Anyone bought land and built own house?

[Pruni]

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Not us, but would love to do this! Watch Grand Designs with great and wonder at how stupid some people are with large sums of money!

my parents and everyone else i know in belgium built their own house. i love how every house is unique and it is tailored to their individual needs.
we rented a house for a week in the lake district on holiday which had underfloor heating and it was really really nice to have. i love tiled floor but hate cold feet. it is very expensive to run though, according to the owner.

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Pruni, here's some info which may be of interest (or you might have these links already) re Oak frames. Did you see the lovely oak framed cottage on Grand Designs? It was built by Border Oak this website . I think the cottage was built by the daughter of the owner of Border Oak but presume the prices quoted etc are the same as would be quoted to Joe Public IYKWIM. Anyway, she is building another house of the same design but slightly bigger. On the home page there's a menu button and you'll see a link there to her selfbuild diary - it's interesting reading at the very least. Channel Four's Grand Designs website has the build info for Permain Cottage here .

I think that Border Oak are a reputable firm - long story but we've been going through the whole planning process which for various reasons is firmly stuck about 10' deep in gooey muck and I'm pretty sure our architect mentioned them as being good. I spoke to them pretty recently re services/costs and they're worth a tel. call. Their info pack is pretty basic unless you pay the £25 for their full pack but tbh, we did and it's a lot of money for what you get. That said, if you look at their website and want egs of prices I'll be happy to type some up from their pricelist so as you have an idea.

Hope some of this info helps and that it all works out for you - it'll be really exciting and I'm very very !

Wet underfloor heating is fantastic (esp when combined with a heat pump - sure that would be OK in Scotland)
Electric UFH is quite expensive to run
Remember one of the largest costs is conecting to servicese (phone sewage, water, gas & elec)

There are some great magazines out there and some great plot finding website - but you do need to pay

Remember you can reclaim the VAT on a new build - so keep your receipts

Will you project manage yourselves?

Where will you live while you build?
How will you support yourselves while DH changes his job?

As you can tell I'd love to do this

Have you thought about solar panels?

Sorry any decent plots come up in the west they are mine . Mind you I need enough room for 3 houses.

A kit type house seems a good choice for those ith a more realistic budget. The bespoke architect ones always get carried away and are always double the budget.

HOmebuilding show

buildstore

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My architect husband built us our own home which is made of western red cedar cladding. I would always always employ an architect. They study for 7 years before they get near a house so they're bound to come up with fantastic ideas you haven't thought of.. and don't project manage yourself it always ends in disaster.....but then I may be biased.