Even more confused.

[Big Jimbo]

I took a jolly jaunt to Build it Live, in Bicester, yesterday. First of all the Burger and chips was not worth £11.50. However, my wife said that the Pizza was worth £10.

To be honest, i was not very impressed. I kind of understand, Gas boiler, underfloor heating downstairs, Rads upstairs. Nice big hotwater storage tank, to supply 4 showers. I'm still waiting for my Building reg drawings, so i wanted to see a few products, and talk to a few people.

My thoughts for my build are as follows.

I'm not going to keep it. I don't need a large house, and i won't be able to afford to keep it. I might stay in it for 3 years to avoid £60k CIL, but if i get offered a decent price, i will sell.

I live in Greenbelt, about 10mins drive from Two London underground Stations, and One mainline Station. I expect, and have been told that the new house will most likely sell to a "30 something, moving out of London, to start a family" It's a nice half acre plot, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms. Large garden. Double garage, and parking for 10 cars. Posh shed that can be used for home office. High hedges, and a big 16ft electric sliding gate. It will be north of 1.5 million.

My thoughts, and this is where i could do with your help.

Build well, but only to 2023 building regs with regards to insulation. Nobody can see, or will care if i have put extra insulation in everywhere, so i am told.

Aim for a decent air tightness. I have built twice for clients in the passed, and achieved Airtightness of less than 2 both times. My own thoughts are that air tightness is more importantant than insulation. The reason being that you can have as much insulation as you like, but if you have a leaky house, or leave the windows open for fresh air during the winter (my wife) then it makes little difference to have extra insulation because it is being bi-passed.

So, my thoughts are as follows. (i'm happy to be shot down and won't be offended)

I'm not too concerned about the inside. I spent 20+ years making the inside of new build properties sexy. Kitchen, Studies, Hidden doors, Cinemas, etc, etc. I even won an award, 7th in the country for One of my kitchens. I like to think that i will make a decent job of the inside, even though i say so myself.

MVHR. I will have 7 wet areas, and the house will be in the countryside with it's fair share of smells, lot's of pollen on the wind etc. It makes sense to do this so as to not be extracting loads of expensive heat to the outdoors, and for indoor air quality. The manufacturers must make a fortune on those things. They are so simple, and can't cost much to produce. (bit of a rip off cost wise IMO.

Solar. I have got room to build in 12 panels on the main roof. Won't cost a fortune, so to me makes sense. I might consider a storage battery, and a diversion to the hot water tank.

With the help of One of the other Buildhubbers, I'm going to stick a crap load of Cat 5/6 from a main hub to several areas. The idea behind this is that it will be available for any purchaser to play with afterwards. There were about 10 smart home companies at the show yesterday. They were all the best. I'm a bit old, and basically didn't understand what any of them were saying to me. I expect atleast 1/2 of them won't be around in 5 years.

ASHP. This is One of those things, that dispite reading loads of stuff on buildhub, watching loads of Youtube etc, I am still not sure about. I know this is prob because im an old fart, and i'm used to the convience of gas. Lots of hot water, and powerful heating that has been able to bring my houses up to temp quickly. Enen when i have been away of holiday for a few weeks.

I felt that there was a real lack of people displaying ASHP yesterday. One guy whose company is often mentioned on here, said if i was going to sell the place than not to bother with ASHP !

He said that the lack of installation understanding was an issue. As was the total lack of people to service and maintain them. This kind of threw me to be honest. This was a guy that sells them ? So ASHP or simple gas ? That and any other things you think i should be considering ?

I don't want to go gas and having potential buyers saying "So yesterday" I don't want to go ASHP and have buyers going "What the fec is that thing" I'm a bit stuck.

Any of your thoughts would be great. Thanks.

 

[nod]

We’ve built and will sell on as soon as our next one is complete 

We’ve added lots of extra insulation good airtightness Steels instead of lintels 

A nice bid expensive German kitchen and appliances 

Im pretty sure that none of the potential buyers will ask or care about levels of insulation and airtightness 

Or Sap rating 

Most will prioritize 

Location 

Size of house and garden 

and kitchens and bathrooms 

We all care

But your average buyer won’t 

[joe90]

Well I installed an ASHP in a well insulated house and it performed well, but I get what you are saying about installation and commissioning, instal gas with the infrastructure to change to ASHP, feet in both camps. I concur with what you say about air tightness. (And I am positively ancient 😳).

[JohnMo]

Prep for ASHP, install small gas boiler, with ASHP cylinder, if your keeping costs low. Install boiler as priory hot water or X plan. Rads in bedrooms designed for low temperature operation.

 

No-one has a real clue where energy prices are going. Press and therefore people are starting to realise a SAP score is important, may take a few years for people to get what SAP is, but that is when you will be selling.

Edited June 11, 2023 by JohnMo
Repeated word

[Pocster]

My view is the average buyer now does ‘care’ about low running costs but doesn’t understand sap / insulation / ASHP etc.

They way I see it is ….

 

My build is designed for me . So I add things that the average buyer won’t care about .

