jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 (edited) Evening all, New here but I've been following this forum for over a year. We're currently making baby steps toward building our first self-build and still trying to leave the dreaming stages; it's all a little overwhelming. We plan to build a 230m2 bungalow (190m2 heated) in Perthshire. I've attached plans and renders I created using Floorplanner for anyone interested. We've spent several hundred hours over the two years redrafting our floorplan based on our findings and recommendations, and learning what is most important to us. I will admit the current flaws I can see are: the bathrooms are far apart and will create additional cost, the utility next to the office isn't ideal, no mech room (we will likely use the garage), and the kid's rooms are slightly smaller than I had hoped. We're on a pretty lean budget for the construction, at around £1300 per m2 for the total build. I've renovated a few properties previously and will be doing some of the work myself, using friends & family to help where appropriate, and managing the project myself. Glad to finally have taken the plunge to sign up and share the above. It makes things more real. Next step is to find a plot and hopefully figure out a way to work out plans in (though appreciate we may have to start again!) Cheers J Edited September 24 by jaymd_123 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 You got this . I know you have . Why ? Because a (expletive deleted)wit like me did a self build . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 Love this haha! Cheers, Pocster. Top 3 pieces of advice you could offer for someone in the very early stages? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Any reason it is single storey? 1.5 or 1.75 storey will enable a smaller footprint building to deliver better £ per square metre. Lots of things don't flow well for me on your present layout, particularly your office, utility etc. I am not a fan of living room and kitchen together but if that is what you want and don't mind the noise of a fridge or dishwasher disturbing your relaxation. Kitchen / diner and separate living room for me. The key to our low £ / square metre cost was building slowly doing a lot of the work ourselves to save labour, and careful buying of everything. One of my design criteria was minimise corridors, make as much of the square metres actual rooms not circulating spaces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 (edited) 23 minutes ago, ProDave said: Any reason it is single storey? 1.5 or 1.75 storey will enable a smaller footprint building to deliver better £ per square metre. Lots of things don't flow well for me on your present layout, particularly your office, utility etc. I am not a fan of living room and kitchen together but if that is what you want and don't mind the noise of a fridge or dishwasher disturbing your relaxation. Kitchen / diner and separate living room for me. The key to our low £ / square metre cost was building slowly doing a lot of the work ourselves to save labour, and careful buying of everything. One of my design criteria was minimise corridors, make as much of the square metres actual rooms not circulating spaces. We wanted the vaulted living area so we stuck to a single story. I would certainly consider a 1.5 or 1.75. We didn't find a plan we fell in love with that met our requirements and was small enough to fall in budget (office, garage, kids living space, three kids bedrooms, vaulted living space, simple rectangle design, etc) My wife wanted a large all-in-one living space (nostalgia from our old flat-life days) for socializing. I hear you on minimising corridors. We have tried to do the same here, which is why the living space is central to the building. Edited September 24 by jaymd_123 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveasteading Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 16 minutes ago, ProDave said: better £ per square metre. Not necessarily. As you say later, there is the space taken by the stair and landing x 2 levels. so take that out of the useful m2 and it all changes. It depends on a lot of other factors too. slate roof would be expensive, metal much cheaper, tiles in between. To me that is an economical shape and easy to build, and everywhere is near a window. Plus it is totally accessible for the future......the owner ageing, visitors, future purchasers. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProDave Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 1 minute ago, jaymd_123 said: We wanted the vaulted living area so we stuck to a single story. I would certainly consider a 1.5 or 1.75. We didn't find a plan we fell in love with that met our requirements and was small enough to fall in budget (office, garage, kids living space, three rooms, vaulted living space, simple rectangle design, etc) Think about vaulted living space at one end, and 1.75 storey over the rest of the downstairs and over the garage for upstairs rooms. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 The key to our low £ / square metre cost was building slowly doing a lot of the work ourselves to save labour, and careful buying of everything. Great advise Fast =£££ Lots of labour that we can all do Buying materials There can be a massive difference in costs of exactly the same materials Suppliers have got used to us excepting that things cost more due to inflation Un less you are governed by planning I would consider 1.5 floors £1300 m2 is definitely doable if you consider all of the above To add Try and get a plot that is reasonably straight forward No overhead cables Flat as possible Reasonably near to utility Conections and and some means of run off for tip water and discharge from Treatment Plant Jeep professional fees as low as possible 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 15 minutes ago, saveasteading said: Not necessarily. As you say later, there is the space taken by the stair and landing x 2 levels. so take that out of the useful m2 and it all changes. It depends on a lot of other factors too. slate roof would be expensive, metal much cheaper, tiles in between. To me that is an economical shape and easy to build, and everywhere is near a window. Plus it is totally accessible for the future......the owner ageing, visitors, future purchasers. These were all points I had considered when designing. I'm hoping we won't need to move home again after we build this, so future-proofing was in mind. I also agree with your statement on space for stairs and landings. I had designed a handful of 2 story plans (could have worked as 1.5/1.75) and I couldn't keep the footprint down due to these areas, which typically added double-digits to the footprint. That said, I can certainly appreciate why a 1.5 or 1.75 would be desirable... Especially when land is at a premium like it is here. Maybe I need to go back to the drawing