Design to suit plot, or find plot to suit design.

Scubascorpion said:
Did you design the house you wanted and then find a plot to suit that design or did you Find the plot of land and then design the house to suit the plot.
Click to expand...

It's got to be a mixture of both?

You have an idea of what you'd like, you look for a plot, and adapt and change.
 
You can get mortgages on self builds, the banks release money in stages as it's built based on its valuation at each release stage. At work we usually recommend allowing approx £1000-£1200 per square meter build (Inc finishes). It's just a ball park figure though.
 
[TW]Fox;17403019 said:
You don't just rush out and build a house with no capital and only a reasonable monthly income otherwise everyone would be doing it. You need substantial capital first, then you can think about building a house with it.

This is why a house costs more to buy than land + materials to build a house - because you can aquire the latter with a small deposit and decent monthly income, whereas the same cannot be said for the former.

Anyway, less than a year since you almost went bankrupt, maybe take things slow, or you'll end up there again. Wasn't it over-ambitious projects that caused it last time?
Click to expand...

No it was being a **** using credit cards for funding projects instead of using cash.
I'm better paid now and have learnt that lesson well, any chance of putting that old chestnut to bed?

Not everyone could manage to DO most of the work themselves. This would save shed loads of that cash.
It doesn't have to be built in some tight schedule format.
I can set out foundations, dig the foundations (with machinery already owned) Lay blocks, set out drainage, Make shuttering, pour concrete, fabricate steelwork, install window frames, glaze windows, Layout electrics. solder plumbing, lay flooring, trusses and tiling.
The only things I fail on are plastering. :-/
I don't see why you are so negative about it all.
The only capital I need is for supplies and if I am doing the work myself there is no reason to think the funds wouldn't be there when the next stage is ready to order.
 
Clearly not in its entirety no. Family member/ mates trades / rates and such is there also.
I've been surrounded by the structural trades since I could walk. One of the reasons I'm a jack of all trades I guess.
 
Good luck with getting yourself approved as an electrician, all modern electrical work requires certification to prove it's been done correctly...by an electrician.
 
If your working though mate when are you going do do these things?

I speak from experience, I work full time, I'm doing a degree part time and I'm renovating our house (don't think I mean decorating it, we've knocked seven bells out of it). It's taken nearly 5 years of every weekend, every penny, every day of anual leave and it's still not finished. We are lucky in that we got the kitchen and a bedroom sorted early so we could live here. Last week I was up the scaffold sweeping standing water of a tarp at 3am as it was coming through a roof, then up for work at 6

If your building, working, paying a mortgage, buying materials, renting? You are going to need a large initial chunk to get going.
 
Last edited:
So you don't think I could lay the correct cabling to the correct socket and wall units then get a sparky in to join the ends, check and advise of any changes needed to comply and then get it signed off by that sparky then..

Not looked into the small print but I was under the impression you just had to prove competence and then get it signed off.
Realising sparkys wouldn't sign off someone else's work I'd have to back track from that point to a position where he would be happy to (as above, lay cable but let sparky do all joining and testing etc.)
 
No Mortgage, no renting. That's two out of the way :D

Anyway, if I manage to get passed the design I want, most of it would be pouring concrete into the shuttering, floor, walls and then ceiling once beams were laid :D
 
Last edited:
Wages, shares, savings, the bank of dad, :D in that order. ;)

Be aware though that this is only at the thoughts in my head stage, just one of many ideas floating about in the grey matter.
 
Last edited:
I recommend everyone should build, I've been in the construction industry for 22 years and I love building stuff. It is wonderful and very rewarding. You just need to be careful financially. Just be aware that some months you will be fine on £1500 because it will buy lots of a specific material, more than you can get through yourself. But other months you will whip through cash at an alarming rate.
 
Plot first, then work on a plan with an architect. Jack of all trades or not, it would be near impossible for you to get planning permission and satisfy all Building Reg requirements without their input. Then you've got structural and infrastructure engineers to do their part as well. Not as easy as it might seem.
 
If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it as someone has already alluded to above. :D
Sometimes you just have to get stuck in to stuff / run with the ball. :D

I would definitely work with an Architect at the beginning though, getting plans made up / modelled.
Time and effort is required for ensuring things comply with all the relevant rules and regs.
For that you need more google than you would money IMO.
One of the biggest "sayings" in my last trade job was the 7 p's..
Prior planning and preparation, prevents **** poor performance.
 
Last edited:
Good luck, it's quite possible to do what you want to do, having watched Grand Designs a few times there's always people on it working full time and building their own house too, although they've often had a nice chunky bank balance to help them along the way.
Be prepared for a long hard slog though :D


I'm renovating my place and it's a lot more work than I expected although I'm enjoying learning on the job, I've got 2 plaster lath celings to remove today, another celing that has 2 layers of plasterboard then plaster lath, then half of a huge galvanised steel water tank that is in the loft , I'm expecting this to take all day and as usual I probably won;t manage it all :p
 
[TW]Fox;17402579 said:
Surely you need huge amounts of capital first, am I missing something here :confused:
Click to expand...

Just the same as buying any other house really. You can borrow 75 to 90ish % of the total cost for specialist lenders eg build store by RBS

http://www.buildstore.co.uk/finance/hsbmwork.html

We managed to borrow quite a lot on our flat even though it was only a shell when we bought it.


EDIT, to the OP

Finding land is very difficult so you will really have to take what ever you can get and design the house around it. I am looking for a plot for my parents and there really is not much around without paying crazy money.
 
In regards to the question posed by the thread title, I'd say you need to base the design on the plot as other have said. But, have some idea on what sort of design you may want so that when you choose a plot you are not ruling out something you would like completely from the start.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom