Midlands New Build

[CADjockey]

Hi,

 

I've posted a couple of topics already but I thought I'd throw this in too...

 

Family of 4 (2 girls 7 & 10), North Worcestershire.

Conceptually we are going to drop our house and New Build in its place.

Plot is about an acre and we've lived in our house for 5+ years.

We have renovated 4 rooms (3/4 bedrooms and the dining room), back to frame, new wiring, insulation, board and plaster, skirting & architrave.

However, I did some quick maths one day and figured that what it was going to cost to finish the remaining rooms, plus kitchen, bathroom, windows, roof & cladding was considerably on the way to 1/3 of building from scratch. So we stopped looked down the back of the sofa and decided we could afford to rip it up and start fresh.

 

We have spent probably 8 months on the layout so far and as you may see from my other posts, are questioning whether to ditch our 'Architect'.

You may also see were we have got to with the plans, also posted on here this week. I really don't know if we can salvage what we have so far... Watch this space...

 

Your comments so far have set the cogs whirring and I think I'm at least about to rework the hallway which means I can reduce the cellar, and also try and do away with the variation in GF-FF footprint. Balcony to MB might also bite the dust.

 

Anyway, hi, hello, bonjour

 

 

 

[Mr Punter]

Is there any way you could build a new house elsewhere on the site and retain the existing one?

[CADjockey]

Don't know if we would get away with that or particularly want to, It would mean building in the back garden  and we'd rather 

end up with more back garden than front as we will drop our existing house whatever. So, we have planned in the cost of renting a house

for the duration of the build... it's either that of factor in the cost of a divorce too...

 

 

The garden space is why we bought the house in the first place.

 

[jack]

Nice garden - I can definitely see why you wouldn't want to build on it.

Anyway, welcome (again!) to the forum. 

[Mr Punter]

The garden look fantastic.  I am a developer so probably look at things more from the view of gaining most value, but if all the surrounding houses are on similar plots, gardening is your thing and your current house can't be made suitable the new build sounds good.  Just make sure you spend time getting the design exactly right for you before you submit your plans.

[CADjockey]

Yes, we could put two very nice houses side by side on our plot, but it's what I call our 20 year house (to my wife's distress).

First house 5 years, second house 10 years, this house 20 years but let's call it 20 years from build completion. We are not 

planning to move so my only concern in financial terms is to try and come out the other end where the result is worth on

paper the sum of purchase & build. More than that I don't care.

[ProDave]

My immediate thought is with 1 acre, surely you could knock down and build TWO houses half an acre each is a pretty decent sized plot. Even just by selling one plot and keeping one to build yourself would help a lot with the finances.

 

And even with half an acre, you have to consider living on site in a decent static caravan to avoid the cost of rental.

[jack]

The other possibility is to plan the new house in a position that leaves you the option to split in the future, if it isn't something you want to do now.