£80k to start new

thebigdipper

Hey all

I'm looking to build a home in the East Midlands on a budget of around £80k - that's for land, labor, materials... everything required.

Luckily I don't require a large building, nor a large plot of land - I'm thinking a small 2 bedroom, 1 floor cottage is all I'd require.

Despite that I know it's a small budget and it's going to be difficult. I was hoping if anyone had any ideas/advice on how I might go about achieving this?

Can anyone suggest methods of finding affordable land, low-cost building materials (I hear earth bag building is a good way to go but I know nothing about this) - basically anything that can keep the costs way down.

I'm happy to consider ideas that are outside the box - I'm sure the whole project will need to be if I want to come in under budget.

Thanks for listening.

xoAmyox

thebigdipper wrote: »

Hey all

I'm looking to build a home in the East Midlands on a budget of around £80k - that's for land, labor, materials... everything required.

Luckily I don't require a large building, nor a large plot of land - I'm thinking a small 2 bedroom, 1 floor cottage is all I'd require.

Despite that I know it's a small budget and it's going to be difficult. I was hoping if anyone had any ideas/advice on how I might go about achieving this?

Can anyone suggest methods of finding affordable land, low-cost building materials (I hear earth bag building is a good way to go but I know nothing about this) - basically anything that can keep the costs way down.

I'm happy to consider ideas that are outside the box - I'm sure the whole project will need to be if I want to come in under budget.

Thanks for listening.

I don't see how this would be possible with your budget, however, do take a look at the TV program from last week or the week before called 'The house that 100k built'
There was a lady in Scotland who built a basic house for £50k~ and lots of ideas were given on low cost construction and materials.

jbainbridge

There you are - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03bwqqt/The_House_That_100k_Built_Sumati/

xoAmyox

jbainbridge wrote: »

There you are - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03bwqqt/The_House_That_100k_Built_Sumati/

Thanks, that is exactly the one

SailorSam

This is a another series of Tv shows that may give you some ideas, he changes the use of small buildings.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces/episode-guide

carefullycautious

The money you have May build you a basic shell of a property but it would not be enough to purchase the land also. Unless someone knows differently.

Not sure how much it would cost to infill between two properties as seen on some programmes, to create a narrow property on an urban site.

ash28

thebigdipper wrote: »

Hey all

I'm looking to build a home in the East Midlands on a budget of around £80k - that's for land, labor, materials... everything required.

Luckily I don't require a large building, nor a large plot of land - I'm thinking a small 2 bedroom, 1 floor cottage is all I'd require.

Despite that I know it's a small budget and it's going to be difficult. I was hoping if anyone had any ideas/advice on how I might go about achieving this?

Can anyone suggest methods of finding affordable land, low-cost building materials (I hear earth bag building is a good way to go but I know nothing about this) - basically anything that can keep the costs way down.

I'm happy to consider ideas that are outside the box - I'm sure the whole project will need to be if I want to come in under budget.

Thanks for listening.

I don't about building costs to be honest but land with planning permission is going to be a big hurdle.....the cheapest plot I've found with outline planning permission in in an old substation in Lincoln it's £19k.

http://www.uklanddirectory.org.uk/land-for-sale.asp?id=14549

The website that the plot is being sold through isn't too bad and has a reasonable amount of land for sale - well worth a look.

I would suspect the council would want something similar to the existing houses as it's residential.

Tixy

What do you define as affordable land? How much of your budget is allocated to the land purchase?

Is it anywhere in the east midlands or are you particular about where you live? Do you want to be in a city/town/village?

Do you want somewhere that already have outline planning permission or are you prepared to risk buying without (having planning permission can often double the value of the land) or prepared to spend money & time trying to get permission before you make the purchase?

I'd imagine even in the east midlands you would struggle to buy a plot with outline planning for less than £20k, and more likely £40k for anything reasonable.
Although this is obviously an exception to my £20k estimate!

In terms of looking for plots, speak to local agents or check out a site like http://www.plotfinder.net/

SailorSam

Some more suggestions here for finding that plot of land.

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/build-renovate/self-build/planning/a-z-of-self-build-guides/how-to-find-a-plot-of-land-for-sale-08-06-03

lincroft1710

Bear in mind that architect's fees, building regs submission, planning application, solicitor's fees (for purchase of land) could easily cost £4K and then you have the cost of water, electricity and possible gas connection and demolition costs if it is a brownfield site.

Of course if you can do a lot of the labour yourself, your budget becomes more viable.

eddddy

thebigdipper wrote: »

Hey all

I'm looking to build a home in the East Midlands on a budget of around £80k - that's for land, labor, materials... everything required.

Luckily I don't require a large building, nor a large plot of land - I'm thinking a small 2 bedroom, 1 floor cottage is all I'd require.

....

Maybe you're not thinking of building a conventional home, but it may be helpful to think about it this way...

Conventional developers/house builders often use the following rule of thumb:

- Pay a third of the final house price for the land
- Pay a third of the final house price to do the building
- Keep a third of the final house price as profit

Theoretically, since you have £80k, that should equate to:

- £40k for the land
- £40k for building
- (£40k Profit)

And so you should end up with a house worth £120k. (But if you are not a builder, you probably need to employ a building firm, and they would expect to make a reasonable profit, which will skew these numbers.)

So you should be looking in areas where a 2 bed cottage would sell for about £120k - and you should be expecting to pay £40k for the plot.


On the topic of earth bag building... I guess it depends on your future plans and your views on life. If you ever want to move on, the house would probably be unmortgagable, so you would have to sell very cheaply - possibly making a loss.

If you built conventionally, the house would be an investment that could generate a profit when you sell (depending on what happens to the broader housing market). But not everyone is driven by the profit motive!