Reply to: New Home Self Build

[rootsnall]

I blame Sarah Beeny.

But she's got great norks so I'll let her off if she lets me play with them for a while...

How many babies has she had, she started off this week as the slimmest and fittest she has been for a few series but sure enough 10 minutes in she was pregnant again !

[tim123]

Well I don't know about the UK market. In Germany some people (thousands) try to do it cheaply and end up in a ruin, and don't usually have enough to tear it down, as by the time it's clear they live in a ruin they're on the verge of personal bankruptcy. Normally by this stage the building company has gone bankrupt, and the ex-Managing Director is managing a new company. Mind you I think in the UK the situation is a lot better.

Peeps like to self build in Germany because up until last year you got tax relief on the mortgage if you self built and you did't if you bought pre-built.

They have abolished this anomoly.

tim

[ratewhore]

I blame Sarah Beeny.

But she's got great norks so I'll let her off if she lets me play with them for a while...

[threaded]

Just buy some green-belt such as a lump of forest, build your house, and erect some WWII style camouflage so it can't be seen unless you know where it is.

Alternatively, build into the side of a hill and cover the entrance with astroturf.

A bit of lateral thinking is all it takes.

There was a farmer who did just that. His property was also in a hollow so could not be seen except from the air. Long legal battle ensues. Eventually council chaps came along with bulldozers to knock it down. Farmer meets them at the gate with his gun.

Council guy, laughing, "What are you going to do with that?"

Farmer, "Shoot you if you come any closer."

Council guy, "Go on then."

Bang,

One dead council guy.

I dunno, it should be sad, but it still makes me laugh.

[IR35 Avoider]

In the late 90s I noticed a plot of land for sale in a small village in green belt just inside the M25. It was T shaped, with the bottom of the T giving access to the road and the top bigger bit being behind existing houses. I thought it was just big enough for a reasonable house at the top with a long garden to the road. I made enquiries with the estate agent, who quoted something like two million pounds.

A developer subsequently built a small block of flats on it (with what looks like a one bedroom house on the bottom of the T, with an access road going past it.)

[Captain Dispensable]

Just buy some green-belt such as a lump of forest, build your house, and erect some WWII style camouflage so it can't be seen unless you know where it is.

Alternatively, build into the side of a hill and cover the entrance with astroturf.

A bit of lateral thinking is all it takes.

[Clippy]

As always - the trouble is getting the land - so many chasing with a view to doing the same - best bet is find a bungalow , demolish & rebuild - but it is a pricey way of doing things
- there is a usefull magazine - self build home ..I think

Looked into this myself a few years ago but as Troll rightly says, it's hard to get the land nowadays.

The main magazine is called Homebuilding & Renovating http://tinyurl.com/3dl9n7 and they also have exhibitions throughout the year (free entrance) http://tinyurl.com/2jd7w3

[rootsnall]

I don't know about neighbours land but if you pinch other land (from highways etc) then as long as you keep it quiet for 12 years it becomes 'possessory land' - yours in name but there are limits to what you can do with it.

I just picked it up from reading the deeds last week, I should run it by the solicitors before it goes on the market but I'm hoping I can just pass the issue on to the buyer. Its an old terrace needing work and prime BTL territory and I don't think will really effect the value much.

[rootsnall]

The rule of thumb used to be the land should cost 30% of the value of the finished house.

Here in Oxfordshire you just cannot get land at a reasonable price, even with a crappy house on it. I've seen a few where there is DPP for a nice house (3-4 bed detached usually) and to buy the land with the original house on costs you £5-6-700,000 (and yes I have seen one at £700,000). Then you have the cost and ballache of a build...

It's over 50% even Up Nth ! There are too many amateur developers ( inc me ! ) and some pros bidding for every scrap of land at the moment. The numbers don't add up and are relying on house prices continuing to climb. The longest standing and richest builder round my way smiles if quized on the silly prices, he's not buying, he's still building on the land he picked up for peanuts when the last batch of builders went bust in the 90s.

[SoupDragon]

Just selling my grandad's old house and we have discovered he pinched quite chunk of land off the neighbours and built a garage on it !

I don't know about neighbours land but if you pinch other land (from highways etc) then as long as you keep it quiet for 12 years it becomes 'possessory land' - yours in name but there are limits to what you can do with it.

[rootsnall]

he he land grabbing off the neighbours eh

Milan.

Just selling my grandad's old house and we have discovered he pinched quite chunk of land off the neighbours and built a garage on it !

[BlasterBates]

Well I don't know about the UK market. In Germany some people (thousands) try to do it cheaply and end up in a ruin, and don't usually have enough to tear it down, as by the time it's clear they live in a ruin they're on the verge of personal bankruptcy. Normally by this stage the building company has gone bankrupt, and the ex-Managing Director is managing a new company. Mind you I think in the UK the situation is a lot better.

[monkeyboy]

Building costs have a rule of thumb £80 per square foot for the shell

£40 for finishing.

Just doing an extention that because the builders a relative comes in at 100k in the sarf east. its 1000 sq feet so quite large.

You can build a standard box for slightly less but not very interesting.

Building regs are the biggest problem in this country, for doing self build. And they seem to change all the time.

[milanbenes]

looks like you need to think about leaving the Island !

Milan.

[ratewhore]

The rule of thumb used to be the land should cost 30% of the value of the finished house.

Here in Oxfordshire you just cannot get land at a reasonable price, even with a crappy house on it. I've seen a few where there is DPP for a nice house (3-4 bed detached usually) and to buy the land with the original house on costs you £5-6-700,000 (and yes I have seen one at £700,000). Then you have the cost and ballache of a build...