Tag: building plot

HPH268 : The state of self build in the UK – with Jason Orme

Self-builder and renovator Jason Orme reflects on the main challenges you face if you want to tackle a house build in the UK.

Interview with Jason Orme

Jason Orme is the Editorial Director of Future Plc, the publishing house behind Homebuilding & Renovating magazine, of which he is the former editor. He would categorise himself as a serial self builder, but more recently has taken on a renovation project in Derbyshire with the intention that it will be his family home for at least a few years.

Doing a renovation has made him a bigger fan of self build!

With the renovation and remodelling project coming to an end, Jason says the process has been more ambitious, costly and stressful than a self build. Once you have planning permission on a self build you are theoretically in a position to have control over everything, whereas with renovation you tend to be at the mercy of the unknown with old houses that are full of surprises. It’s not something he would be keen to repeat!

Despite that, Jason and his family were drawn to the project because of a love of the plot, the location and even the original house to some extent. They didn’t need to create much additional space, but rather remodel what was already there and make it more energy efficient.

Covering up the 1960s ugly stone-clad facade, they built a third layer around the outside which provides excellent levels of insulation, although airtightness will always be more of a challenge to achieve than if starting from scratch on a new build.

Although Jason is happy in the house and looking forward to enjoying it for the next few years, he hasn’t ruled out another self build in the future, although it would take something special to move away from the location they now have.

Justify spending on the house by calling it an investment, not expenditure!

Jason has always tended to put any spare money into property, which he hopes will end up being an investment rather than a cost. He says he’s happy to have large outgoings and mortgages on properties because ultimately it should pay back, while at the same time you have the enjoyment of living there.

Self build is delivering fewer homes than ten years ago

2005 saw a peak in self building of up to 19,000 homes a year. That is now closer to 14,000, although the demand is probably greater than ever. Jason cites the two main causes as being problems for people selling existing properties to provide the finance, and the types of plots available. While land opportunities have improved a little, it is typically serviced plots on large developments like Graven Hill, rather than individual plots. When people dream of building their own home part of that dream tends to be the location, and living on a large estate, whether a self build or not, isn’t to everybody’s liking.

Jason sees some kind of balance being self build communities that can give an element of individuality and isolation to people.

“This has been my twentieth year in the self-build sector and the frustration for me really is that we’ve sold an awful lot of magazines over the years and met hundreds of thousands of people at the shows and spoken to people on the websites, more than you can imagine really. We haven’t actually really made a fundamental difference if we’re honest with ourselves in terms of the number of self-build homes that have been delivered.”

Research they have carried out with the National Custom and Self Build Association has shown roughly a million people in the UK are ‘actively’ looking to build a home, yet only a few thousand each year go on to do it. Jason suspects the majority of these people have a look on Rightmove and are put off by the out-of-reach prices. For those that do continue, his instinct that what’s stopping them isn’t not being able to find a plot, but that they’re so fixated on a certain type of plot which they’re not going to find at a realistic price, or perhaps they just somehow can’t make the commitment.

“So, I think if people can be flexible and have that imagination then by and large, with a reasonable budget and obviously that varies from area to area, it shouldn’t be unrealistic for them.”

There should be an influx of plots on the market soon

The right to build legislation came about in the UK in 2016, which made it compulsory for local authorities to keep a register of people interested in buying plots of land, and ensure that they had that same number of plots available to purchase within three years. We’re now at that point of those three years having passed so thousands of plots should be coming to the market, but whether they will be plots that people want or in areas they want to live in will be the issue.

Self-builders can have an advantage over developers

In his seminars at the Homebuilding & Renovation Show, Jason explains how there are two types of building plots.

One type is that which has a ‘For Sale’ board outside and can be found on the market through estate agents and auctions.

The second is what he describes as the plots that developers go after. These can be found using planning permission data and using Google Maps.

Opportunities for self-builders arise where there are plots that large and small scale developers can’t quite see how they could build housing. Where they’re looking for a field or flat piece of land to build ten houses, they won’t be so keen on more awkward scraps of land, like old garages.

“So, the self-builder’s opportunity, I think, is in actually embracing the stuff that makes them different which is the individuality of the design and that agile nature of development.”

Management of budget is critical and needs flexibility

Jason has often found that people who work in offices don’t feel that they are well-placed to self build, but actually he thinks they have transferable skills like organisation, project management and making tough decisions about money.

Having control of finances is crucial and Jason says it helps to think of it in terms of a spreadsheet where if some things are going above original estimates, then reductions might need to be made elsewhere in order to balance it out. He thinks if you can be flexible in terms of these smaller pots of money rather than thinking of it as one big pot, then you can begin to take back control.

With finance often being the biggest cause of stress on a job, but plenty of other factors beyond your control to add to it, Jason says to some extent it should be part of the main contractor’s role to absorb that stress on your behalf.

Where costs do go out of control during the construction, it isn’t usually down to the construction but flaws in the design process. A good design process should include the budget, engineering issues and proper site layout.

“Where I see the failures, it’s usually where the architect at that early stage hasn’t been able to put all those different factors together into a package that the main contractor can then go on to deliver. It’s often just left to the main contractor to work out the gaps.”

There is always more to learn

With twenty years in the business, Jason says it’s a constant learning experience and you’re never going to know it all. From talking to other self builders, architects and contractors you will find out other ways of doing things and improving on them.

In his experience it’s often self-builders that are also engineers who quite often try to find out everything they need to know about house construction on their own, so they can almost second guess the designer and the architect. Jason says this usually ends in tears because they’re never going to know it all!