BUT ! If I sold at the price point I want I’ve got LOADS of features to point out in terms of comfort / energy efficiency - a ‘sell’ point is even the brand . A battery … a Tesla battery !

Just as much as you name kitchen appliances if they are an upmarket brand . Depends on your target audience. Commutable to London I just smell truck loads of £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££

 

Thats a lot of dosh - soak it up !

[Pocster]

There’s a guy on my local radio station that reads the news .

He always says his name before the news announcement 

 

“ My name is Zak Hiscock “ - always makes me laugh . Had to do a double take on what he said first time .

 

might be off topic 🙄

[RichardL]

When I'm buying - and I may not be typical:

1. Can I afford to run it.
Heating with a history of running costs - not just the estimates - show me the house can maintain 20º ish when its cold outside.
Air tightness etc don't care - thats more an invisible facilitator to the heating working which I can read out on bills vs. EPC/Surveys
( I mean I care - its just not the easiest way to see the house running costs)

2. Can I control it.
Heating/HW Control systems I can use on day1 without setting up a dozen cloud accounts or dropping into IT support.
A timeclock and timed temps.
 

3. Can I keep it running.
If there is tech is there a really short list of support organisations/contractors to keep it running and a manual.
Cloud integration left right centre would be a -ve & would feel like mandatory contracts required with different firms to get warm.


If its current tech - electric vs. oil so much the better - gas with no solar on a new build is double edged - an opportunity, but also a miss. My appetite today would be to upgrade but as I get older not so much and would expect it to be present.

On a new build I'd expect more finished obviously - on an old build looking for a coherent system I can build on and not some random confused setup I have to rip out completely before starting upgrades.

[saveasteading]

All the above is good.

 

I had a long chat to a family developer once.. they did one to 12 houses.

Their name was mentioned as a plus  on the sales blurb.

 

Anyway  he told me he specs and inspects every front door. This demonstrates the spec and build quality of the whole house....they always invited viewers to open the door themselves.  It should click nicely and open easily, and have the right amount of weight.

 

If the door sticks, there will be no sale, basically....the rest of the tour is pointless.

 

Similarly the kitchen creates an impression.

 

Walking round some commercial buildings once, I asked the agent what insulation there was. He didn't know, and hadn't thought to find out. He said that nobody asks.

 

Sounds like your location is good. Not much else matters. 

Any other first impressions to work on,?  Easy driveway entrance and turning. Nice but easy front garden?

[SteamyTea]

As you have already said, insulate to building regs, except add a bit to the floor because of UFH. You don't want to be loosing more to the ground than what goes through the roof.

PV is a no brainer, cheap and easy. Diverter to a cylinder, cheap and simple. 

Forget batteries, just not worth the hassle, so let the next owner swap the inverter to a hybrid one.

Get the airtightness as good as you can, then, as long as you have not put in stupidly sized windows, you can get cheaper windows, saving 0.2 W/m².K on windows is really desperation to get through SAP, or altruism. 

MVHR, worth it and you will need it anyway for ventilation.

Why bother with data cabling, everything is going wireless.

Stick in a car charger. We are heading towards EVs, so that is one less thing to worry about.

 

Gas Vs ASHP.

Assuming the plumbing is designed correctly for both, and connecting to the existing supply is cheap, it don't matter.

I would opt for ASHP and not worry about gas at all.

[Pocster]

Tactile things need to be high quality . An 8k front door looks the bollocks and sets a ‘sense’ for what is to follow . Taps that are quality to touch . Sockets / light switches not plastic white shite . Good Light fittings . Stick a 60” tv on the wall in the lounge ( include in sale as free ) . You are selling an aspiration . At this level - you sell a dream for someone who has deep pockets .

[RichardL]

10 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Why bother with data cabling, everything is going wireless.

++This 

Except - heating control   which, if it can be, hard wired and not at mercy of a router configuration it should be.

[Pocster]

14 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Why bother with data cabling, everything is going wireless.

For the minimal cost put cat 5 in everywhere .

Wireless speed / range can vary . Equally more things on a WiFi frequency less bandwidth for all . A cable though ; 1 for you ; 1 for me - limitation will be your connection speed . 5 4K ip cameras on WiFi ( for example ) … going to be tricky ( subject to fps / compression method etc. ) . WiFi bandwidth imho is for ‘mobile’ things e.g phones and the odd laptop or technology that relies on it e.g zigbee 

Even if you want wireless everywhere then you can put wired mesh routers at discrete points for best ‘wireless’ performance.

[Big Jimbo]

@RichardL Thats great, but you can't see any of that on a new house.

What i think i might like to be able to see / do from my phone in a remote location.

See what the inside temperature of my house is.

Turn on my heating from my phone. So that it is nice and warm when i get in.

Check the status of my home alarm / turn on or off

Be able to view CCTV remotely

Have a cctv in hall and landing to enable me to see if any intruders are actually in the property if the alarm triggers. (i did that for a few russians)

be able to close any blinds, or shutters remotely.

Be able to turn on / off a few inside and outside lights remotely.

