To buy or to build ?

[LizzyBee9]

Hello! So we have sold our house and looking to buy somewhere more rural. We have seen my absolute dream house, it’s a stable conversion, lovely and big, loads of character. It’s been sort of done but would need some work eventually like new kitchen and bathroom etc. It’s over budget, but we could make it work as it’s our dream house.
HOWEVER.... we have just also found a plot of land with planning permission granted to convert the barn.... my husband is in the trade so could hopefully do a conversion a little cheaper than your average joe. But it would be a lot of stress, we would have to move our whole family back in with the parents and it would obviously take a lot of time to do but we would have a home that we made for us for a lot less than the other one??? I’m so conflicted on what to do. One minute I’m all for one and the next the other. Help! What do you think?

I'd do the barn conversion. Get what you want in the long run.

Build! We did, it's so worth it. It's seriously tough with young children to look after as well, very stressful, but like I say, it's worth it if you can cope with the hassle. I think we saved about a third of what it would've cost to buy.

Following with interest as have found a couple of barns that need converting

Depends on your marriage really. Will it cope with massive stress? Your DH will presumably be working on your conversion as well as the day job. So no help with the kids until it's finished. Which will be a minimum of a couple of years. Not much fun especially if you are living with family at the same time.

@Pipandmum thanks for the reply. The thing about the house is it is absolutely perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing about the layout. The only downside is the back doesn’t get the sun at the house but it’s a big garden so should get it up the back. Then as much as I love the idea of building our own, and getting it all the way we want it is that we either hit unexpected problems and it costs a lot more money than we were expecting or just takes a lot more time and runs on like years 😳 aw i think doing the conversation is probably the head option and the other is the heart option 🤯

@DramaAlpaca oh good to hear from someone who has done it themselves! It’s the unexpected I worry about with a build. Like if we hit problems and it either costs a lot more money or ends up taking years to finish. And what if we go to all the work of building our own and it doesn’t live up to the other place. How long did your build take roughly? We would have to live with my parents while we did it. X

@Wallywobbles we would be hoping to do it in a year / 18months max. Husband has his own buisnsss in the trade so in a way that’s good as he knows a lot of people and he can do some of the work himself but also a lot more stressful because he already has a stressful job running a business and we rely fully on his business financially. I think we could cope with the stress of it together. Not that it would be easy but we have a pretty strong relationship and I can be onsite every day to oversea and help out where I can. Buying the ready done house is the easier option but more expensive and less equity. The build would be really hard but we would have a much smaller mortgage for a house worth a good amount of money

@LizzyBee9 it took about 10 months from starting the build in January to moving in that October. We'd bought the site a year before we started, but it took a while to get plans drawn up, planning permission sorted, find a builder etc.

We rented while the build was going on, you are so lucky to be able to live with your parents and save on rent.

Our builder project managed it for us, but we did all the floors, tiling, decorating etc. God it was exhausting! But as I say, worth it.

Anyone that’s done a barn conversion or a self build willing to have a chat? We are trying to get some figures and costs down to see if it’s doable in our budget but I just feel there isn’t much info about on actual costs or budgets?

What's trade like at the moment; is he insanely busy catching up with Covid-delayed work?
Are you, effectively, weighing up making money out of (a) converting the barn versus (b) the day job.

You are only thinking about this because it's there. There will still be other properties you can develop, when the timing is better.

Do you have DC. What's the situation regarding being settled down for schools?

My OH is in the trade and my experience is that our own projects get done in fits and starts depending on what work has come in and cash flow. Progress can be spasmodic and hugely frustrating and not like working with your own contracted builder at all.
We have a self built holiday home in France which is partly a barn conversion, 15yrs on it's still not finished completely but is useable. It does take up holidays and luckily for him I don't mind cement mixing or picking up pallet loads of slates, tiles or bricks and endless trip to builders merchants for hard to locate fittings etc etc.

It is glorious and I'm so proud of all his effort but with young children in the mix just think it would place too much stress on own my mental health if he was building our primary home.