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Mrs_oab and I are back exploring this. We've wanted to self build since we met, never had the resources.
We're not rich, we will have a tight budget, we're happy to go with modest, off the shelf kit home and modest finishes. We will be around Passive/AECB gold, as one of our main motivations is low energy. Needs to be 3-4 bed.
I'm aware that the biggest hurdle will be plot. We're looking at youngest finishing school in 18 months, so lining up a couple of years to find a plot, somewhere either near Stirling-Perth, perhaps further north and east if jobs are possible.
Overall we would have £350k total, plus possibly small mortgage if more than this.
I've looked a few things up with HebHomes, ScotFrame etc to get ideas
What forums do I need to join?
Any case studies or inspiration for low cost builds to low energy standards?
Kit home or architect and builder etc to keep costs manageable.
Etc etc
I'm in The Yard, St Werbergh's Bristol, self-built community thing, happy to put you in touch with folks 👍
We’re not rich
we would have £350k total
😀
Do you read the daily mash with a straight face?
Try Fleming Homes also, Duns.
No connection except our youngest worked there for a while.
@forked - you're quite right. 😳
Although by most self build standards in the UK, that's tiny it seems. Particularly when most plots are £100-200k if it's connected to services and not the back end of Rannoch Moor...
Grand Designs has taken self build down Grande path it seems.
I keep a constant eye out for plots as I have a similar medium/long term plan. Hardly seen anything worthwhile, I'm coming to the conclusion that it might be easier to buy a knackered place, demolish and rebuild.
I'm hoping to do ours for less than £180k.
3 bed 'Capercallie' from Scotframe is the current favourite.
Looking to the Borders to buy land, a small plot would be £40k, we would like slightly larger, and open fields on one side, and hoping for something less than £70k.The basic house is £65k. Groundworks at ~£15k, builders at £12k, I'll fit out myself.
FB has a few Self Build groups, I'm on 'self build discussion scotland' and 'uk self builders'.
Was going to say scotframe!
I'd join the local fb page n see if you can find a good trady and speak to them.
Indeed the plot is the biggest challenge, and we're registering/setting up alerts/ear to the ground for the foreseeable.
The good news is we can move quickly to buy a plot, if a good one comes up.
https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/
I found this forum quite good, lots of direct experience and advise to help prospective builders.
Just realised it was 2 years ago we took the decision to sell-up and move to Scotland, original plan was to self-build but COVID put paid to those plans as the only suitable rental we could find was in Moray whilst we wanted to build on Mull. We went turnkey with a local builder and finally moved in last summer, 12 month after agreeing and it was 3 months late and probably cost us £50k more, but not spending another winter in a cold cottage probably worth it.
Some things to consider:
Most of the decent self-build plots in Scotland have gone in the last 2 years - the ones that are still advertised are usually problem plots or over-priced. I saw some that hadn’t sold for 13 years sell. May be worth taking to local builders/developers as they may be prepared to sell you a plot because the price of materials and difficulty in finding sub-con trades means many are slowing down/ keeping a skeleton crew going.
£50k might find you a remote plot somewhere, but no services. £100k is more realistic.
Material prices and availability is still bad - lots of folks putting off projects for that reason. There are predictions of a small fall in prices next year, but a third wave may halt that.
Spoke to quite a few of the ‘kit’ house people a few years ago - they are overwhelmed/very busy so might be ‘cool’ in replying until they know they have a serious buyer e.g. have bought a plot. Fleming were one of the better ones.
Planning takes way longer than they say it should - council staff still working remotely.
Builders are still very busy despite slowing down plus lots of trades some are fully committed for 2022.
Despite not self-building, really satisfied with the outcome and the process. We completely changed the interior layout, plus did all the kitchen, bathroom designs - the builder actually prefers our house layout to the others he’s built. Not everything goes smoothly - you need to be pragmatic and face set-backs. Our builder suffered a near-fatal heart-attack but luckily his dad (ex-builder) took on the task.
