I want to self build, how to finance it?

[Blibbleflibble]

We live in the North West, have a house that we've paid off that's worth £400k. We have a joint household income of about £60k-£65k (including bonuses) no debt and £20k savings.

I have seen a piece of land that I could (hopefully) get for £300k and would probably need £300k to build what we want.

How is the best way to finance this?

Put our house on the market and get a £300k mortgage to buy the land and use the proceeds for the house sale to build and rent whilst building? I don't think the person who owns the land would wait for a chain so I think I have to be able to buy before selling my own house.

Thankyou in advance for any advice.

OH has done several building projects, he’s quite casual about it, “you just estimate what you think it will cost” - “ then add 50%”, it always costs more than the estimate, with luck it comes in under budget.

Are you really thinking selfbuild, or employing a builder to do the whole project, currently tradesmen are struggle, a builder with his own will get the house built quicker.

It's not an infill plot, it's hard to explain but there should be a house there but there is not and never has been by the looks of things the houses either side are house numbers 21 and 25. Looking at the previous application the council wanted a house to be built there.

Maybe I am severely underestimating how much this could be done for. I guess I'm just trying to figure out if it's feasible. But this is why I'm asking questions on mumsnet and putting the feelers out.

Yeah I was intending to self manage to an extent, I got quoted upwards of £20k+ for my cedar clad SIPS garden office in 2018 and managed to "self build" it for £10k for 16sqm. I guess its not totally scaleable to house building but I learnt a few things on that project. It also went surprisingly smoothly. I suspect alot has probably changed in the last 4 years though including costs so maybe my plan is a bit too pie in the sky.

What size house is the current planning permission for? People in some areas of the NW are definitely building for 2k per square metre and even less than that at the moment, according to an architect we work with a lot.

If you use a main contractor even if only to wind/water tight or first fix, you will be paying significantly more than managing the individual contractors yourself but with the latter, I think you would ideally need to be on site most days.

Some helpful advice here. Another thought, as it’s been a vacant plot for some years, have you considered that the land might be contaminated and require costly clearance?

You have a house worth £400k paid for, so if your new place costs £700k you need a should be able to get a mortgage to cover the difference so financially there shouldn't be a problem.

Getting the the finance is not going to be cheap, banks will see it as a risk, if it was me I would sell first and live onsite in a mobile home to supervise and provide security. As you are building at the premium end of the market don’t economize on “fit and finish” quality sells but it costs.

Thankyou and I would sell ASAP to finance it, however the reason I don't want to sell before I buy the land is I'm not sure if they will definitely sell me the land so a bit nervous to step off my very secure housing ladder on a total speculation.

No there's been environmental checks on the previous planning that has expired that doesn't suggest anything like that and I've visited the land several times and it's fine.

The ONLY reason I can think that it hasn't been built on is that there's green belt behind it and maybe someone could use that plot as access but theres nothing I've uncovered that suggests that's been applied for (and would be astonished if it was granted as I'm sure its covered in protected trees and flowers) but is the only reason I can think of which is also a reason why they may not sell it but when I contacted the owner a couple of years ago they said they may consider selling it if I made an offer as they've considered selling it before.

I think the expired planning permission was for a 200-250sqm house although there was no detailed measurements on the plan, just a scale and I know the plot is approx 18m wide and at least 2x if not 3x as deep. Surrounding houses are between 150sqm-250sqm.

I'd be keen to self manage to keep costs down and could probably dedicate 3 days a week to being on site.

Thankyou everyone for your imput so far, really appreciate it. I am probably too green and maybe don't have the finances to pull this off but I really am just figuring out if this could work. X

Have you looked at prefab houses? I’m not in your area but what is on offer in mine is more affordable than conventional building.

Be very careful if a previous application has expired there is no guarantee it will be renewed, policies change so do environmental demands. It may well be worth £300k if it has current detailed planning permission, if it hasn’t it’s just a field.

Very odd not to renew planning before sale- unless they know it wont be granted

If there's no planning permission then it's not worth £300K. Either the owner needs to renew the planning permission if he wants that much or he drops the price significantly. Prime agricultural land is ~ £10K per acre in the NW.

Have you looked at kit houses? I'm from the north of Scotland and loads of people self build using kits. Reduces costs vs an architect designed house. FWIW you can easily build a house for less than £300K, it's just a matter of can you build the house you want for £300K.

Could you speak to a local builder or two. Don’t necessarily tell them where, just ask for cost ideas?

What would the finished house be worth? Also you can make your offer on the basis that you sell your house, like a traditional sale really

Built 18 self builds - banks used to give you stage payments, fees are usually ridiculous, add at least 10 if not 20 % to the build you always go overboard when it's for yourself, service charges are ridiculous as are fees don't forget them. Last one we had - building control, architect, architect certification, party wall surveyor, structural engineer, skips at £400 a time. Thank God for property price rises over the last 30 years.