In his experience it’s far better to leave all that to the people he is employing to do it. Where it often falls apart is where there is a breakdown in trust between the homeowner and the people that they’re employing.

When it comes to architects, the ones to avoid are those that struggle to understand the relationship that they’re meant to have with their client. It shouldn’t be a case of dictating ‘this is the design you should have’, or even ‘what do you want me to design for you?’

“The happy medium is the one that you’re looking for where architects can deliver something that obviously adds their value in. And going back to that thing about trust really, I want architects to be able to come up with ideas that I can’t and solve problems that I can’t. That’s really what you’re paying for.”

Architects often tend to be specialised in limited styles of design, rather than excelling at all different types of house.

“It’s wise, I think, to try to pick a design style first and pick almost a process and a target, an objective almost for the project, and then begin to put the team together on the back of that.”

There needs to be trust within the team

Jason says there’s also a misconception in the sector that builders are there to be feared or controlled, when actually, the good ones clearly know far more than their clients and should be empowered and just left to get on with it.

Finding that builder that you can trust in this way is he says part art and part science: the science being the recommendations and background company checks.

The other part comes down to gut instinct, and thinking about whether they listen to you, are constructive, understand what you’re trying to do with the house, can relate to the family and can appreciate that the budget is tight and that this will be critical to the project. It will need to be someone you think you can trust to be around for the duration of the project and sometimes have difficult discussions with.

Design flexibility into the house

Having seen so many self builds, Jason is able to grasp the feel of a home and what does and doesn’t work so well. The right mix can be a space that doesn’t feel too grand or clinical, but instead gives you that ‘wow’ moment each time you walk in, and that is down to good architecture.

It is important to build flexibility into the design, with space for a growing family so far as is possible. And while the rooms and spaces themselves don’t have to be large, if they can be flexible in their design it allows a family space to spread out and do their own things.

With the trend for adding extensions to create an open plan living, cooking and eating area, Jason feels they are often designed with daytime and summer in mind, but come winter or the evening they can be lacking that cosy, snug space where actually people just want to curl up in front of the TV.

Jason cites a number of reasons why people are staying in their houses for longer: houses are more expensive, stamp duty makes it very costly to move, flexibility in working arrangements means people don’t have to move for work as much. And while people tend to stay in their homes for longer, their needs change depending on children growing up, moving away etc, so that flexibility again is so important with being able to adapt to the occupants, rather than moving out.

It isn’t affordable enough for younger generations

A notable change in the types of people attending the home shows is that the self build community is getting older and greyer. Nowadays self build can take more money to do than it used to, with greater demand for land and resulting prices escalating, and the cost of materials increasing.

Jason worries that the opportunities for self build are not as available now to people in their twenties and thirties, and this is something that he would like to see change. But that will take changes in financial offerings, planning law and land availability.

His advice to them would be to be realistic and flexible in terms of area and the type of plot to go for. He warns against holding out for the perfect plot on the edge of a village with panoramic views, and suggests instead considering looking at the less attractive plots. He says as well as ugly duckling houses, there are ugly duckling plots which, once landscaped and with a well designed house on top, can really add value.

Jason suggests starting out in self build like starting on the property ladder, where you start small, do it two or three times and work your way up to building the house of your dreams. And with labour accounting for roughly half the costs on the build, he says you can save thousands of pounds by doing things like the tiling, kitchen fitting, decorating and landscaping yourself.

“One of the great unwritten things about self-building and renovating as well is that you never seem to quite get that day where you sit back and you say, ‘I’ve done it’ and you can sit back and enjoy it.
“You’ve just got to enjoy it as it goes through and take those little marks because there’s always going to be the garden to do; there’s always going to be that bit of the house that you didn’t quite finish off properly. I think for people who are interested in housing like we are, and there are thousands of people like us, I think, you have to just realise that that’s part of the process and part of the pleasure.”

Find out more

Visit the website of Homebuilding & Renovating magazine

Visit the website of Real Homes

Visit the website of Period Living

Follow Jason on Twitter

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Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes

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October 23, 2019
HPH224 : What due diligence should you carry out before buying land? – with Rob Wiggans
Rob Wiggans from RMP Property explains how you can minimise risks when buying land for development.

Interview with Rob Wiggans

Previously we spoke with Rob about what self-builders can learn from commercial land-buyers when looking for a plot of land. Rob used to work in the land buying department of Taylor Wimpey, and now works in property investment for RMP Property (now the Property Hub), so he knows a thing or two about what checks to carry out before buying a building plot.

More due diligence means there’s less risk

“Due diligence is the vital, critical research that any person buying land has to conduct in order to provide security to their purchase and ensure that whatever they’re buying is right for their objective for that particular site.”

Even with due diligence carried out, things still can go wrong. But the more you do, the less risk there is likely to be.

Create your network first

Establish your team of key people before you get started. By first making contact with a recommended architect, they will be able to provide access to the relevant consultants to conduct your due diligence.

Carry out initial brief checks

On finding a piece of land, the key people Rob would first contact would be:
- Solicitor – to provide a quick red flag check on whether anything may crop up from a legal perspective;
- Ground consultant – they would do a quick check of local maps in the area;
- Architect – usually the sites Rob would be interested in have planning permission, so the architect would assess the quality of the planning permission and any conditions that are attached to it.
If further information was needed following that, options might be to go to an ecologist, services consultant or traffic consultant.

Understand the ground conditions

In terms of the site, the key piece of due diligence to explore is understanding the ground below the site to determine what foundations and ground works will be required. While virtually all pieces of land can be built on, the costs could be high if the ground conditions aren’t favourable.

