Spain House Build - Land Bought

[Martynt74]

All very fair. Each bathroom does have a 60cm wide window. Same the with laundry, there's a 140cm wide window in there. A roof one would be cool, especially those small porthole type ones, but i'm not sure how easy it'd be for something relatively small with a solid concrete roof structure, and then theres the risk of leaks with the flat roof.

If there was anywhere to add roofing lighting i think it'd be the lounge/kitchen for me as long as there were blinds to shut them off. I do worry it might feel dark due to the covered terrace, but i think that's likely over thinking things.

Yeah. Compact is intended. There's only 2 of us and we don't need a huge space. It'd just end up being wasted.

Excellent call about the outbuilding. I kind of laid it out and then only afterwards thought it made sense to add the covered car port. Re: the gym, i will likely add a bifold door or something so it can be opened up. Being able to roll the rower machine outside overlooking the views in the last picture of Post 30 would be the dream.

Also likely to try and squeeze in a sauna somewhere inside. Although unsure if it'd be better outside. Same with a hot tub. Although i'm torn between that being here or closer to the actual house (probably around 100m between them)

Part of my long term plan is to add some container houses for rentals. Mainly aimed at cycling/running retreats so having the Gym/workshop accessible for them would be a nice addition. My wife is less keen on the idea, but my theory is they're the ideal renters. Likely to be quiet, go to bed early to recover and generally i can bore them about running/cycling rather than my wife!

 

[Martynt74]

how far is it from house/pool, no potential BBQ/covered-area role.

yes I'd commented on bathroom light before - currently have 120 with opening pane on broadened window ledge behind basin which adds a lot of ambiance in morning with sun & it's heat in summer,
one way mirrored unit if you didn't want to forgo view too ?

I've gone for 6m from house to pool. The covered terrace is around 2m, and then there'll be 4m to the pool itself. Feels like a good compromise. I'm not a fan of having it too close, but likewise i don't want it miles away.

Good shout on one way mirrored wall. That'd actually be pretty cool in the shower area

 

[Martynt74]

You could project shadows into it to make people think you're having one off the wrist but as joke so they think you aren't, because who'd be that stupid? But, then you in fact are.

Ah, the old double bluff ****

 

[Martynt74]

Update. The land is now officially ours. The house layout is agreed as per the above, and it's now waiting on the architect to do geo land surveys and mark up the full layout.

Decided to mark up the locations of things for him. Mainly because we have constant discussions between myself and my wife, then get to the agents/developers, i say something and she looks at me blankly. So i've knocked up the below for the architect to work from and included her in the group chat so she can't claim otherwise

Grey is the drive
Green is the fencing/gate. This is probably well over the allowed size in the budget, but i don't think extra is too expensive. Also not sure if we can reduce it quite a bit in reality
Red is my garage/gym/office
brown is the house with the relevant direction (absolutely not to scale. The drawing below probably makes the house about 900m2!)
blue is the pool

Also in the plans is a pool room/shower/toilet which i've not marked up.


In the future my plans will be to add a guest accommodation (maybe 2) where the rubbish is, maybe further "in" which we can rent out, but still be far enough from the main house.

I'm also currently looking for a digger for sale to start trying to level up the plots. Not going to touch where the house will be, but will be good to get the drive sorted and other areas. We can probably also begin clearing it and planting some trees so they get 12 months growth before we move in.

 

[Martynt74]

Also, have decided to keep the above layout pretty much on the garage.

Due to the way i'm laying out the fenced off plot, i think having the drive into the garage on the left makes most sense. It slots in nicely between where the natural "steps" of the land are

 

[Martynt74]

Can the architect provide any 3d renderings of the inside to check out the use 'flow' -
... seems maya is what was used on the bbc series on interior design options https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2swPU_Accs

digger - don't you have a risk of any top soil erosion if you did levelling without having some irrigation/terracing plan ?
do you have prevailing wind/mistral direction to play into overall orientation

I'm hoping they will be produced as part of the plans. There was the original 3D render of the exterior, however we've changed a few things. There is a 3D option on Floorplanner which i've used above, but it's not the nicest and i've not positioned windows/doors etc or added colour/floors. Might do though if the architect doesn't provide anything.

There isn't really any soil. It's mostly loose rock/dust. I'll likely get some advice before going mental. It's a bit weird the way it's been landscaped as there are clear terracing, although they don't flow all the way along and just pop up at random points.

