TemperanceNI Posted July 5, 2022 Share Posted July 5, 2022 Hi All, We are currently trying to get a self build project off the ground in Northern Ireland. Have seen a few posts here that have been very helpful. We have planning permission, site secured, BC etc. We are really just now at the stage of trying to fund the build. After alot of problems trying to get quotes (which was understandable due to the skyrocketing cost of material in the past year or so) we eventually found a builder willing to do it for 206k. Is is a 2400sq ft build, alot of other builders were quoting 300k+. Unfortunately the builder was giving off a few red flags, he was not NHBC registered (again not a massive problem as I know alot are not) but we also havent been able to see evidence of his other builds and other people that have used him. The issue with his quote is that it was very basic and this was not suitable for any of the banks. We had tried the Progressive and AIB but both turned the site down due to its close proximity to farm buildings (and a few other small details). To cut a long story short we are now considering building it ourselves over the course of a number of years mainly to save money and to be able to move into it before it is finished (banks want the house completed and therefor want us to borrow the full amount), I was just wondering if anyone else in NI had found themselves in a similar situation (we will be searching for further quotes but we suspect 200k is a bit of a pipe dream in the current climate). If so what was it like building over time? I appreciate a lot of detail is missing from this post so happy to answer any questions. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 Try and get the build as far as you can using your own money. I got mine built and the roof on before I went looking a mortgage. At the time the Ulster Bank where the best option. Progressive said no to me as well. The next time you go to apply for a mortgage you actually have something of value not just a plot and a few drawings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 Live on site in a static caravan is what most folks do who self build slowly, for convenience and to save rent as that can be a huge money sink if you get delays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwr Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 Absolutely try and get as far as you can without a mortgage, but do bear in mind that some lenders won't lend on a partially built property. Still seems crazy to me but that's what we found about 15 months. We initially struggled with our lender (they didn't like my employment terms) but we made good progress on the build with our own funds while negotiating. When we investigated other lenders we found we'd limited ourselves by pushing on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conor Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 Try ecology. We put our own costs together and got the architect to sign it off and they were happy. They'll happily accept a QS, architect estimate or builders quote. If you search the forum for ecology every result will be 100% positive. For get about the local banks. You were right to run away from that builder, that's too cheap, even here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpmiller Posted July 6, 2022 Share Posted July 6, 2022 where are you living now/ what's it worth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemperanceNI Posted July 7, 2022 Author Share Posted July 7, 2022 19 hours ago, Declan52 said: Try and get the build as far as you can using your own money. I got mine built and the roof on before I went looking a mortgage. At the time the Ulster Bank where the best option. Progressive said no to me as well. The next time you go to apply for a mortgage you actually have something of value not just a plot and a few drawings. I think that is going to be the current plan, I understand we may get limited in our choices for lenders at this stage but its the only real option I can see so far. Ulster bank have closed the doors unfortunately. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemperanceNI Posted July 7, 2022 Author Share Posted July 7, 2022 18 hours ago, Jilly said: Live on site in a static caravan is what most folks do who self build slowly, for convenience and to save rent as that can be a huge money sink if you get delays. We had talked about a static and I would be up for it. My other half unfortunately, she is not so fussed. It may have to be a rental sadly and the market is dire right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemperanceNI Posted July 7, 2022 Author Share Posted July 7, 2022 17 hours ago, cwr said: Absolutely try and get as far as you can without a mortgage, but do bear in mind that some lenders won't lend on a partially built property. Still seems crazy to me but that's what we found about 15 months. We initially struggled with our lender (they didn't like my employment terms) but we made good progress on the build with our own funds while negotiating. When we investigated other lenders we found we'd limited ourselves by pushing on. Thank you, yes I think we will try and at the very least get the foundations in ourselves to secure the site Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemperanceNI Posted July 7, 2022 Author Share Posted July 7, 2022 17 hours ago, Conor said: Try ecology. We put our own costs together and got the architect to sign it off and they were happy. They'll happily accept a QS, architect estimate or builders quote. If you search the forum for ecology every result will be 100% positive. For get about the local banks. You were right to run away from that builder, that's too cheap, even here. We are waiting on a costings report coming back from a QS now so will see what he comes up with. We are currently in talks with ecology, the only thing putting me off was no fixed rates, the good thing about them was that they are not too bothered about being near farms and shared lanes etc. which we have to deal with Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemperanceNI Posted July 7, 2022 Author Share Posted July 7, 2022 17 hours ago, dpmiller said: where are you living now/ what's it worth? Thankfully living between parents houses and have been for the past 3 years but we will need somewhere to live in the mean time so its looking like a rental sadly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted July 7, 2022 Share Posted July 7, 2022 8 hours ago, TemperanceNI said: Thankfully living between parents houses and have been for the past 3 years but we will need somewhere to live in the mean time so its looking like a rental sadly. Seriously, that could be £10-20k down the tube... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceverge Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 (edited) We had planning, went to the bank and asked how much money they'd lend us, based on income, it was as close as made no difference €300k. We committed to spending no more than 75% of that for a builders finish. Unfortunately the house we had permission for was 225m2 and was never going to happen without running out of cash. There were some very slow legal land issues underway so we used the opportunity to reapply for planning. We changed the design to a completely rectangular box, and knocked 40m2 off the footprint. I poured many evenings into balancing overall costs and came to the conclusion a passive House was cheapest if you omit a central heating system. The end result was that we ended up with about €85k left over after the builder had left to pay for everything else. Garage, carpets, kitchen, professional fees, furniture, pillowcases, paint, you name it. Lots of stuff was secondhand and I did lots of work myself but we still spent every single cent. However we were never under pressure, for money as all the important stuff had been covered and we moved into a house that was "finished" straight from out of our rental. I can attest to the fact once you move in nothing else gets done anyway. There was plenty of stress during the build as it was but I can't imagine what it would've been like had the money situation not been so under control. Edited July 8, 2022 by Iceverge 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSharp01 Posted July 8, 2022 Share Posted July 8, 2022 4 hours ago, Iceverge said: There was plenty of stress during the build Yes @TemperanceNI you need also to prepare for that aspect of the build. Smooth is NEVER the word in self building BUT it's great to see progress. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemperanceNI Posted July 11, 2022 Author Share Posted July 11, 2022 Thanks for the input guys very helpful. Another theory that has been put to me is buying a property for a few years with the hopes of selling it with the hopes of making a profit or breaking even. Although this idea concerns me as it sounds like gambling with the housing market and it could easily go wrong, this would be instead of renting and simply losing potential build money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalvinHobbes Posted December 10, 2022 Share Posted December 10, 2022 What happened? Did you start? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TemperanceNI Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 On 10/12/2022 at 00:50, CalvinHobbes said: What happened? Did you start? Hi Calvin, We have "started" and I use the term loosely. We have followed alot of similar advice on here and from people we've met and have decided to at least start the foundations with our own money. There should be a fella coming out this week to mark out the site for digging and we are currently wrestling with a rather large tree stump in the way of the visibility splays! Looks like we are going to be living the mobile home life soon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalvinHobbes Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 Very good. Good on ye. We hope to restart in next few weeks. QS sat us down tonight and explained why we needed the foundation drawings from the engineer. You probably know this but it means you can keep an eye so that the digger driver uses the exact right bucket and don't get lazy re changing it. Otherwise you pay for more concrete than you need which is £85 or whatever per cubic which means cost uncertainty (at which point he actually shuddered). He also said about getting the surveyor to come back twice and mark up exactly where the outside blocks go. (Sorry my terminology isn't great). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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