A ground investigation should comprise a phase one and a phase two. Phase one would be engaging a ground consultant to carry out a desktop study, using historical mapping and records to show how the land has been used in the past. This would cost in the region of £500-£1,000.

The ground consultant would then be able to advise to what extent you need to do a phase two, ie a physical investigation of the site where boreholes and trenches would be dug. If phase one has revealed any doubt that there could have been mining or contamination on the site previously, then there would need to be a more rigorous phase two investigation. This could be around £5,000-£10,000 for a small site.

A ground investigation can also provide some information on how good the drainage would be, but there is the option to carry out further drainage and flood surveys. Drainage design for foul and surface water will need to be submitted as part of the planning application or as a condition of the planning approval before works commence.

The extent to which archaeology and ecology surveys are needed would be dictated by the local authority.

Check how you can connect utilities

One option is to employ a services consultant to look at and assess what services are in the immediate locality. Alternatively you can go through the local authority and contact local service providers who can give you this information and advise how much it is likely to cost to connect to your house.

Ensure there is adequate site access

Access fundamentally covers whether you can get emergency services, waste trucks and other vehicles in and out of the site.

The first thing to bear in mind, is ‘visibility splay’: whether you can reverse out of your drive and adequately see traffic, and whether you can be seen by that traffic. Planning applications will need provision for adequate access, and a traffic consultant would be able to provide that information.

Explore legal considerations

Ensuring you have a legal right of way onto your land is crucial. A solicitor would check if you are legally able to access the land from a title perspective and covenant perspective, whether there are ransom strips, and if you’re crossing unregistered land to get to the site. Taking out an insurance policy of generally a few hundred pounds would cover costs if an applicable unregistered piece of land was later claimed for example.

Go with your gut instinct

“If you’ve always had an element of doubt about a particular site or ‘there’s something not right here,’ there probably is.”

Rob advises that if you don’t have confidence in the site, then don’t go ahead with it.

“Don’t develop a bias in terms of eagerness to pursue a site, just because you want to or you’re desperate to get on to a self-build project. Take your time.”

Do a trial run

If you find a piece of land that is out of your price range, or not in the area that you want, Rob suggests doing a dry run and practice the due diligence process. Consider it from access and legal perspectives, chat to a local architect about it and try and find out why it hasn’t sold or what the positives and negatives of the site are.

By doing this practice, when you do find the site you want you’ll have that experience and a sharper eye to know what to be looking out for.

Find out more

Visit the website of the Property Hub

Follow The Property Hub on Twitter

Listen to our previous podcast with Rob about what self-builders can learn from commercial land buyers.

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Rob Wiggans.

Please connect with me
- Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes
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August 29, 2018
HPH192 : How ‘Right to Build’ can help custom and self-builders find land – with Michael Holmes from NaCSBA
Michael Holmes from NaCSBA explains the Right to Build initiative and how it will impact on the future of custom and self-builds.

Interview with Michael Holmes

Michael Holmes’ work in the housing sector began in 1990 when he was responsible for the PR and marketing campaign for the first ever Self-build Home Show. He is now Chairman of The National Custom and Self-build Association (NaCSBA), has presented television property shows and is a director of Centaur Media, responsible for property magazines (Homebuilding & Renovating and others) as well as the Plotfinder website and the Homebuilding & Renovating Shows.

“It is utterly empowering, building your own home”

Having completed his own self-builds and renovation projects, Michael fully advocates self-building. The best people to design a house are the ones who will live in it and a bespoke property can even save money. Yet the UK has fewer than average self-builds despite the clear advantages.

Only 8% of UK homes are commissioned by the owners, compared with about 39% across the rest of the developed world. Michael thinks this is partly because people underestimate their abilities, but the main problem is limited land ownership – 90% of the land in the UK is owned by 10% of the people.

Owner-commissioned housing leads to individuality and variety

Popular home ownership is a relatively new concept in this country, although a century or two ago, almost every house was built by the owners. Over time we lost owner-commissioned housing and Michael thinks we may have lost a lot more besides.

Many of our towns and villages were built on an individual basis, which he says led to “that variety that makes up the character of our towns and villages that we so value, rather than the characterless homogenous housing that is mass-built at the moment.”

Custom and self-builds can help solve our housing crisis

Our house-building culture has evolved in response to historic needs. Large-scale public house building started by the state after WW1 was gradually taken over by the private sector.

Today, it remains easier for local authorities to meet housing demand by granting planning permission for the development of large, strategic sites, than on thousands of individual plots. However this approach hasn’t solved the UK’s housing crisis.

Michael comments, “It’s quite remarkable that as one of the wealthiest and most advanced countries in the world, we can’t build enough houses to meet demand.” He believes custom and self-builds are part of the solution and wants aspiring self-builders to know how the Right to Build initiative can help.

Right to Build obliges local authorities to meet demand for plots

The Right to Build, which was launched on 1^st April 2016, is a legal duty on every local authority in England to maintain a register of people who are looking for a serviced plot to build their own home and to grant sufficient development permissions to meet that demand within three years.

Michael says the scheme is aimed at a broad spectrum, not just one-off “Grand Designs” houses. Group self-builders, community-led housing, and people looking to rent or share ownership could all benefit.

Though authorities will have to match demand, it doesn’t mean permission will be granted on a plot that perfectly suits your particular needs.

Serviced plots can help meet the demand for self-build

Between the 80s and the early noughties, 15-17,000 self-builds, mostly in-fill sites and replacement dwellings, were constructed each year in the UK. Following the credit crunch, that number dropped to about 10-11,000. But the self-build market is now growing, at just over 6% per year, and the government aims to double the sector by 2020. This looks unachievable if the houses are built on individual plots.

Serviced plots, popular abroad, could offer new opportunities, not only for self-build but for custom build projects where people are willing to pay for a bespoke home but don’t have the time to self-build. They are also less risky and easier to access for the majority of people, as two difficult elements of any self-build – foundations and services – have been dealt with.

The market already exists for serviced plots

One-off plots with amazing views are appealing but will always be expensive, whereas serviced plots can facilitate bespoke homes at affordable prices.

Evidence suggests that many self-builders would like to be part of a community and would happily live alongside other house builders or “spec built houses” on a multi-plot site.

Graven Hill at Cherwell aims to provide 1,900 serviced custom and self-build plots. Describing it as a “fantastic, ambitious project”, Michael admires their objective of building a custom and self-build community.

Demand for self-build opportunities is growing

In 2016 there was a 24% increase in planning applications for individual new dwellings. And 18,000 people signed up to the Right to Build scheme in the seven months following its launch. NaCSBA’s Right to Build Portal links to every local authority’s demand register so you can see the demand for each of those authorities. Michael is seeing a response to demand with an increasing number of plots coming to market.

Registering interest does not commit you to anything

Local authorities have the right to charge for entry on the register although Michael discourages this, believing it will impact on the numbers of people signing up.

Other than paying a fee, you’re not actually making any commitment. You’re just signing up to be counted in the local authority’s demand assessment.

Your data is not available in the public domain and you can ask for your name to be removed from the register at any time.

Local authorities have to take your interest into account

Each local authority decides the particulars of their register. One part, open to everybody in the EU, assesses the demand. A second part can ask further questions such as a financial affordability test or a local connection test that may grant priority.

Michael stresses that neither of these prevents you going on part one of the register and having your demand counted.

Registering is a win-win situation

If local authorities fail to meet a demonstrated demand within three years, Michael thinks planning permission could be granted on pieces of land that might not ordinarily have received it, such as plots just outside settlement boundaries.

Although it remains to be seen how inspectors interpret the Self-Build and Custom House Building Act, Michael says, “We expect it to have weight in those planning decisions.”

Local authorities are being given support to meet demand

Michael says there’s a great deal of understanding and interest in custom and self-builds on the part of local authorities, but what they lack is expertise.

The Right to Build Taskforce will play an important role through the Right to Build Toolkit, sharing ideas and policies that will help individual authorities bring forward land. Solutions include working with developers or housing associations to make custom and self-build part of their housing mix or even local authorities creating serviced plots themselves.

NaCSBA are working to ensure serviced plots, builders, custom build providers and finance products are all in place. In addition, Michael explains they are working with the UK government and those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to boost house building.

“It’s about democratising house building,” says Michael. “It’s about putting people in charge of house building to meet their own needs.”

Find out more

Visit the website of NaCSBA

Visit the Right To Build portal

Follow NaCSBA on Twitter

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Michael Holmes

Please connect with me
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September 29, 2017
HPH159 : What it took to find my plot of land – with Ben Adam-Smith
Ben Adam-Smith comes clean with his project progress! After two and a half years of looking, he has finally managed to buy a plot of land upon which to build his eco home. However, the process of buying the land was perhaps not the joyous occasion he would have liked. In this solo episode he shares what he’s learnt.

Ben Adam-Smith’s plot-finding journey

The idea of building an energy-efficient home came about in 2012. The first two years I devoted to learning in the hope that I would avoid any major pitfalls. Then the real work began. This was, of course, when I realised that finding a suitable plot in the South East of England was exactly what everyone was trying to do!

A number of times I have updated you on my plot hunt, but each time I seemed to lose out. So much so, that I had very little to show when I reached my 40th birthday midway through 2016 (which was my original self-imposed deadline for completing the whole build!).

2016 was also a ‘make or break’ year because my wife and I planned to expand our family, and so we’d need a bigger home one way or another. If we couldn’t find a suitable plot we would have been buying a new house, and at that stage not wanting to move again for awhile.

Be careful with sliding budgets

When I started this journey I genuinely thought that the equity in my current house would be enough to cover a large amount of the land and new home I wanted to build.

However, there are few plots that come onto the market at the lower end and when they do, they are either snapped up or there is something so wrong with them that everyone avoids them like the plague!

This led to us spending far more on land than we ever planned. Hopefully this is not something we’ll later regret.

Buying land seems a lot more complex than buying a house!

I have bought a number of houses over the years and don’t remember any great difficulties that have arisen during the process.

On the other hand, the vast majority of the plots we looked at had all sorts of things going on behind the scenes. What’s more, there was little transparency in bringing these to the buyer’s attention. And of course you can’t leave this work to the solicitor because at that stage you are already going through the motions.

Therefore you need to carry out your own investigation and assess any levels of risk.

Only one part of the plot is within the village boundary

Neighbours are a value source of information

I have said it before and I’ll say it again – neighbours have an unrivalled grasp on the local area.

A number of times – whether over flooding risks, private roads with no owners, etc. – I’ve had a gut feeling that there’s something the seller is not disclosing. While no single neighbour has the complete picture they can fill in parts of it. Even if there is a conflict of information, it gives you a focus.

I think, without exception, everybody I have spoken to has been helpful.

Assess the pros and cons of the site

Compared to a number of other sites we’d looked at, this plot scored highly on many counts.