Wind wise, it blows from right to left so the house is positioned to provide sufficient shielding to the pool

 

[Martynt74]

I would 1000% do what I could to have effectively a double garage, i.e. be able to drive the car in and have plenty of room to work on it.. so you need plenty of floor space.. then have cheap kitchen units/worktop for tools etc and off you go!
(Airconditioned of course)..

For me, the ultimate outbuilding would be
- Double garage
- Dedicated Gym
- Dedicated Home Cinema room

Each to their own, but wow.. you don't get too many chances to spec things precisely as you want!

I did consider a wider garage section, but it limited elsewhere. 50m2 seems plenty though, given the house is only around 115m2

As you say, the ability to drive the car in is a priority. Luckily i have a Jeep so it's not wide at all and 3m should be enough for the car and space around the sides. Then enough space length ways for tools etc.

Home Cinema room would be nice, i just doubt how much we'd use it. The long room on the right will be big enough for my gym/office and then i plan to have a decent stereo in there with a comfy chair. I could always add a drop down projector in front of the desk to turn it into a HC if needed, but with a 65" tv in the house it's generally all we need.

Speccing things is great, but annoying as i keep second guessing things and adjusting. The builder yesterday asked my wife to keep me under control! My response was the sooner he/the architect get plans submitted the less opportunity to change my mind

 

[Martynt74]

Holiday homes in spain can make some decent money. We try to get out there every year and were spending £3-6k a week on a place.

Haha i think that might be slightly over where we'd be!

I'm thinking i could get 2 units similar to this.

Two Bedroom Log Cabin With Large Veranda Edward / 37 M2 / 6 X 13 M / 70 MM - Casetas de Jardin 24

The Edward log cabin is nearly 40 m2 in size and is ideal for use as a holiday lodge, large camping house, garden guest house, office or as ancillary living space to your existing home. The standard cabin comes with massive 70mm wall logs, extra thick 28 mm floor boards, double-glazed doors and...

casetasdejardin24.es

As long as they're well insulated it shouldn't get too hot in summer/cold in winter and would provide a nice country break for people.

Probably aim for a brick build though. Wood is expensive so probably cheaper out of brick!

 

[Martynt74]

Concrete base then you would build one if them in 1 day and another to roof them fully.
Would probably need 2 people with 70mm logs

Yeah exactly, it's a very tempting proposition. Although being in a place to have ~€70k cash is another matter given how much we need to spend at the moment!

Interestingly. It's estimated that 1acre of land can produce 800 bottles of wine. As a lover of Primitivo, and with Syrah not being as popular here in Spain yet apparently growing in popularity. I wonder if i could import some old Shiraz Vines and make some decent wine I need to get on a few wine tours and find an owner who can speak good English and pick their brains on the possibilities of a small production facility.

 

[Martynt74]

Nothing to add to this thread, apart from I love reading the updates and I hope you keep the updates coming when the building starts!

Yeah 100%. I imagine there'll be quite a lull from now as it's just going to be waiting on the architect and then the council planning office.

Maybe there'll be some fun updates if i manage to buy a digger Although my wife has decided she doesn't like the rental we've found from March to August, and so keeps looking further afield.

 

[Martynt74]

I've seen your threads around but not read them in detail so forgive me if it's been asked before, how are you finding it discussing important details in Spanish?

Not doubting your language skills more projecting that if it was me I'd end up with 14 toilets in the lounge and an oven in the bedroom due to a small slip up or something

Haha luckily our estate agent is english but speaks Spanish.

The builder is also capable of good English but anything he doesn’t understand through me then the agent rephrases for me!

I think they biggest issue the builder has is my wife’s Mancunian accent

 

[Martynt74]

Nah, maybe it would be worse in some situations, but i think we've found good people. Albeit definitely not as cheap as other options. Obviously no guarantee of an issue free process, but we're as confident as we can hope to be.

 

[Martynt74]

Well still waiting for planning permission to even be submitted. It was meant to be last week, then something popped up which caused concern with the agent at the planning office, then the builder had to speak to the bank manager as it related to how costs are recorded on the planning application and what the bank would accept as the costs for mortgage purposes.

We've now got a meeting later today, but all being well it'll be submitted tomorrow!

