New build bungalow

[Susana]

Hi! Newbie here and looking forward to reading through the site and any help will be fully appreciated. 

We own a corner plot and would like to split the land so we can build a 1 bed bungalow so we can rent it out long term to help with our retirement in the not so distant future! We are looking at a small 37 square meter build of only the shell as we would complete the rest ourselves. (Have done a loft and garage conversion previously so have some experience but not with a new build)

We are on a tight budget but can fund about £70,000 cash towards the build but appreciate we may have to borrow if or when we run out of funds. 

Can anyone give me an idea if this is even possible with this amount? We are a bit old school and want brick built but need to get with the times to see if we can go down another route. I’ve heard of SIp or timber frame which we are open to, as long as, if we ever have to sell on, a buyer can obtain a mortgage for it.
Which is the cheapest build method up to the shell?
We are in the south east. Already have someone to do the drawings for planning, yet to put planning through so may not even be accepted! But asking now as planning asks for finishes etc so trying to work out if we are going for brick or timber. Are we doing the right thing getting drawings done before we decide on the method of build?

Thanks and sorry in advance for all the questions. 

[Russell griffiths]

Do you understand that if it’s not your principle residence then you can’t claim the vat back, you might also pick up an infrastructure levy from your council, not sure on that one due to the size. 
Why split the land, 

could you build it as an attached annex. 
 

 

is 37m large enough for the legal size of a 1 bed dwelling. 

[Thorfun]

£70k and 37m2 is about £1900/m2 so is doable if you’re doing work yourself. 
 

tbh block and brick will probably be cheapest but at that size you could get someone to stick build a TF on site. Prices will probably be similar. 
 

[Redbeard]

37m2? Back in my housing management days 35m2 was a '1B 1P' - one (single) bedroom, 1 person and really tight. Do you have drawings?

 

 

[Redbeard]

21 minutes ago, Susana said:

we can build a 1 bed bungalow so we can rent it out

 

I misunderstood initially (I think). I thought you were going to retire to the bungalow and rent out your house. I now read it and think it's the other way round. I realise bungalows are a bit like hens' teeth, but do you think there is a good market for a tiny bungalow?

[nod]

You probably will have to borrow 

The larger the house The lower cost m2 As fees Conections etc are usually the same 

Brick and block is by far the cheaper of the options 

[Susana]

Hi thanks for all your replies! The plot we want to build on is about 125 square metres (this is just the plot and not our full garden) it would have a dropped kerb from the road 5mts in depth x 7metres wide. The rear garden is around 6metres depth x 7metres wide. The smallest size build is 37 square metres for a 1 bed 1 person bungalow but at this size we could easily fit a double room in there plus a bathroom and living room kitchen area. We thought about an annex but we would have to then apply for planning to rent it out, so would rather split the land so if we ever needed to sell we could. Our plan is to do a long term rental to a professional couple or maybe Airbnb as the location is good for both options with lots of amenities nearby and beach. Once we retire we could then have the option of moving into the smaller property and renting out the larger house or selling one of them if needs must as you never know what the future holds. We have children too so could be good if one of them goes through a rough patch etc.. The plot we have is a fair size and we wouldn’t want the huge work in the garden as we get older anyway and plenty of garden left for us after the build. 
Our initial plan was to buy a flat to rent out to subsidise our pension but we could never buy a one bed detached bungalow here for the price we would pay to build one on our land or even a one bed flat for that matter!
I’m pleased you all say that brick and block is the cheapest option as that’s what we we prefer anyway. 👍

Edited Monday at 16:48 by Susana

[Susana]

16 hours ago, Thorfun said:

£70k and 37m2 is about £1900/m2 so is doable if you’re doing work yourself. 
 

tbh block and brick will probably be cheapest but at that size you could get someone to stick build a TF on site. Prices will probably be similar. 
 

Hi, if the price is similar, are there any negatives to timber frame as opposed to brick? Thanks

[Thorfun]

25 minutes ago, Susana said:

Hi, if the price is similar, are there any negatives to timber frame as opposed to brick? Thanks

that debate is long and everyone has their own opinion. just read up on some of the build method threads on here and you'll find people arguing for both sides.

 

we built TF and have no regrets but i am only one data point.

[Susana]

6 hours ago, Thorfun said:

that debate is long and everyone has their own opinion. just read up on some of the build method threads on here and you'll find people arguing for both sides.

 

we built TF and have no regrets but i am only one data point.

Will do, thank you 

[torre]

As mentioned earlier, the smaller your build, the more expensive per m2 as some costs are largely fixed. Is there any possibility of making the build 'one and a half' storey? Lose some space for stairs but gain another 15-20m2 upstairs, without making the profile of the property all that much more imposing and at pretty low extra cost.

[TerryE]

Just to support what @torre says, we split our garden and did our new build on the bottom half of our garden.  We were chatting to the estate agent who was handling the sale of our old farmhouse and he was quite interested in what we were doing, and gave us this piece of advice: "If you are ever thinking about doing a loft conversion, then the best time to do it is when you build the house: this works out far cheaper in the end and involves less disruption." 

 

That one aside was just so valuable: we raised the pitch of the roof from 40° to 45° and put in a warm loft during the build. This increased the effective size of our house by maybe 35% for very little extra build costs.   My son has his bedsit on the loft floor now.

 

We have an MBC (passive class) TF, but the builder (who did all of the ground works and stone skin) showed us around a couple of his own self-builds.  In one case on the Planning Application it was "two storey", but he had a huge walk-in cupboard on the landing which had a loft ladder to a huge warm loft that was already built with roof lights and to code for conversion to living space.  His reasoning was that since his application was for a two storey house, then he would get it signed off as that.  This also avoided all of the costs of second-fit to the loft and hoisting the sales price.  His intended buyer was going to wait a few years and then put in a planning application to convert the loft to living space.  The Regs for conversion are slightly more relaxed than new build, but the way the house was laid out it was already fully compliant: it was just a matter of installing the 2nd flight of stairs instead of the cupboard and doing the 2nd-fit in the loft.

 

You could consider either of these options to future proof your build so you could add the extra living space if and when you need it. 

 

Edited Wednesday at 13:43 by TerryE