It was central in a village and within walking distance of pubs, a shop and the local primary school.

At half an acre, it was actually bigger than many of the plots we’d looked at and would allow for a garden. Part of the reason for this is that the majority of the plot is on green belt land, which would not be of interest to developers, and therefore we did not perhaps face as much competition as with previous sites.

The site also benefits from having full planning permission for a sizeable dwelling.

On the downside it was expensive and was definitely right on the edge of what we could afford.

There is also a line of conifers to the south of the plot (which we do not own) and while good for privacy it blocks out a lot of the low winter sunshine.

And as the building plot is close to existing buildings there are constraints with the ridge height for part of the roof, and overlooking issues.

Expect a few sleepless nights

I had a lot of issues with fear. I was spending more money than I’ve ever spent in my life. You obviously do your best but it’s so difficult to tell if there are still issues lurking somewhere!

There was also the big shift in my financial situation. I would be reducing my assets and income, and creating a liability. The reality of moving from a comfortable position to less comfortable one was and is scary!

A line of conifers cut out winter sunshine

Self-builders invariably become attached to the land they’re bidding on

This is a huge disadvantage because you may make different decisions compared to buying an investment asset, for example.

If you can keep some distance in the process then you will be doing yourself a favour.

The land equation exists for a reason. Operating outside it will leave you losing money when you come to sell.

I’m not sure I did a great job on this point, particularly when I discovered that this plot was part of a farm one of my ancestors once owned.

Make sure your solicitor does not delegate to a junior member

We’d developed a relationship with our solicitor before we hired her, but what we didn’t realise is we wouldn’t be dealing with a different person! It was handed onto a junior member and this became apparent through the process.

As the transaction was time bound – which is something you should try to avoid if at all possible – the senior solicitor had to take over towards the end of the process.

Have cash available for exchange and completion

Don’t use cheques! This was a lesson we learnt the hard way.

We technically had the money, but didn’t have the money sitting and waiting in our account (as we’d previously been advised by people like Mark Brinkley!). So the process of transferring from one place to another would take 10 days to clear by cheque. Needless to say, this was too long. That meant having to cancel cheques and redirect funds via CHAPS, which is what we should have done in the first place.

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January 11, 2017

HPH154 : The challenges of building a new home in a rural community – with Jeremy Harris

Jeremy Harris, a scientist by background, wanted a low energy house for his retirement. He talks about the initial stages of his self-build project: finding a plot of land and obtaining planning approval.

Interview with Jeremy Harris

Jeremy Harris, a scientist by background, wanted a low energy house for his retirement. He first came up with the idea that he might like to build a house around ten years ago.

It’s important to fully understand the beginning of the self-build process

Jeremy found television programmes and magazines rarely touch on finding a plot, designing a house to fit that plot, and the people you have to employ to do all of that work. It can be very expensive, costing thousands of pounds for planning consultants, architects, building control, etc.

Plots can seem very nice on websites but look nothing like the photographs in reality

Finding a plot of land was extremely hard. The Harrises drove several thousand miles, visiting disappointing plots. They began by looking at what they wanted to build, but Jeremy concluded this was the wrong way round: first find a plot, then determine what type of house will fit on it.

Having walked away from one likely prospect, by chance they found their plot of land 16 miles from where they were living. It was too overgrown to see properly and fenced so they couldn’t get into it, but looked like it might be exactly what they wanted: facing south (i.e. good solar access) and in a sheltered valley.

There's a plot in there somewhere! — There’s a plot in there somewhere!

Buying a plot is not the same as buying a house – ensure services will be available

When buying a plot of land a solicitor can tell you if there’s a public footpath on it but won’t find out if you’ve got water, mains electricity, mains sewage or even if the boundaries are in the right place.

Services in rural areas are often stretched to the limit. Jeremy had to ask the relevant utility companies if they could supply:

Electricity? Fortunately there was plenty of power on their doorstep.
Water? Companies have a statutory duty to supply water but the issue is cost. They’d have to dig up a lane for 140 metres and although Jeremy shopped around (anybody with a licence can do the digging), the minimum cost was still £24,500.
Mains sewerage? There’s no statutory requirement to supply this and the cheapest the water company could provide it was £14,800.
A new phone connection? Telecoms companies see self-builders as developers. If there isn’t enough capacity, they can charge whatever they want to lay a new multi-cable.

As services would cost so much, Jeremy renegotiated the price accepted. The land hadn’t sold for eight years so he persuaded the vendor to knock off a substantial amount.

Many building plots have boundaries in the wrong place where the Land Registry is concerned

Plots of land don’t have registered boundaries as a rule. There was a boundary error affecting the Harrises’ plot meaning the house approved to go on it wouldn’t fit.

The process for resolving boundary errors is complex and time consuming. It’s up to the vendor to do it, so you have to persuade them to spend money with Land Registry to get title plans amended. This often affects adjacent houses, as well as your plot, involving lenders as they have a right on the title.

A stumbling block can sometimes turn out to be an opportunity

It took them a year to get their boundary error resolved, but this allowed time to plan the project properly.

Jeremy wrote a brief with eight key design points but the architects he approached didn’t seem to understand the role of design with low energy houses. Looking further afield for a Passivhaus specialist was an option, but thinking the distance might make communication difficult Jeremy decided he’d design their house himself.

So the year was productively spent:

Evolving designs for the house
Tracking down the local Openreach engineer who offered help at no cost, as Jeremy planned to dig trenches on the plot and an underground network would solve local problems with overhead cables and trees
Discovering a borehole was possible, at half the cost of mains water
Planning a sewage treatment plant, costing around £3,500; much cheaper than digging up the lane

This avoided inflaming an existing situation with the neighbours, as the plot had a chequered planning history, and saved money too!

