Any experience of buying a place to demolish and rebuild

Thefunkygibbons

As we narrow down our thought process, looking at larger bungalows on mid sized plots with a view to replcement

Obviously not a new idea, but wondered who has done this before

pitfalls?

DannyboyMidlands

It may be more cost effective to buy a bit of a wreck, strip out and massively extend rather than demolish completely and start again. This way you already have half of your structure, foundations and drainage in place. Planing might be easier too. Stick a nice double oak-framed garage in the corner of the plot and job done.

lincroft1710

Plenty of people have done this. However detached bungalows don't usually come cheap and demolition isn't as cheap as it was (cost of removing materials etc). In some areas there may be a planning issue if you intend to replace a single storey dwelling with a 2 storey. You could easily spend £300K plus to end up with a £100K building plot.

But if the location's just right for you.......

googler

Gaining the planning consent would be the immediate pitfall, with difficulty of placing a 1.5 or 2 storey where there was a bungalow before.

Relocating drainage and other services to fit the new design would seem to be the second.

Thefunkygibbons

I would love to find a £100k building plot, but the cheapest I have seen around us is nearer £400k (Hants/Surrey borders)

I guess I should start an informal discussion with the local planners

Gwhiz

1 for 1 replacement is easy. Bungalow to 2 story may be difficult. Always best to go and have a chat with the planning department first.

I'm about to do the very same thing this week.

Davesnave

I don't think posters are necessarily right saying that changing from 1 to 1.5 or 2 storey is difficult. It may be, but certainly not everywhere.

Where I am, the local authority now has a bias against bungalows in rural areas, though it may be a different matter in towns. I've had informal discussions with a planning officer, and he said any application to extend would be looked on more favourably if an attempt was made to make the place look more like a house.

In my own case, I wouldn't demolish, but I have cavity walls, not a concrete jobbie or a wooden pre-fab.

MX5huggy

The big advantage is that on a new build you claim back the VAT when you have finished, not an option on refurb. The disadvantage is that a new build would have to meet new energy efficiency levels, which is getting increasingly difficult / expensive to meet.

Thefunkygibbons

Not too stressed about energy efficient as I would like to have high spec in that regard, including possibly ground source heating, greywater harvesting et al

Looking around, there is not a decent plot anywhere also at any price. They always seems to have flaws, hence the search for a demolish and replace

Gwhiz

Thefunkygibbons wrote: »

Not too stressed about energy efficient as I would like to have high spec in that regard, including possibly ground source heating, greywater harvesting et al

Looking around, there is not a decent plot anywhere also at any price. They always seems to have flaws, hence the search for a demolish and replace

I sold my house 3 years ago, moved into rented and have been plot hunting ever since. It's only now that I'm starting to get info on plots or knockdowns that would work. Easy it is not!!!

BornAtTheRightTime

An acquaintance of mine did exactly this. He bought a bungalow on a large plot on 2007 for £550k and replaced it with this.