Demolish & rebuild

[bgwti22]

Hi everyone.

We have found a house currently on sale. It is a detached 3 bedroom situated on approx 1 acres. After viewing the house, it is small & tight. For something on a plot that big the house is definitely disappointing, HOWEVER!!!! we were thinking of the potential there is to demolish & rebuild our house on that plot. Obviously not using the entire land space but building a much more spacious house with 4-5 bedrooms.

Has anyone here ever demolished & rebuilt their house. What was it like? The process, permission etc was it easy or did you encounter slot of problems.

Currently following some pages on Instagram who have demolished their houses & have built one twice the size. Interesting process which I know involves a lot of permission etc.

Do you think it’s worth it?

Are there any site restrictions or constraints that would influence the position, size and type of the re-development? These would include but are not limited to a Conservation Area, Green Belt, AONB, AGLV, Listed Buildings, TPO’s, Flood Zone, etc...

It would be much cheaper to just buy an empty plot to build a new house surely? The cost of the house and land, then demolition will be high.

Unless the house is a ruin, you're likely to spend more than the final house will be worth. A house like you describe would cost 300-400k to build and take around a year to build after permission is agreed, which may take a year in itself. Do you really want that? Extending the present house is likely to be a much better option. It sounds to me like you're attracted to the glamour of people doing this on Instagram and not really thinking about the practicalities of it, that you will put more money in than the resulting house will be valued at.

Happens a lot in London I think a new build doesn't incur VAT so there is a 20% saving on new build compared to a renovation. Plus you get modern finishes and freedom to get your own design.

Don't underestimate the cost of doing this OP - unless it's an incredibly unique plot or you have some once-in-a-lifetime Grand Design planned, you'd likely be better off just buying a bigger house somewhere else.

Extending what's there could be more viable though. What could £200k's worth of 2-storey extension do to it?

Planning permission could be an issue depending on where it is located.

If it's Green Belt, replacement is only acceptable if the new property is not materially larger than the one it replaces - depending on Authority this can be assessed as anywhere between 20-50% with a load of other factors thrown in.

If its in the countryside, again, Councils don't generally like anything much bigger than the original property.

If its urban (an not Conservation Area), then generally it would be OK but will still have to meet all the usual requirements about being in keeping with the area, not harming the amenities of neighbouring property (overshadowing, physical dominance, loss of privacy, loss of light etc).

It would be worth having a look at the relevant Council's on-line planning records for the property to see whether anything similar has been applied for (including large additions to the existing house) and what the outcome has been.

We did it and it was so worth it!! We're in open countryside ( not green belt or conservation area). Planning permission sailed through without a hitch and the council let us go 70% bigger than the original house.

We are AONB and green belt and you are allowed 50% extra. So that’s enough to make it worthwhile. However the very good news is that the new house becomes the base line. You can then extend on that. Another 50%. So anyone with any sense pulls houses down and then they start again. Long term projects though.

It’s vital to get an architect that knows the local situation. Let them guide you through the planning policies. It’s absolutely worth it.

That is not the case in all areas Percy Best to check with the relevant Council what their policies are.

Well the policy doesn’t exactly say that here! But, if a house is demolished, the new house wipes the slate clean so to speak! It’s been used on at least 6 properties quite close to me and our planning authorities are draconian. All owners have used architects though to get the plans agreed and several have gone to appeal and won. Green belt washes over our “settlement” and we are not even a hamlet! So it’s important to investigate. Another thing is building stables very close to the house and concerting then to living accommodation. You need several acres for that one though. Otherwise a big garage.

Quote ' Do you think it's worth it?'

Certainly worth it for the extra space you 'may' gain and your own design and the use of modern materials and methods.

No one can advise you if it's worth it to end up with a property that has cost you twice what you could sell it for. Ignore this if you are 100% certain you want it to be your last ever move. However if you really bite the bullet and build 2 houses on the plot you should end up with one of them for a much reduced cost and even free. Secondly, absolutely no one can advise if you are up for the stress of the project; and that will start from day 1.

Building your own property is something hundreds of people dream of doing but very few accomplish. The end result though is miles ahead of just buying a house.

I know three people who have done this. All took longer than planned and went over budget. All were very stressful projects.

They are all very happy with the end result though, and are glad they did it. One was on Grand Designs.

allow £200 per square m build cost

We recently looked into this OP but decided to walk away: we couldn't make the sums work. It was a really good sized plot (similar to yours) with a horrible bungalow on it (terrible layout) but in our perfect lane/ village. So far so good. Let's just say we could get the price down to £600k. All the houses either side on the lane have already been significantly extended/ rebuilt so we'd be confident to get PP.

Once you have the cost of demolition, professional fees like architect, structural engineer and possibly a planning consultant, and all the planning gumpf, plus the build cost (we'd be looking at a 5 bed) there is no way we could do that for less than £350k for the sort of spec we'd be looking at. That gives us a final cost of at least £950k. That doesn't include the cost of renting for let's say a year/ year & a half whilst we get the plans done, planning permission, demolish and build (I think a year is very optimistic).

The problem is £950k is above the ceiling price for the road ... a good bit over it.... and if prices do drop next year then we'll have a house that will have cost us considerably more than what we are likely to get back for it, if we ever wanted to sell. And having gone through the hell of self-build. That seems daft.

We decided we're better off to keep looking, or as someone else suggested, find something that just needs renovating/ extending.

Research and then make you decision. It could be a great opportunity. The location has to be at least 9/10 though on your list to be worth the hassle.