Once the principle of development is established by an approval, it’s extremely difficult for planners to remove it

The Harrises’ plot had planning permission for a little stone bungalow that they didn’t want. As the local authority had approved the principle of putting a house on the plot, their plan was to submit a new application.

Areas of outstanding natural beauty, conservation areas and proximity to listed buildings put constraints on what you can build. For example, needing to have all the external materials approved, as was the case with Jeremy’s house.

Good communication paves the way for a smoother planning application process

In Jeremy’s area, seven objection letters result in the application being referred to a planning committee, where emotions come into play far more than planning law.

A previous application for the plot resulted in 14 objections at Parish Council level and dozens of letters. To mitigate objections for their application, Jeremy spoke to every neighbour, sent them regular update newsletters and even Christmas cards.

He also made scale models, enabling all interested parties to understand the design before the planning application went in. His wife could look inside the rooms to see whether they were big enough, and the neighbours could see what the house might look like in the landscape. And the scale model played an important part at the Parish Council planning meeting, where applicants aren’t allowed to talk.

“We had several cases where objectors turned to supporters”

Jeremy eliminated concerns by talking them through with neighbours:

Genuine concerns	What Jeremy did
New house would overload the sewage system	Explained they were putting in a sewage treatment plant instead
Height of the house might block views or cast shadows	Used the 3D scale model to show that the house would be set into the hillside (3m down)
Being overlooked in their back garden	Used the model to show that the garage blocked the view (neighbour was also happy the garage protected their vegetable patch from the wind)

Engaging with local people is important but Jeremy adds a caveat: be cautious and put your foot down if neighbours ask for too much; at the end of the day it’s your plot and your house.

The Harrises got through the planning stage with no letters of objection at all, so the decision was down to a Planning Officer purely based on the law and planning policies for the area, and approval was granted.

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Jeremy Harris

Find out more

Check out Jeremy’s blog on the project

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December 7, 2016

HPH115 : How to budget for a house build – with Mark Brinkley
Mark Brinkley, author of the Housebuilder’s Bible, talks about his new self build project and shares his experience of putting a budget together.

Interview with Mark Brinkley

Mark Brinkley is a freelance writer and author of the Housebuilder’s Bible – a number one bestseller on Amazon. We first spoke to Mark back in 2013 about how self build in the UK compares to Germany. With another project currently underway, we’re talking to Mark again, this time about how to put a budget together, and how to stick to it.

Urban building plots can be hard to find

Mark has purchased a plot in a conservation area of Cambridge, albeit he points out, not the posh part of the city! It is an old warehouse in a street of Victorian houses, and as such a bit of an anomaly. It is fairly impractical as a warehouse and not in a good location to be a commercial property so Mark doesn’t foresee there being too many planning issues with building a house there instead.

Current warehouse on the plot

Up against around 50 other bidders he was successful with his speculative bid of approximately 20% over the asking price, and Mark comments that any potential development profit from the project has gone to the landowner!

Logistically it’s a challenging site, being on a one-way street that’s a bit of a rat-run, and with no side access. There are going to be traffic, loading, craning and storage issues to contend with.

Current street scene

Proposed new dwelling

The process is terrifying!

Despite Mark’s 20 years of writing about how to build houses, he finds the process of actually going through the self build process again terrifying! The process is so different from when you buy an existing house, particularly a new build, where the only considerations might be choosing paint colours and tiles. He explains that: “You’ve got to invest yourself in it, you’ve got to immerse yourself in it.” And even with the best knowledge bank in the world you still can’t really determine how much it’s all going to cost, because it’s so driven by market conditions.

It’s a cash buyer’s market

Mark knew how much money he and his partner had available to put into the project, with a contingency factored in from the outset. Both being over 60 they were keen to build mortgage free if possible. His partner had sold her house, with the money sitting in income bonds which could be accessed quickly.

The landowner insisted that completion take place within the unusually short time of just 10 days. Money that Mark had from a previous house sale a few years earlier had been sitting in bonds and shares, so Mark spent the 10 days making the cash available in order to meet the deadline. For a self build in an area that has a competitive property market, being a cash buyer and not having to borrow to raise funds is a huge advantage.

Use basic cost tables as a starting point

By looking at various property websites you can ascertain what a finished house in that street is likely to sell for, and use that to work back from its finished value – i.e. estimate roughly what it will cost to build and roughly what you’d spend on the plot.

“So in a way, right from the outset, you don’t think of it as a developer. You think of it as this is what we need to secure this plot and then we figure out how much we can build a house, how big a house we can build, what we can build with our budget. So it’s sort of almost back to front really. It’s not the classic developer’s calculation that everything drives the plot price down.”

As a starting point, Mark suggests looking at the basic cost tables that you can find from RICS and in property magazines, although he is finding that these are actually at the low end of expectations as his costs so far have been coming back far higher than expected. And even within a cost per m² price bracket, Mark points out the range in the sizes of buildings produced can be vast.

Mark recommends using the cost tables to get to the planning application stage, thinking simply in terms of does it fulfil the criteria of what’s wanted, does it look elegant, will it be energy efficient, and will the neighbours accept it. After that stage he suggests turning to an itemised spreadsheet, filling it out in more detail and building up the budget. Mark himself is currently at this point and is only now starting to think about the build method and the construction materials that are going to be used.

A half built house is probably worth less than an empty plot!