Final plans below

House and pool. We've added an outdoor toilet. Seems an absurd cost but beats having to walk into the house when wet. Also a room for pool supplies/pump which is otherwise a bit of an ugly plastic unit

Garage

Layout/Orientation

 

[Martynt74]

so what are the mortage rates & term like in Spain ?

The new pool house proximity to pool is not too imposing/shadows, pump needs to be close I guess, or, face doors away from pool, too
- could still give space for a partially covered bbq/pizza oven placement,
... but I guess you get into analysis paralysis on such designs.


Did your house modifications from the original plan ultimately add much cost : top stagger, but, kept window count,
was adding any windows on the east, out, from a structural perspective say like more rsj's

Mortgages are a bit weird. 1 it's much more limited than the UK, although that could be our situation. Banks tend to not like 3 things

Non Spanish Citizens
Property on Rustic Land
Self Builds

Guess who's ticking all 3 boxes!


The main difference to the UK are that they're generally entered into for the life of the mortgage with less tendency to jump around every 2-5years. Generally it makes sense to fix for the duration, and you can get around 3% on a 20yr fix. I'm eyeing up a Euribor +0.7% deal at the moment. Although might go with a fixed and then tracker as they can generally customise a rate for what you want rather than the UK where you just choose what is available.

The other difference is they use a mortgage as a way to blackmail you into other products. Mainly various insurances/investments where you can reduce the mortgage rate by having more products. I need to do some calculations to see whether that's worthwhile or not.

 

[Martynt74]

Wooohooo, and confirmation planning is submitted

 

[Martynt74]

There does also seem to be some discrepancy around whether we can get the full 80% mortgage which is reserved for Spanish Tax Residents. It's not usual for foreigners, but given we're both working here and paying into the Spanish system we might get the option.

We don't particularly need it, but having the option of another €35k would be nice and allow us to not have to hold back on a few things. Especially more of the landscaping side of things.

 

[Martynt74]

My wife is keen on being super efficient and planning pretty early. So that we're not causing any delays as we get to it with decisions. She also knows the value of having a design early so you get loads of time to think about it.

As such, we've got our kitchen pretty much designed. I'm half tempted to import from DIY Kitchens because of how crazy expensive everything is here!

We've also settled on the floor tiles (ignore they're used on the walls here!)

 

[Martynt74]

Whats the idea of the cupboard on the floor under the bar bit?

I shall reply with question mark. My wife saw something similar in a showroom and it looks pretty nice. It just looks awful in that render!

 

[Martynt74]

I can imagine it getting in the way for cleaning and trapping dirt and other crap in the corners.... Showroom displays don't always translate to practical settings.

Possibly. It did sit flush with the floor so it doesn't really add much more dirt trapping than it being completely open (other than a surface to wipe rather than mop)

I'm still pushing for a bigger island, so that's not fully agreed on yet!

 

[Martynt74]

although I've had a galley kitchen , I wouldn't have a unit wall on one end of the sink, you loose ability to prep stuff on one side with easy access to sink,
and have ongoing cleanup of pans, say, on the other, and it's maybe claustrophobic;
I've had double bowled one small/one big sinks/Franke in most places too, so that you can multi-task - maybe your cad system didn't have one.

Do you have sufficient work surface space for u-wave or other appliances too ? (that can't be put on an island, versus work surfaces against wall)

Parents just had porcelain tiles on bathroom(bungalow) floor - I find they are very cold underfoot, versus lino type stuff I've had so far..

My theory was we just use the other side. There's around 1.4m between the sink and the hob which should be enough room. The sink is a single unit which is 76cm wide. We've typically had 1.5 sinks before but this time we're just going for a big single sink. Feels better. You can now get cool drainage slatted things too which fit over one side for drying pots, but have silicone edges so they roll/fold to save space when not needed. Seems a great invention.
We toyed with the idea of the sink in the island, but i preferred to just keep that completely empty. Same with the hob on the island. It feels nice, but then you're messing with built in hob extractors which i don't really want.

The aim is for all appliances to be stored in the cupboard on the left. Similar to what @kai has in his recent thread. The only thing on the worktop will likely be a coffee machine/kettle (left of hob). Although i'm tempted by a boiling water tap again.


Yeah, they can be cold, but just doesn't seem much alternative out here. Especially as we're going for the whole indoor/outdoor thing, so will have the same tiles throughout the house and then out to the pool too. Proper wood would be too much maintenance and tricky to keep clean with the dust. With the tiles we can set a robovac going and use a steam mop.