IMO we over estimate how tech savvy most young people are. They think they are because they can use tic toc and instagram.

 

As @pocster has said. Nice quality front door. Decent light switches Nice taps and toilet roll holders. fec off big T.V and leave it there. decent internal door handles. Defo, stuff that you touch is very important. If you are going to have a couple of old cars, sitting on blocks on the drive, it ain't going to look good.

 

Just now been reading about HPV. seems to be the next load of tec that i am about to be confused by.

[Pocster]

I knew someone selling their house (2.6mill ) . Drove some shitty car . Took that off site and hired some (expletive deleted)ing sports car ( like 120k - I know nothing about cars so can’t even tell you what it was ) . It was in the driveway for all viewings .

It gives the impression 

a. You are loaded 

b. You expect the house to match the motor 

c. You ain’t no mug and aren’t going to sell your property’cheap’

 

An illusion ? . Yep .

All the HA etc. you don’t bother with - but you have cabling available for all this . Can’t easily add it afterwards. It’s shows ‘ thought ‘ towards potential buyers .

 

My 8k front door has finger scan entry ( SWMBO can’t use it 🤣 ) . But every single visitor goes “ is that a finger scanner ? “ .

Simple but memorable point ….

Edited June 11, 2023 by pocster

[RichardL]

@Big Jimbo Yup - I realise that is a thing.
FWIW - and quite possibly I'm not your target customer which is fair enough - I've never needed any of those features -  (Yet)

You might find there's a whole market place of seasoned IT professionals that would run a mile before integrating all that stuff into a phone -or- not  

[Temp]

I you plan to sell in a few years I'd be careful about costs. It's not hard to build a house that is worth less than it costs to build. 

[Pocster]

3 minutes ago, Temp said:

I you plan to sell in a few years I'd be careful about costs. It's not hard to build a house that is worth less than it costs to build. 

That would also be a caveat . Market drops for whatever reason you either sell cheaper ( perhaps still do ok ) or hold .

The last recession ( you know the REAL one ) ; whilst near to bankruptcy I didn’t sell our house in a collapsing market I held . It took 10 yrs before it was ‘worth ‘ selling . It was the right choice for me - with hindsight!!!

 

[Alan Ambrose]

I think that 'if it's worth doing, it's worth doing well'. There's so much low quality housing stock in the UK, I think we have a bit of a duty to do a good job. The extra cost will probably be minimal and at £1.5m you might get buyers who want something up-to-date. If the likely buyer is a well off 30-year old, then they'll want modern things that 30-year olds want.

 

So I vote for insulation, air tightness and ASHP - not every 30-year old is a luddite.

 

 

[Big Jimbo]

@pocster The house should be worth 1.75m so i am working on the basis of 1.5m  With my costings i should if needs be, be able to sell at 1.25m Lower than that i will just dig a big hole with my digger and bury myself in it. That way the life insurance would kick in.

Thanks for all the contributions so far.

@Alan Ambrose i do get what you are saying. However there is still such bad press around ASHP, and by fitting it i am concerned that i may actually put some people off. Lack of people to service etc. That together with the press saying "ASHP had sent Mrs Smiths bills through the roof" It's not so much about the actual. More about the perception if you know what i mean.

[Pocster]

The other issue / thought here which I touched on is risk .

If @Big Jimbo has all land / build costs covered I.e not mortgaged / borrowing to the hilt - then ‘pressure ‘ is less .

One of the reasons my build took so long ( apart from being slow ) is I could not take the risk of borrowing. So it was build with cash when I have it . Base rate therefore not an issue on my build . Not suggesting @Big Jimbo takes 10 yrs though ….

Though time can equal asset appreciation……

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Big Jimbo said:

Just now been reading about HPV.

15 year old schoolgirls are vaccinated for @pocster' Pimple now.

[saveasteading]

3 hours ago, saveasteading said:

Any other first impressions to work on,?

I asked my wife. She says a generous lobby or passageway is important at first impressions time.

 

On this:an Architect that is regularly engaged for house planning, then paid off, was surprised to see that at construction stage, the lobby and landing were enlarged and the rooms reduced. That is what sells, he was told. Also bling in the bathroom.

[SteamyTea]

13 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

generous lobby or passageway

Usually how I judge other people's wives.

[Temp]

On 11/06/2023 at 14:02, Big Jimbo said:

@pocster The house should be worth 1.75m so i am working on the basis of 1.5m  With my costings i should if needs be, be able to sell at 1.25m Lower than that i will just dig a big hole with my digger and bury myself in it. That way the life insurance would kick in.

Thanks for all the contributions so far.

@Alan Ambrose i do get what you are saying. However there is still such bad press around ASHP, and by fitting it i am concerned that i may actually put some people off. Lack of people to service etc. That together with the press saying "ASHP had sent Mrs Smiths bills through the roof" It's not so much about the actual. More about the perception if you know what i mean.

 

I know someone who built a nice 3000 sqft house. It cost them about £1.1m to build incuding the plot, everything. It's probably worth £800k. 

 

[Big Jimbo]

@Temp It happens.