Bought a 4 bed, 1 bath. Built 6 bed, 5 bath, with study, gym, boot room, utility, garage, 2 receptions. No change from 550k once we are finished. If you ask what our ‘build cost’ it’s £300k but all the finishes have added up. Oh and that’s NOT top end finished either!

We almost did it. We took a rather awful 3 bed chalet with tiny bedrooms upstairs and put a complete new second story on it.

It was utterly brutal. And to make it work we lived in it whilst the building work was going on - saved 40k in rental costs. Council couldn't believe it.

Took a year and a half, spent £250k and now have a 3000 square foot house that we designed ourselves, doubling the square footage. Unlike a lot of people ours went to budget, maybe 10k over.

Once the architect had presented his plans I went through a process of simplifying the build with the sole purpose of redicing costs. I project managed it and took complete control over purchasing, which saved us a fortune - you have no idea how bad builders are at getting good prices for materials. I also had a mantra that we stuck to the plans, spending the time before the builders arrived ensureing we had what we wanted.

Once the build was underway everyone knew what they were doing. I made sure we had the right materials on site for the jobs that were being done that day, so we had no situations where I was paying people to sit around waiting for materials.

Was it worth it? For us, yes. I'm not sure we've made money on it but I'm sure we won't lose any once we sell. We paid for it in cash that otherwise would be sitting in the bank erning nothing. And for the 15 years we plan to live here we get to live in a new, very large lovely purpose designed house the improves our lives enormously.

It’s just so wasteful and environmentally unsustainable! A perfectly good house destroyed and put into landfill! The earth’s resources aren’t finite fgs! Why not just buy a different house that is actually right for you?! Hate this fashion, so effing selfish and destructive. But, hey, you want what you want and you are so worth it you special person...

@Mistymonday

The world is not black and white like that. When calculating if something is unsustainable there are many factors to take into account.

"A perfectly good house destroyed and put into landfill!" You make a poor assumtion here.

For instance:-

Taking a 60 year old drafty house that guzzles up energy to keep warm and replacing it with a modern insulated one is a positive contribution to the environment. Out house used to use 3000 litres of oil a year, we're now down to 800 AND its warmer.

We've installed energy efficient lights, heating, washer/dryer so we use less carbon per year.

The sewage no longer goes into the main drains, we use our own bio-digester on site. We have soak aways where before there were non so we don't contribute to the flodding in our area.

We've installed new plumbing, showers etc which all use less water.

The house needed replumbing and rewiring so we'd have had to do this anyway.

Finally I'd point out we took a house which was not a pleasure to live in, with too small rooms and bedrooms and made a fantastic family house. Our house will stand for 100s of years giving us and future owners many years of low energy use.

We did it!
Bought nasty chalet style detached 5 bed house on huge plot in 2002 for £340k. Lived in it 14 years while it gradually fell apart around us (awful plumbing, no cavity walls, bowing ceilings), then demolished and built a proper two storey 4 bed eco-friendly 'forever' house for £350k. Lucky to live rent-free in a relative's house nearby during the build, which took 8 months and was on budget. Resulting house is everything I ever wanted, is future-proofed for old age, disability, grandchildren or lodgers, is better-sited on the plot so the neighbours are happy, and I never have to do any major DIY again. And it's valued at £1m. Not that I intend to ever move again

We are about to start a demolish rebuild project in March, economically it worked out cheaper than trying to adapt the current house and having to compromise on room sizes etc. We've lived here 5 years, planning has taken 2 years but we've had life events on the way to slow the project. Visit the Self Build Centre in Swindon, get copies of Build It magazine, lots of ideas and examples of costs. Good Luck!

We turned a 3 bed bungalow (lived in it about 12 years like that) into a 4/5 bed, 4 bathroom with large open plan kitchen diner, snug with bifold floating corner, utility - that was around 250k but almost whole house is new, only three outside walls remained. It's worth around £750-£800 so financially worth it but it was brutal and nearly broke me - builder was a c*$t so finishing it ourselves with freelance guys, slowly! Rendering next, then the driveway

@billysboy I think you missed a 0

I thought that too!

Around me, the latest plot was around £550,000. Yes, there are demolition costs and architects fees but I can see from the plans that the new house would sell at around £1m. As a result £600,000 starting price for under £1m resale doesn’t work so £600,000 for the plot is overpriced. It should have been £500,000.

The advantage of doing such a project is getting your own design and your own finishes. A very well designed new house may well be more expensive to buy than its neighbours but location is everything. It’s worth doing in the best locations but always has to be at the right price.

Stunning design helps. Our friends are top architects and what they built is amazing! It’s a highly desirable house but not an extraordinarily expensive build. Fantastic use of space and light. This ups the value.

What do the maths look like for you? If affordable then I'd do it, don;t forget you save the 20% VAT if you build new.

We bought a place that is 100 years old and have extended it over demo and new build but that was purely down to affordability. The new bit is warmer and more eco friendly and the old bit can be a bit drafty and has colder floors; like them or not new build houses are MUCH more eco friendly and cheaper to run. You can also customise anything and everything from drainage to room sizes. Add in a secret passage if you like lol

When demolishing you can also repurpose some of the material if you like (concrete crusher for hardcore maybe), although you have to dig out the old foundations to qualify as a complete new build.

Planning is no more onerous than for an extension and you'll probably find you have to have a SuDS drainage but you would anyway for any substantial extension.

Assuming you're staying there for a while then even if you spend over the current price ceiling for the road then it doesn't matter overly as the price will catch up eventually.