Kit Homes

chrissawyer21

I have been looking into going for a self-build and have come accross kit homes.

Has anyone had any experience of these? Are they any good or simply not?

RAS

wHICH KIT HOMES IN PARTICULAr?

GDB2222

You occasionally see TV progs about Huf homes saying how fast they go up, but I think there's a lot of finishing afterwards. Not cheap. Not sure how expensive to maintain.

WelshNic

I've been watching a Huf Haus going up in Hampton Court, it's gawjus http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-30243208.html and not cheap!!

boo2410

WelshNic wrote: »

I've been watching a Huf Haus going up in Hampton Court, it's gawjus http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-30243208.html and not cheap!!

You're right, they are nice but then you are paying a premuim price for the location!!!

Opinion

I have a friend who's just moved in to a 'kit home' lodge, made by a company in Birmingham. It looks nice but they've had no end of problems. Problems with the roof, problems with the shower/plumbing, problems with the floor, problems with the kitchen etc. It got so bad that the company took the whole thing back down, then put it back up. After they thought they were set they had a major gas leak which led to the kit company blaming someone else that came in to do work- my friend had to move out for the best part of two weeks. Three months later and my friend is happy there but you can still see some issues... you can see the heads of the nails/screws in the ceiling that have been painted over, they constantly have issues with hot water or lack thereof, and the company walked away and refused to do the landscaping around the lodge so now they're in the process of taking the company to court. That being said, it's a nice enough place, albeit the bedrooms are quite small, it looks nice and has a nice big deck and the location is lovely.

devotee

WelshNic wrote: »

I've been watching a Huf Haus going up in Hampton Court, it's gawjus http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-30243208.html and not cheap!!

Love it! And location is fantastic, hence the price

devotee

Found this about Huf Haus http://www.huf-haus-owners-group.co.uk/intro.html

tyllwyd

My mum's friend built a scandia-hus - it must have been OK because she went on and built another one about ten years later!

jennifernil

A "kit home" is just a name for a house, any house, that is built from a timber frame "kit", i.e. the structural part of the house is manufactured in a factory and assembled on site. The timber frame then has the external walls built round it from whatever materials the planners dictate.

Other than the speed of erection, the end result is little different from a so called "traditional home".

I would challenge anyone to look at a modern house and say whether it is timber frame or traditional.

A "kit" can be an off the shelf design, or a one-off design. Off the shelf will probably cost less.

GDB2222

The Huf houses have a lot of external timber, which may mean very high maintenance costs. I don't know - just speculating.