Experiences of building your own home?

[Blankiefan]

My parents want to move closer to us but there aren't many bungalows near us (they definitely want a bungalow). There are a couple of plots available though.

What's the general view of building your own? Open to kit houses or not. Should I encourage them to investigate or steer them clear?

What experience do they have? Where would they live whilst building? Most people don't do this because they don't have the skills. What about finance? Would they need to sell to finance the project? Have you never watched Grand Designs? It's not for everyone. Have the plots got pp for a bungalow? Does building a bungalow stack up financially? Mostly they are being pulled down as being wasteful of a plot which could take a property with more upward space.

We did it, your money goes a lot further, or did 10 years ago. It's all dependent on getting a good builder. There's a good book called the home builders bible, and lots of online forums. Worth signing up to plotfinder too, to see what's around

bubbles they'd sell their house and live with us (We're assuming 4-6 months, we've got plenty of space). They'd have most of the cash required from sale of their house - can you get a mortgage for building?

They've had an extension built in the past (single storey three rooms). Uncle is a builder, dad used to be a plumber/central heating fitter - pre Corgi. Mum very hands on with decorating (painting, wallpaper, etc), dad is now a handyman. They'd not tackled something of this scale.

Plots have permission but not for bungalows (for two storey houses).

We know it's not optimal to build a bungalow but this will be their last home. They are 65 and 60; they want to move whilst they're in control of the situ rather than wait another 10 years when they may not be able to manage stairs, etc.

We haven't done it but have spent time looking into. We got gazumped on a plot we loved last year and are still looking.

Things we did as research:
Went to a couple of homebuilder exhibitions at Excel
Subscribed to a couple of homebuilder magazines
Signed up to plotfinder
Went to visit Scandiahaus' showhome (in Surrey) and had a chat to people there to get a feel for plots and timescales
Looked at info on the web about process and cost

Good luck!

Am currently having a house built. It’s horrible. I wished I hadn’t done it and it’s incredibly stressful. Misogyny is rife and it’s scarey handing over large sums of money constantly. It’s the hardest thing I have ever done and truly wished I hadn’t.

Me and my ex husband did a self build - we moved in in 2003 and it took nearly 2 years to build.

We lived with my parents to start with and then rented a house.

It was very stressful as we had a 2 year old and I got pregnant half way through. We used some equity from a house sale and the rest was mortgaged. It was a lovely house and when we split in 2006 we sold it for more than double that we built it for.

I do believe it ended our marriage. I’m sure your parents will have a much better experience though.

On the plus side you can get exactly what you want with a new build and if you get the right tradesmen you can do it cheaply.

Good luck to them