25yo lad from West Midlands, interested in self-building first property but clueless and trying to learn everything I can!

[Raphael Andreas]

I see that the rules say not to ask anything specific here - but let’s just say that my biggest question will be affordability/finance. 

There’s so many variables and such to discuss - but before I begin to try to find plots or get ahead of myself in any other way, I suppose it’s worth getting some quick preliminary answers to 2 very broad/hypothetical questions: 

From start-to-finish, can a 2 story, 2 bed, 80m^2 house (including land and every other expense) be built on a budget of £280k in the West Midlands? (Tamworth/Sutton area) 
 

and 2; what’s the maximum LTV that someone can realistically get when self-building? I.e. how much cash would I need, at a minimum? 

I currently live at home with parents rent-free, so there would be no pressure for things to move quickly either. 
 

I know questions like these are like asking “how long is a piece of string?” - so I do apologise, but before I spend all the time in the world researching this self-build stuff, I kind of need to know if the idea is a non-starter to begin with! 

[MikeSharp01]

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. Well 3k per M2 is not a bad figure, so yes. On question 2 I have no idea. 

[Roundtuit]

5 minutes ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Welcome to THE forum for people like us. Well 3k per M2 is not a bad figure, so yes. On question 2 I have no idea. 

Less plot and professional fees etc...?

 

Any indication of plot costs in your catchment area would be helpful, and how hands-on you plan to be?

[Thorfun]

Welcome @Raphael Andreas . Might be best to start a thread under the relevant forum as questions like those could easily end up being long threads!

 

best of luck. Self building is stressful but so worth it to build what you actually want to live in. 

[Raphael Andreas]

15 hours ago, Roundtuit said:

Less plot and professional fees etc...?

 

Any indication of plot costs in your catchment area would be helpful, and how hands-on you plan to be?

 

I literally have no idea haha. I imagine that i’d be looking for no less than a 0.025acre plot, but definitely no bigger than 0.03. 
 

I keep getting confused when people talk about sqm costs because when people say Xsqm, are they talking about the floor plan dimensions? Or the GIA? And when people refer to figures like £3k/sqm - is that supposed to be land and build incuded? Or just the material and construction costs? 

 

[Raphael Andreas]

55 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

Welcome @Raphael Andreas . Might be best to start a thread under the relevant forum as questions like those could easily end up being long threads!

 

best of luck. Self building is stressful but so worth it to build what you actually want to live in. 

I guess i’ll have to. To be honest, I thought i’d be laughed at as soon as I mentioned my budget and the fact that I have no finances saved up haha 

[MikeSharp01]

56 minutes ago, Raphael Andreas said:

To be honest, I thought i’d be laughed at as soon as I mentioned my budget and the fact that I have no finances saved up haha 

Your budget is not unrealistic for 80m2 and if you are into it for the long term you can do a lot of the work yourself and pay for it as you work. The up front lump will be your plot cost!

[Thorfun]

2 hours ago, Raphael Andreas said:

I guess i’ll have to. To be honest, I thought i’d be laughed at as soon as I mentioned my budget and the fact that I have no finances saved up haha 

We try not to laugh at people on here. Well, except for @Pocster . We laugh at him all the time. 

[Big Jimbo]

Yeah, @Thorfun. But our @Pocster, always gives the best laugh per post by a mile.

[-rick-]

2 hours ago, Big Jimbo said:

Yeah, @Thorfun. But our @Pocster, always gives the best laugh per post by a mile.

 

Definitely wouldn't be the same without him. Buildhub MVP

[ProDave]

I too wanted to self build in my 20's, but I was thwarted.

 

At the time, looking for my first house, I could buy a cheap developer built 1 bedroom house for £36K (late 1980's prices) or there was a detached 2 bedroom bungalow being sold as a building plot for £20K.  I looked at the plot, and it was a timber lath and plaster built bungalow clearly sub standard even by 1980's standard and it had subsidence issues so was being sold to knock down and rebuild.

 

I was thwarted because I could not find anyone willing to lend on the plot, but several said if you buy the plot we will lend the money to build.  And I had no bank of mum and dad (they did not have the money either)  So reluctantly I bought the developer box.

 

I was 40 before I got to scratch that itch and built my first self build.

 

I hope you get a more favourable answer from financial institutions.