The work needs to be broken down logically into packages of what work needs doing, in what order and how much it’s going to cost.

Once the prices start coming back, if they turn out to be beyond your means, or you have lost heart, then you still have the option to sell the plot with planning permission on it. What you don’t want to do is start building and then try and sell half way through.

You can control the cost outcome of elective extras

While there are some elements of the build where you have limited control over costs – such as demolition, groundworks, and building the structure of the house – there are ‘elective extras’ where you can actually have control of the cost outcome. Mark uses the example of a kitchen, whereby the functionality is the same whether you spend £3,000 or £30,000, but you do actually have quite a lot of control over the amount you choose to spend.

While some constraints might be imposed, either by the site itself or by planners determining material choice, other elective extras might give you self-imposed constraints. An example of this might be in wanting to build to the Passivhaus standard there might be additional costs for joinery, triple glazed windows etc.

Build to the neighbourhood

With so few urban sites available, sometimes it might be necessary to just build to what’s there already. If you were to come across a house on a very expensive street, you might find that building a house of 120m² would leave you spending way over the odds on the site, when in fact the site might be demanding a house of 200m²+. In this example of only wanting to build a small house, spending so much money for the plot would be pouring money down the drain because the development criteria suggests you should be building something in keeping with the neighbours.

And vice versa, if you want to build a 250m² house that’s going to be worth £1,000,000, then you’re unlikely to achieve that on a plot in a street of £300,000 houses.

Budget for the entire project, not just the house

The first rule of sticking to a budget, is making sure you make a budget in the first place! And always factor in a contingency, probably of 10% or more.

Always ensure you include items which might not immediately seem obvious to include as they’re not necessarily part of the house itself. Don’t ignore fencing, outbuildings, garages, paving etc. In Mark’s case, his plot doesn’t have rear access so they will need to start by building a shed in the back garden (which can be used as a site hut too).

Also be careful if you’re working off cost tables, as the price per square metre doesn’t include gardens, garages, outbuildings and other things. The square metre rate also doesn’t take into account development costs, such as installing services, running drains, fencing paving etc. In order to make a back garden plot serviceable you may need to spend £30,000 or more. This would be a development cost, and not a build cost.

Try to gather costs from whatever sources you can, be they magazines, books, internet etc. Mark also recommends using a quantity surveyor. As he puts it: “Every pound spent at the beginning saves £5 at the end!”

Keep on top of the spreadsheets, so you know right from the outset if you’re going over budget, instead of leaving it too late and running out of money before you can finish.

“I wish there was a short, pithy way of saying it, but it’s actually a lot of detailed accounts work that goes into a) making the budget in the first place, and b) sticking to it.”

Find out more

Follow Mark Brinkley on Twitter

Read Mark’s blog

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Mark Brinkley.

House Planning Help at Ecobuild

We’re going to be having a House Planning Help meet-up at Ecobuild this year, on Tuesday 8th March. Alex Baines, who we’re featuring in The Hub, will also be there and answering your questions and telling us how progress on his Long Barrow project is going. If you’re going to be heading to Ecobuild, we’d love you to come and say hello!

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February 8, 2016
HPH113 : Budgeting for our eco home – with Tara Murphy and Dimitri Daras
Tara Murphy and Dimitri Daras talk us through their Gloucestershire self build project, with a focus on how they managed their budget.

Interview with Tara Murphy and Dimitri Daras

After selling their London flat and moving west, Tara and Dimitri were uninspired by the quality and value for money of houses for sale and made the decision to self build.

With a budget of £350,000 they built ‘The Cut’, a two storey low energy home.

Their finished house also featured on the TV programme ‘Building the Dream’, which was presented by their architectural designer, Charlie Luxton.

Charlie Luxton Design

Leave a realistic amount of your budget for the build costs!

Tara spent a year searching for a plot in the Gloucestershire region, and during that time was able to build up good knowledge of what was a fair price to pay for land. Deciding how much they were prepared to allocate for a plot determined how much of their budget they would have left for their build. Plots around the £80,000 / £90,000 mark tended to be in locations that didn’t appeal, and those available at closer to £200,000 they knew wouldn’t leave a realistic amount to build their home.

Their search concentrated on plots (and buildings that could be demolished) in the region of £150,000. The plot they purchased was being offered at £175,000 and they managed to buy it for £162,500, which Tara considers to be a fair price. Unusually there was no competition for the plot, and they were delighted that they had found somewhere within their budget that had the amazing views, space for a good-sized garden, house and car parking that they had been looking for. They had thought they may have to compromise.

House plans were needed to get the mortgage

Arranging the mortgage turned out to be a frustrating, risky and expensive process. Even using mortgage products designed for the self build market, they found it challenging. The mortgage company wouldn’t lend money without plans, so Tara and Dimitri had to employ someone to design the building before they even owned the land. They put the offer in for the land in the July but it took until the following January for the mortgage to be approved and the land purchase to go through. During that period they had spent around £20,000 on the project and were living with the risk that the vendor could walk away at any time.

“The whole system, even within the self build mortgage industry, seems to be set up for developers. You have to have a big big pillow of cash in order to get this process started. If you’re like us, instead of buying a normal house you just want to have a go at building a house, it’s not helpful.”

