the garden of your existing house