Nearly self builders in Ayrshire- help!

[melonseeds]

Hi folks, we’re nearly-novice (my husband helped his dad self build a few years ago) potential self builders with jobs and a young family. We have notes of interest on a couple of rural plots just outside the village we hope to move to. We have our house to sell to fund the project. It’s been a long term dream of mine to build my own home but more pertinently, we just can’t find what we want, where we want it, within our budget on the standard housing market. We’re looking into kit companies to go with and had thought HebHomes but are having some second thoughts based on reading some experiences here, and one plot has full planning with a Sylvan timber co Model D home so currently finding out more from them. Our other worry is where the heck do we live throughout the different phases of the project?? Any thoughts, advice (inc the you’re mad type) or a steer to relevant topics boards are very welcome! Thanks for having me and I look forward to learning a lot and hopefully sharing the ups and downs of our project on here!

Edited June 14 by melonseeds
Typos

[G and J]

We are about to self build for the second time in 35 years.  I think it’s a brilliant thing to do, but…

 

I also think it’s a stressful thing to do, big sums involved, either lots of people involved or if not then megatons of work for yourselves, maybe a bit of both, it’s a long slog, and it’s hard sometimes to imagine the end result and thus be confident on all the myriad decisions along the way.  
 

And I don’t think it’s an easy way of boosting your equity either.  All these downsides….aren’t I a ray of sunshine!

 

Well I am actually, because I would also say that if you, throughout the process, keep in mind why you are doing it, then you are likely to end up with a home that’s much more suited to you and yours than you could ever purchase.  Where you know (and hopefully love) every nook and cranny, and although this is a bit of an ego thing, you might also have an individual, unique house you can be proud of.

 

When we were planning to buy our plot, over three decades ago, I went to several builders for quotes for the whole thing.  One of them asked why we weren’t doing it ourselves.  I answered that it’s because neither of us are in the trade.  He laughed, called me a rude name, and said that even if you’re in the trade you have to learn all the other trades, so I’d have one more trade to learn than others would.  “So what?” he asked, and in hindsight he was so right.

 

Plot finding is v hard though, especially in our lovely but overcrowded country, it’s taken us a third of a century to find our second plot, so good luck in your search.

[ProDave]

Where to live?  If your plot is big enough and you can stand some hardship, a static caravan on site is the cheapest.

[JohnMo]

1 hour ago, melonseeds said:

We’re looking into kit companies to go with and had thought HebHomes but are having some second thoughts based on reading some experiences here, and one plot has full planning with a Sylvan timber co Model D home so currently finding out more from them.

Welcome.

 

Read some of the recent posts on here, there have been a couple looking at different types of building methods and the costs, @G and J posted. Kits aren't cheap, they aren't that quick either when you add the lead time to deliver into the timings.

 

Finding plots, we found ours doing a Google search for land for sale. Found a plot being sold by purple bricks, but couldn't find directly within purple bricks website. They had stuck in a really odd place, and not many saw it and we got it below asking price. Try looking for different things you will be surprised by what turns up.

 

 

[melonseeds]

We’re pretty fortunate with finding plots, I think, but also very specific about where we want to be for this next move and so that narrows things down considerably. We’re also fortunate to be in the position to step back and stay where we are if things aren’t stacking up with a specific plot. 
 

Helpful thoughts on kit building, thanks. I think we just don’t feel knowledgeable enough to go full self build without the benefits of kit construction with existing drawings etc. Both plots we’re looking at also have relatively short timescales before the agreed planning lapses (6 and 7 months) so if we’re going to go for it, we have to be able to move fairly fast I think, at least to the “commencement of development” stage. 

[G and J]

11 minutes ago, melonseeds said:

to the “commencement of development” stage

I’m under the impression that it takes very little to constitute the above.

 

I wholeheartedly applaud you waiting for the right one.  As for kits, that I’m less convinced about.  

[JohnMo]

13 minutes ago, melonseeds said:

Both plots we’re looking at also have relatively short timescales before the agreed planning lapses (6 and 7 months

That just needs a spade in the grind to move some earth, take a photo and initiate. That's all our had done, on the day planning ran out. We then altered house and building methods.

 

16 minutes ago, melonseeds said:

I think we just don’t feel knowledgeable enough to go full self build without the benefits of kit construction with existing drawings etc.

Are you actually building yourself, as in hands on? Or a self builder getting someone in to do the work?

[ProDave]

11 minutes ago, G and J said:

I’m under the impression that it takes very little to constitute the above.

 

I wholeheartedly applaud you waiting for the right one.  As for kits, that I’m less convinced about.  

Except in Scotland you are supposed to get a building warrant before you start and that plus the actual purchase could easily take more than 6 months.

 

In our case though we registered "started" with the planners just by constructing the entrance from the highway onto the plot that did not need building control.  Condition 1 of our planning said that must be the first thing done to prevent vehicles parking on the road before any other construction started.

[saveasteading]

14 minutes ago, G and J said:

it takes very little to constitute the above.

 

11 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

That just needs a spade in the grind to move some earth, take a photo and initiate.

Be very careful here. This used indeed to be the case. On many projects I would put in pegs and 'profiles' and paint in red and white stripes to be obvious.

Now, and it will depend on your authority, that is seldom enough. I now do some substantial work that involves having building regs registered and some physical work that requires the bco to visit.

[JohnMo]

3 minutes ago, ProDave said:

our case though we registered "started" with the planners just by constructing the entrance from the highway onto the plot that did not need building control.  Condition 1 of our planning said that must be the first thing done to prevent vehicles parking on the road before any other construction started

Exactly the same for us

[Kelvin]

1 hour ago, JohnMo said:

Exactly the same for us

Same for us too. 
 

In terms of where to live. We rented a farmhouse 3 miles from the plot. I know some folk do the static caravan thing but we could not have spent two winters in a static caravan and there’s just the two of us with two dogs and I’m retired. Doing it with a young family and both working wouldn’t be easy!
 

Finding a rental was hard though as people don’t tend to want to rent to people with dogs.