board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 17 minutes ago, ProDave said: Think about vaulted living space at one end, and 1.75 storey over the rest of the downstairs and over the garage for upstairs rooms. I totally hear you. I'll grab a pen and paper and see if I can figure out something that will work within our footprint. Each room in my current plan is "essential" (or so I am told!) for this build. Room sizes are also edging on small so, as mentioned above, I may struggle to fit in the additional landings and staircase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 15 minutes ago, nod said: The key to our low £ / square metre cost was building slowly doing a lot of the work ourselves to save labour, and careful buying of everything. Great advise Fast =£££ Lots of labour that we can all do Buying materials There can be a massive difference in costs of exactly the same materials Suppliers have got used to us excepting that things cost more due to inflation Un less you are governed by planning I would consider 1.5 floors £1300 m2 is definitely doable if you consider all of the above To add Try and get a plot that is reasonably straight forward No overhead cables Flat as possible Reasonably near to utility Conections and and some means of run off for tip water and discharge from Treatment Plant Jeep professional fees as low as possible Sound advice. I appreciate it. We're on our third renovation, having completed a lot of work on previous jobs ourselves. I've been told an architect isn't necessary and we can move forward with a combination of structural engineer and architect technician. Hopefully, this is true and will prove a fruitful shift from much of what I've read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 1 hour ago, jaymd_123 said: Love this haha! Cheers, Pocster. Top 3 pieces of advice you could offer for someone in the very early stages? 3 pieces of advice from me ….. 🤔 Ok ! 1) You’d be surprised at what you can do . I mean literally it’s possible to do 90% + of it yourself ( with help from forums like here ) 2) Creative solutions can save you £1000’s …. Every problem has multiple solutions ( in life and self builds ) 3) Take forever doing it and have no budget . Welcome to the infinite build 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 6 minutes ago, Pocster said: 3 pieces of advice from me ….. 🤔 Ok ! 1) You’d be surprised at what you can do . I mean literally it’s possible to do 90% + of it yourself ( with help from forums like here ) 2) Creative solutions can save you £1000’s …. Every problem has multiple solutions ( in life and self builds ) 3) Take forever doing it and have no budget . Welcome to the infinite build Solid advice. I appreciate that. Hopefully number 3 isn't our outcome, but I did say I would never renovate another house, two houses ago 🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjc55 Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Slightly surprised that you have spent so long designing for a plot you haven't got yet! From our point of view the plot came first and then design to fit the plot. I can't quite read the dimensions properly but it is around 10m x 23m? Pretty wide so would require a particular shape of plot. Was there a reason that you have done it this way around? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 (edited) 11 minutes ago, mjc55 said: Slightly surprised that you have spent so long designing for a plot you haven't got yet! From our point of view the plot came first and then design to fit the plot. I can't quite read the dimensions properly but it is around 10m x 23m? Pretty wide so would require a particular shape of plot. Was there a reason that you have done it this way around? The design isn't final as such. It is more a representation of what we want and how we believe we could make it work if that makes sense. Something we could do whilst saving and looking for land. It's all part of the "dreaming" process, right? Or maybe more like keeping the dream alive whilst we got our finances together. I had to get my better half on board and she's nearly completely visual when it comes to believing in it. There would be many ways we could redesign - this was just the first floor plan we created that ticked all the boxes, was a really simple design, and could be realistic within our budget. It's 27x11m Edited September 24 by jaymd_123 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Garage is asking to be a sex dungeon 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETC Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Not a fan of the floor plan or elevations. I see the concept but I think it could be handled a bit more rationally. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETC Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 So much great Scottish architecture out there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETC Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 6 minutes ago, Pocster said: Garage is asking to be a sex dungeon I didn't include the plans for the basement... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaymd_123 Posted September 24 Author Share Posted September 24 7 minutes ago, ETC said: Not a fan of the floor plan or elevations. I see the concept but I think it could be handled a bit more rationally. Sorry. No need to apologize. Happy to take on constructive, useful feedback. Any tips on how you would make things more to your taste that you feel would be worth considering? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pocster Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 7 minutes ago, jaymd_123 said: I didn't include the plans for the basement... I know . That’s where my sex dungeon is 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETC Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 There’s nothing wrong with your concept - take a look at contemporary Scottish vernacular architecture - here in Ireland the development of the home started off in a linear fashion - a central living space - much like what you have with bedrooms off the room and a long front corridor. Leave it with me. I’ll sketch a few ideas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 1 hour ago, jaymd_123 said: Sound advice. I appreciate it. We're on our third renovation, having completed a lot of work on previous jobs ourselves. I've been told an architect isn't necessary and we can move forward with a combination of structural engineer and architect technician. Hopefully, this is true and will prove a fruitful shift from much of what I've read. Definitely SE is a must Most will do your BC submission if required A lot cheaper than an Architect 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ETC Posted September 24 Share Posted September 24 A couple of sketches I’ve done in the past. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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