Build your own home - UK

[Jonm]

Thank you all for the detailed advise. From a very high level and having briefly spoken to portion yesterday the most challenging part is finding the plot and getting the slab and services done. From there I’m told the building of the frame/house is in the hands of Potton/whoever. Potton are associated with a few land owners that they already have knowledge of and know the details of when it comes to facilities and planning. Essentially you buy the land from the owner and off you go which I think maybe a possibility for me. I’ll speak to Dan-wood next week and see if they do something similar

On my first house when I got the roof on I thought I was nearly there. It is only about half way, plumbing, electrics, plastering, kitchen, bathrooms, finishes, painting, patios, drive, garden etc. it goes on and on.

Do not underestimate the cost and difficulty of the utilities. With my second house all were in the road outside. Gas was a doddle, same side of the road, £600 no issues. Water, in the middle of the road, road closure £8000. Electric, other side of the road, £7000. Getting them to co-ordinate and use the one road closure and same trench was like asking them to put a lander on the moon. They did it in the end. So when looking at plots do not assume that because there are houses nearby the utilities will be no problem. The other one is foul sewage, definitely sort that out before purchase, some existing pipes are public others are privately owned. You may need an easement to get access to the pipe. Get a good solicitor who understands buying development land.

Also check the building control regulations regarding fire brigade access, not looked recently so my distances may be incorrect but something about getting a fire appliance within 45 metres of the whole house, and a fire engine cannot reverse more than 20 metres, (the 20 metres apparently is to do with how far a horse will back up).

I am not trying to put you off, just pointing out some of the pitfalls. I tend to think that a lot of the legal protections apply to consumers buying and selling their house. When buying building land you are a developer.

Edit
If the site has planning permission, read it very carefully for any conditions, also any other correspondence such as objections etc, it should all be on the planning website. Your solicitor should check for any covenants/restrictions on the land.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Getting them to co-ordinate and use the one road closure and same trench was like asking them to put a lander on the moon ...

Many moons ago my father built a small classy bungalow estate. They were very nearly finished, so informed the gas board, the electricity board, the water board, the GPO (phones, at the time) and the council that they were all but finished and the roads would be tarmacked on a specific date and that if they had further work to do could he please be informed so that the tarmacking could be postponed. No, they were all definitely finished. Six weeks after the tarmac had been laid every one of them had dug it up somewhere.
Fifty years ago a deep main sewer was laid from town to a large village five miles away - it didn't occur to anyone to put a gas mail in the same trench. It never did get mains gas.

 

[Jonm]

Many moons ago my father ...........

I recently arranged for a new water pipe in to my son’s house to replace an existing lead pipe. It was done incredibly quickly, about one week, and no charge. He was a domestic consumer and no doubt something they were monitored on with targets.

When it comes to developers or utility diversions it is not their core business, you are a irritant to them and they do not care what it costs you. At work I had a road improvement scheme, the utility company were a nightmare, delayed the scheme substantially and cause terrible additional delays to the travelling public. With an extension of time claim you are paying the contractors ongoing site costs plus an element of head office costs, all paid for by the taxpayer. I felt I had a case to claim against the utility company so took legal advice, the maximum we could claim was just over £10k. That nowhere near covered the costs and was not worth persuing.

I tend to think that in the days of publicly owned utilities there was an element of “public service”.

In my case of getting utilities across the road there are companies which will do the work. I contacted every one authorised for this and none were interested in a single property, only large developments. Lots of adverts which imply they will do the work but are actually arranging it with the utility companies.
edit
apparently in Germany it is standard practice for the utility companies to co-ordinate their work.

 

[Cooper]

Gas was a doddle, same side of the road, £600 no issues. Water, in the middle of the road, road closure £8000. Electric, other side of the road, £7000.
[/QUOTE]
That's interesting about the charges. We had gas connected to my son's house in Canterbury in 2014. It had to come across a main road (St Stephen's) and took two Sundays with half road closures and traffic lights or a chap with a sign and I'm sure we paid just under £1,000. There were separate teams to dig up, another to connect the gas, another to back fill, yet another to tarmac. Then the next Sunday the same again. As soon as their task was done they shot off to the next job. There were also phone calls from the management to check that everyone was doing what they had to and that we were happy with the quality of work and teams behavior.
It seems utilities must decide how much they want new business and charge accordingly.

 

[bansobaby]

I occasionally do some surveys/ geomatics/ setting out for a local design and build developer.
His clients often buy a property with an existing house on it, knock it down and build their dream.
There are obviously planning conditions to be met, but I have seen some extremely nice builds on highly desirably sites (north Cotswolds/ Stratford on Avon/ Solihull areas). Often the purchase price of the original property can be only slightly more than virgin plots because the house is derelict or plain horrible.
Also, for what it’s worth, I would echo someone’s earlier comments and say that the groundwork’s and the roof are arguably more important than any other part of the build.
Best of luck.

 

[NewbieRaf]

Thanks again all. Can anyone recommend a new build developer that is from the higher end of the spectrum? Some would call them “luxury” but in reality they are the developers that only build a few houses on a plot of land. As opposed to the norm Barrett homes etc

thanks

 

[clogs]

have u looked at HUff and or others.....?
the project I saw was that the client decided their original 30's horror story of a house needed so much work that it was better to buy a new one....
As said before/above/prev they got the planning side of it sorted....went to Germany with ideas of what they wanted etc.....the only really add on's was where they wanted the elec sockets and how many etc.....
The whole house came in kit form, German transport and Huff used their own engineers to assemble it....all in the price....
litterally just a few weeks they were given the keys.....
of course the site had to be cleared and the float had to be laid.....
the couple stayed in a motel for the few weeks only visiting the plot when they wanted to.....
U decide what u ya want before hand, sign the contract and part with ur money....

the way I see it, with these guy's u get the latest coded insulation, elec and heating system as it's built in a factory....
weather has no effect......
by building on an exsisting plot the drains, elec and water are already there.....
nobody can complain....
A DIY build can take years, well almost.....how many couples have parted over a project like this....?
and the big PLUS u don't end up with a heart attack with all the stress and worry.....
that's all gotta be worth the extra money....

 

[hairy]

nobody can complain....

Ha ha ha ha

 

[doctor Bob]

I have another "plot", but not gone for planning as yet due to, electric quote is £120,000. Water will have to be a borehole.
As pointed out check where utilities are before committing.
My plot was bought for other purposes, planning would be a bonus.

 

[NewbieRaf]

Huff is a good point. Hahah, does anyone have land they want to sell with utilities and planning? haha