We're about to start a build/renovation/extension. We're using Claymore Timber Frame in Ladybank, Fife. Might be handy for a visit if you're building Perth area, and I would recommend a visit. They have a set kits ready to buy on the website, or they can do everything from just delivering a frame built to plan to a complete start-to-finish design & build service.
Prices seem to be very reasonable to us given recent material shortages, and the guys we've spoken to there are very helpful.
Thanks folks, some useful information and links there.
Agreed that plots seem tough at present - not just price but some just seem problematical...
1. Get and Architect and Structural engineer.
2. Find out as much about the below ground conditions you are building on as soon as possible. Preferably a ground investigation report.
3. Get a quote or indication how much you would need to spend on incomming services and sewerage connection
4. Agree the design, get quotes and let them build it.
5. Once the design is agreed DO NOT CHANGE IT.
With reference for number 2. everything about ground is easy. Get it wrong IN the ground and it could be the ruin of the job.
Also worth understanding some of the VAT and stamp duty benefits of self-building.
If you buy the plot and get someone to build the house under a separate contract you will likely pay no stamp duty. Gets trickier if you are using a mortgage, plus there are extra legal fees.
New builds are VAT free but renovations aren’t. If you fancy a garage or outbuilding get it added to the plans as part of a ‘single development’ so it’s VAT-free.
Also make sure with any plots they have full approval for access and services - there’s a local self-build house that is unsellable because it doesn’t have a wayleave for the driveway access - it’s on a steep slope bounded by a river.
as one of our main motivations is low energy.
Make sure you do the sums and its not green washing. It can be done but one of my pet peeves is grand designs "eco builds". The first thing they do is knock down a dated but perfectly usable house, then pour hundreds of tonnes concrete, then ship materials from round the world, but its OK as they a GSHP that they hardly have to turn on because of all the (plastic) insulation.
It is amazing what information is available online now for a bit of internet sleuthing.
There is a quite new, large house 2 doors away from me that is built on a decent sized geological fault. As it is right on a rocky coastline the fault is clearly visible at low tide, both on the ground and on satellite imagery. When it was built they thought they had it easy as it was straight onto bedrock, unfortunately the piling in fault rock had to go far deeper than they expected to hit solid material. It nearly bankrupted the person building it and when it was complete they sold it immediately. No way in the world I would have bought that site (I do have geological training though).
Also, one of the 1st places I look is the SEPA flood map. Ruled out quite a few plots immediately using that.
One recent one I looked at looked pretty good on face value, nice aspect, passable size. I couldn't really work out why it had been available for so long. It was only on streetview that the overhead powerlines directly over where you would want to build became apparent.
The basic house is £65k. Groundworks at ~£15k, builders at £12k, I’ll fit out myself.
Services?
Might need a waste tank (and outlet into a stream etc), even just wiring electricity from a pole sat on the perimeter will be +£1k, water connection.
And don't assume just because there are other properties nearby that there's the capacity to add your plot, so might need to extend back to 'mains'.
@dovebiker That's interesting about stamp duty - and the savings on that tax would go a long way towards the build contract.
@nickjb - I used to sell woodfibre, hemp insulation, clay blocks and work alongside some very clever people. I'm also on a couple of old grand designs in the background....I will be taking an envelope first approach, mvhr, likely some solar and hopefully nothing but a few ufh electric mats and towel rails. KISS. We may also go Passivhaus, but may not get it certified.
I have just spend lunch adding us to any and every land agent, estate agent, plot search and more site I can think of.
We’re looking at youngest finishing school in 18 months, so lining up a couple of years to find a plot
If watching Grand Designs has taught me anything, it's not to have Kevin McCloud anywhere near otherwise you'll undoubtably end up with another young dependant a few months later...
The plot next to me is for sale - must like views of Ardnamurchan, Morvern and 🦌 🦌 🦌
Having spent the last year looking at plots in the Borders, if there is one for sale it has an issue.
It wouldn’t be advertised if it was a good plot to build on.
The plot next to me is for sale – must like views of Ardnamurchan, Morvern and
Sadly the commute is a little far...
So tempted though!
Green building forum was a small but mostly well informed bunch.