Modular or Kit Home Advice

fiftyg

Thank you all for the comments so far.

Yes the 300K was the total cost in mind. My friend has recently left London and is renting in Northamptonshire, as they like the area and want to be a little more mobile for viewings. I only came across the Channel 4 show a couple of days ago and saw a couple who built a bungalow all in for 220K although I was not sure where they were in the country and only yesterday realised that the episode was froma number of years ago. I did see plots when I did a cursory search for around £60000 which is why I waw hopeful.

It just seemed like an amazing idea if you have the money up front. After reading It looks like it's just a pipe dream...

ProDave

A quick search on Right Move for land found this as the cheapest building plot, offers over £90K   https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132192389#/?channel=COM_BUY

Beware there are a lot of "plots" much cheaper at auction but they are best described as "hopeful punts" as they seem to mostly be subdivided grazing land with little hope of getting permission for anything other than agricultrural.

That plot has permission for a 105 square metre house.  So to buy the plot AND build it for £300K would be ambitions unless it is a true self build with your friend doing much of the work himself.

A quick reality check shows you have a good choice of semi or detached houses in that area for your £300K

It begs the question is self build the right thing in this instance.  Often self build is no cheaper than just buying a house to move into, the reasons for doing it are often to get something special, something you just can't buy off the shelf, and in that case you will not be wanting a small plot where you only option is to make a new end terrace joined onto the one that is there.  You you will be looking for a better plot, which will leave less of your budget to actually build with.

diystarter7

Hi OP

Any "plot" you buy, check if will be allowed PP if not already coming with that.
Speak with a planing duty officer and they will tell you if PP had been applied/refuse etc
and you will be better informed

The plot, if its relatively even, then a it cheaper to build but be aware of what is under that soil and 
what may have been there before

We have a few family memebers that have built their own, the last one was years ago and they could not get a plot near to their business ie 10 miles - so they bought a large rundown house, when I say run down, just needed TLC and bulldozed it,
However, that was the expensive route as they loved the area and the quality of the bricks, the fitting were way above the average inc pillars aounf the front doors.

Be aware of possibly massive costs to get drains/sewers/gas/etric and phonelines etc

Its a minefield unless your mate can a rundown house and rebuild on that but the budget wont allow that.

Unless they are builders, builders can and will let you down and adverse weather could further delay and impact costs.

I regret not trying a new build for profit but if budget is limited, you need to be extra careful as costs you never though of will start appearing and before you know it, you are well over budget

Getting the right plot at the right price is the key

Good luck

jennifernil

We did a "self build" back in 1987-88, just north of Glasgow, we still live in it.

We were very lucky to find a place where there were about 20 plots for sale.  The whole  area was owned by a well known local builder, but for some reason, after building about a dozen houses, they decided to sell off some as plots, we had actually previously been and looked at one house in the first phase that was being sold on after about 5 years.  

Then they decided to release a second batch of plots, one of which we were able to secure for £25k.   These days it would be more like £250k.    Just under 0.25 acre, but on quite an upward slope.    Plots were sold with outline planning permission, some rules on external finishes, and services already in place.

We designed a house to our requirements and got quotes from several timber frame kit manufacturers, most of which offered varying levels of how much or how little you want to do yourself.  We chose for them to build the actual house, and fit what we had  chosen of doors/woodwork sanitary ware, electricals and central heating.  Plus a small amount of slabbing to front and rear doors, and the base for the driveway. 

 We had a fixed price from them, which included our choice of CH, our chosen  number and position of sockets etc etc, a basic amount for sanitary ware, we then paid the difference for what we chose, but we requested they left the kitchen etc completely to us.

We did all the kitchen and utility fitting, telephone wiring, tiling, floor coverings, light fittings, driveway surface and garden landscaping. Took us 3 years from moving in to finishing the garden!   A lot of the garden work was done as and when we  could afford it, but everything else was budgeted for and came in within budget.

 The house, with integral double garage has a footprint of 160sq m, and is over 2 floors, with living rooms upstairs to take advantage of the views.    When it was complete our total spend was £160k and it was valued at £250k.

These days there are  very few plots around here for sale, any vacant ground is snapped up by developers, and quite a few older houses are being bought for the plot and pretty much demolished and rebuilt, or bought up and massively extended.

It was a great experience being able to get a house exactly to our requirements, choose everything ourselves, and save money, but it was a lot of work.    I would love to do it again if only we were 20 years younger.

However I must add that my OH is a Civil Engineer, so knows a lot about building, his hobbies  are electrics and woodwork, and he is excellent at DIY, so we did know what we were getting into.    

I would not recommend this route to a home if you have no idea about these sort of things.

strawb_shortcake

Grand designs had a modular home built in Kent in 2019, this article has the details but it's still available to watch on all 4

https://www.granddesignsmagazine.com/grand-designs-houses/grand-designs-tunbridge-wells/

FreeBear

annabanana82 said:

Grand designs had a modular home built in Kent in 2019, this article has the details but it's still available to watch on all 4

https://www.granddesignsmagazine.com/grand-designs-houses/grand-designs-tunbridge-wells/

Grand Designs also did an episode with a Huf Haus a few years back. From memory, it took less than a week to assemble once delivered to site.

diystarter7

FreeBear said:

annabanana82 said:

Grand designs had a modular home built in Kent in 2019, this article has the details but it's still available to watch on all 4

https://www.granddesignsmagazine.com/grand-designs-houses/grand-designs-tunbridge-wells/

Grand Designs also did an episode with a Huf Haus a few years back. From memory, it took less than a week to assemble once delivered to site.

Pure German engineering that one - classy place.

warwick2001

FreeBear said:

annabanana82 said:

Grand designs had a modular home built in Kent in 2019, this article has the details but it's still available to watch on all 4

https://www.granddesignsmagazine.com/grand-designs-houses/grand-designs-tunbridge-wells/

Grand Designs also did an episode with a Huf Haus a few years back. From memory, it took less than a week to assemble once delivered to site.

Was that the elderly artist couple? IIRC that one was about £500,000 for just the house kit alone. It was a stunning house, an absolute engineering delight!!!

diystarter7

warwick2001 said:

FreeBear said:

annabanana82 said:

Grand designs had a modular home built in Kent in 2019, this article has the details but it's still available to watch on all 4

https://www.granddesignsmagazine.com/grand-designs-houses/grand-designs-tunbridge-wells/

Grand Designs also did an episode with a Huf Haus a few years back. From memory, it took less than a week to assemble once delivered to site.

Was that the elderly artist couple? IIRC that one was about £500,000 for just the house kit alone. It was a stunning house, an absolute engineering delight!!!

Hi

Yes - ace property - ace workers.

Thnaks

strawb_shortcake

warwick2001 said:

FreeBear said:

annabanana82 said:

Grand designs had a modular home built in Kent in 2019, this article has the details but it's still available to watch on all 4

https://www.granddesignsmagazine.com/grand-designs-houses/grand-designs-tunbridge-wells/

Grand Designs also did an episode with a Huf Haus a few years back. From memory, it took less than a week to assemble once delivered to site.

Was that the elderly artist couple? IIRC that one was about £500,000 for just the house kit alone. It was a stunning house, an absolute engineering delight!!!

I thought I'd watched a lot GD but didn't remember this one. Looks like it was 2004 so expect prices have increased somewhat since then