Self Building - Any experiences?

BigAlC

Hi all,

I (we) are FTB's in a market which in my opinion is full of over inflated unreaslistically priced houses. Apologies if I have offended any vendors on here, but this is just my thoughts.

To business though. We are seriously looking in to self builds as a way of gaining the best house possible for a reaslistic price. The benefits that come with it are many in terms of CGT and SDLT to name a few.

It seems like a great way to get our dream house to start a family and with things being the way they are, it appears like it is also cheaper, and possibly - should we ever move and sell, more profitable to self build.

We are wondering however if anyone has any experience of doing this on here?

The digging I have done has shown me that as fair as I can gather I would be better off getting an accellerator mortgage which pays in advance of getting work done. However, I am wondering how these get paid, do we pay as soon as we accept mortgage, or do we start to pay it all back when the building is complete and we are moving in?

I've still got a lot of reading to do on all of this, but I thought I would start the ball rolling on here in terms of gathering information from people that might have been there done that, or are also at the same stage as me and are willing to share and exchange knowledge.

Thanks all.

stueyhants

I've always thought about doing this, but the right land has never come up. I guess it depends on whereabouts in the country you are, but getting hold of land and then getting the right planning are tough.

richardw

BigAlC wrote: »

... a market which in my opinion is full of over inflated unreaslistically priced houses...

Have you found out yet

" a market which in my opinion is full of over inflated unreaslistically priced land"?

Good_Money

I guess you have to work out what:

Cost of Land + Cost of Building + Planning Fees/ Building Regs/ Other Costs equals

as opposed to cost of house already built.

there was a plot of land I saw that was 125,000 and had permission to build a 1 bedroom house.

The question is what would the cost of building be?

you could get a 2 bedroom house for around 200,000 so I'm not sure it would be worth it

BigAlC

We are based in Yorkshire, so there is plenty of land, and a lot of it with planning permission already granted, generally up to 4bed size with garage and garden.

Average plot sale seems to go for ~£100k for a decent size.

richardw

BigAlC wrote: »

Average plot sale seems to go for ~£100k for a decent size.

How much have you got in the bank to go towards the cost of the land?

sunshinetours

What CGT advantage are there building your own home over buying your own home ready built then? If you live in it you will get PPR either way

Land is by far biggest obstacle for most - firstly finding suitable plot with suitable permissions and for a suitable price,and that is assuming you can fund the initial purchase of land

Doing it to get the house of your dream is great - doing it to make money I would say is doubtful unless you get everything right

BigAlC

For land, we have around 20k, then again, I've seen plots going for plenty less than that around here (some even being between 5-10k with detailed planning permission)

But either way, I'd call it a 20% lump for land buying.

richardw

BigAlC wrote: »

...I've seen plots going for plenty less than that around here (some even being between 5-10k with detailed planning permission)...

..and what does the site/soil investigation report say about the foundations required?

BigAlC

That I couldn't tell you, as I'm still gathering information on the entire process. In terms of land, I've just been looking on land registery and other such sites for land for sale.

This topic was for gathering information about how to go about it, and to try and establish pitfalls or easily missed topics that I/we/anyone might not even consider when considering it.

I realise with land though that there are certain conditions which will dictate what type of foundation it will require to be built upon though.

sunshinetours

Land with detailed planning for £5k? I would assume house prices in general in those areas are pretty low as well then

Land is certainly IMO the biggest obtsacle to starting the process so if that side can genuinely be sorted at a decent price then it has far more
chance of becomeing a reality

Maybe check out flat pack style homes like Potton Kingspan I believe are one mentioned the other day