Customizing a new build house

onthewayout

Should have guessed, pointless red tape strikes again. Or well meaning red tape crossed with predictable cutting of corners by the developers....

Does that mean I'd be subject to the same rules on a house I designed myself? Would planning to use triple glazing in my lovely big floor-to-ceiling windows (yeah I'm dreaming) be enough?

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Building regulations dictate that. New builds have to achieve an average Q value for thermal transmission, which is much easier to do with block wall than bargain bucket UPVC double-glazing. Hence the ever shrinking window sizes.

martinsurrey

onthewayout wrote: »

Should have guessed, pointless red tape strikes again. Or well meaning red tape crossed with predictable cutting of corners by the developers....

Does that mean I'd be subject to the same rules on a house I designed myself? Would planning to use triple glazing in my lovely big floor-to-ceiling windows (yeah I'm dreaming) be enough?

yes it would do, part of your costs would be thermal calculations done by an expensive consultant. As long as you over insulate some areas so you meet the regulated averages, you can get away with a fair bit (but it becomes expensive!).

Other reasons for the small windows and low ceilings are planning.

Max heights for buildings combined with a preference to build in the loft, makes lower ceilings more common.

The building density makes smaller windows more appealing as 2 large windows facing each other over your small garden would make the houses seem like they were on top of each other!

And the overriding reasons for these is land cost + planning cost!

You’ll find if you want to self build, by the time you buy a build plot, and get past planning and building reg’s approvals, you’ll be screaming out to save money however you can (unless you have money to burn).

Most large developers average about 20% profit on the sale of housing developments, and that includes the HUGE economies of scale of building 100’s of them. Unless you own the land already, or can do alot of the work yourself, its not as easy as people amke out.

Doozergirl

onthewayout wrote: »

Should have guessed, pointless red tape strikes again. Or well meaning red tape crossed with predictable cutting of corners by the developers....

Does that mean I'd be subject to the same rules on a house I designed myself? Would planning to use triple glazing in my lovely big floor-to-ceiling windows (yeah I'm dreaming) be enough?

It's not building regulations that dictate small windows, it's developers being completely tight with the regulations. They have no agenda other than to make money. Building technology has moved on so far that we could and should be building houses that need no heating at all! Building regulations are trying to push developers in the right direction. But it costs more...

If you build your own house, you can build to amazing quality for less than the price of a new build from a developer. I disagree with the comments above. Self build is very hard work but building a better house to less than the cost of a new build is entirely acheivable, even if you pay a contractor to build it.

I certainly don't believe that there is a 20% mark up for a large developer, especially if they buy the land without PP.

martinsurrey

https://web2.taylorwimpey.co.uk/corporate/business-overview/key-financial-information

Taylor Wimpey Operating profit (so before interest and tax) £132m on sales of £1,000m

http://www.crestnicholson.com/investor-relations/reports-results-and-presentations

HY revenue of £192m operating profit of £34m

http://investors.redrowplc.co.uk/key-financial-information/five-year-summary.aspx

Operating profit of £73m on revenues of £604m

All in 2013

Just because you don’t believe it, doesn’t make it true.

And developers buy very little land without planning, or land which isnt zoned for development and if they do the old land owner will put an overage clause in it to ensure that they get a lot of the benefit of the planning permission.

The land owners of large sites are NOT idiots.

if you own the land already, you can build an amazing house for very little, but getting a build plot is the hard and expensive part.

Doozergirl

As a small developer, you can buy a plot with PP, develop a house with sensible sized windows and sell on with a 20% margin, that is entirely plausible. As a self builder, you can do exactly the same. That is documented over and over again. Whether you want the stress that goes with it is something else, but, without doubt, for the same money as one of those poor big developers will charge, people can have a far superior home.

The profit made by big developers doesn't include the assets that they have sittting around, or the ones that they buy through the year. The land around my town is all owned by big developers, there's a huge list of them. It has been for at least the 10 years that I have lived here. None of it has PP, although it will do; that ship is about to come in.

Either way, feeling sorry for big developers building tiny magnolia boxes is not on my agenda. Improving the quality of our housing stock is.