Select an architect that you will be able to communicate effectively with

Tara and Dimitri knew they wanted to build a contemporary home, so looked at portfolios on the websites of local architects. Another consideration was that they were interested in Passivhaus design and were keen to find an architect with knowledge and ideas around that. Drawing up a shortlist of four, Tara was struck by a comment that the architectural designer Charlie Luxton had made that, whoever they chose, they needed to make sure it would be someone they could be honest and have robust conversations with. They selected Charlie Luxton Design as they liked Charlie’s design work, enthusiasm and interest in Passivhaus principles. They also felt that by visiting so many other projects for his TV work, the extra experience could only benefit their own build.

Keeping the form simple kept the build within budget

The final design didn’t change too much from the original sketches. The only things that were really affected by the budget were the flat roof which was selected partly because it was a cheaper option than others, and the living room windows which they had wanted to be able to throw open completely, but were going to be far too expensive. Their original plan to use locally sourced materials also had to be reconsidered when they discovered how much the Cotswold stone was going to cost!

The form of the building was kept very simple to maximise the volume and to work within their budget. Costs were also kept down on their internal features and by using lots of plywood finishes around the house.

By opting for a minimal design they have not had to spend money on architraves and skirting, and they didn’t have to spend money on expensive flooring where they were able to power float the concrete slab instead.

The architectural designer and builder worked together to design the building structure which they were able to make more economically than using a timber frame company.

Additional groundworks had a large impact on costs

While the careful design and spending on the house fabric came in on budget, their finances were impacted by unexpected groundworks costs. They had originally allocated £5,000 for these as preliminary works had already been carried out by a previous owner.

When they came to excavating into the hill they hit huge chunks of rock which was when they discovered that it was actually an old quarry site. Removing this rock destabilised the bank and resulted in considerably more work and money to make it safe. Together with a higher than anticipated electricity connection cost, they were around £40,000 over where they had expected to be.

They applied for more money through the mortgage to cover these costs and had to forego plans for a car port / garage area. When it came to making savings to the house, they felt that the design and finishes were already quite simple and struggled to see where they could reduce costs.

Charlie Luxton Design

Charlie Luxton Design

Charlie Luxton Design

“There were so many other costs associated that it didn’t make sense to change anything really in the design.”

Budget – lessons learned

Dimitri’s philosophy was to work out what was fundamental and non-negotiable and to accept that it costs what it costs. Their builder dealt with the budget spreadsheets so was able to let Tara know how much she had available for which areas, and she did the best she could with the budget she had.

Tara advises always getting lots of quotes in order to get the best deal. She also recommends keeping on top of hours worked by the contractor and what sort of costs they’ve accrued, to save an unexpected, uncomfortable and expensive situation at the end when they could present their final invoice considerably higher than their estimate.

Charlie Luxton Design

Charlie Luxton Design

Find out more

Read Tara’s blog

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Tara Murphy and Dimitri Daras.

The Hub update

Continuing on our podcast theme, our latest module in The Hub is all about finance. We’re trying to address the core issues and look at typical ways that you might fund a project. We examine how self build mortgages work, what you should do if you have assets, and under what circumstances bridging loans might be an option.

And in a new video episode of the Long Barrow Passivhaus build, we’re following the raft foundation stage: pouring the concrete and finding out why there’s so much steel in the foundation.

Link to RIBA Article

Adam Vaughan from Tracing Green very kindly forwarded us this RIBA article – ‘Self build shows no sign of taking off‘, which starts:

“Despite years of championing by successive housing ministers, self build activity has yet to show any signs of picking up and making an impact on housing delivery.”

If you’re someone that has decided that self build is not for you then please contact us as we’d love to know what happened and why. What is the barrier that is stopping you? Is it finance, finding land or something completely different?

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January 27, 2016
HPH108 : Progressing your house build plans before you have your land – with Kirsty Maguire

Architect Kirsty Maguire explains what you can be doing to progress your house build plans, before you even have your plot of land.

Interview with Kirsty Maguire

A building by Kirsty Maguire, of Kirsty Maguire Architect Ltd, won at the UK Passivhaus Awards in the Best Bespoke Design category, for Hayshed Passivhaus Farmhouse in Ayrshire. Specialising in Passivhaus and eco-architecture she works predominantly on private domestic schemes but also commercially, with charities and the United Nations. Based in Dundee the majority of her projects are in Scotland but her work also takes her to other parts of the world.

Hayshed Passivhaus Farmhouse

Using the example of Ben’s ongoing and so far unsuccessful search for a plot of land for his own self-build, Kirsty explains there are still things you can be doing to put your building project in a good position for the future, even before you have your site.

A feasibility study will put you in a strong position when bidding for plots of land

By considering factors such as site constraints and other negatives of an otherwise reasonable plot, Kirsty explains that you might be able to take on a trickier site which other people might be put off by.

Consider what are you looking for from your new home

This would be the first thing Kirsty would discuss with a client. Initially it would just be general ideas before sitting down together and going through what a client wants from their home in more detail. She would ask the client to describe a little about their ideas and dreams for it, for them and their family. They would cover how they would like to use the house, the atmosphere, the relationship with the landscape, how the house might be used differently as children grow up and eventually move away, or perhaps considering reducing energy bills if the client is downsizing.

At this stage it’s not necessarily about coming up with solutions or design.

As this conversation develops, Kirsty is able to build up a good understanding of the client’s needs and get into the detail of what makes them tick.

Initial sketches are produced

The initial questions stage turns into more of an ongoing dialogue and Kirsty is able to start working on some sketches. Ideally there would be a plot at this stage, but even without it Kirsty could begin developing conceptual sketches looking at relationships of spaces in a home, the atmosphere and the feeling. Kirsty stresses that an important part of designing a home is its response to the landscape so without the land there’s only so far this stage can go.

As part of the discussion process Kirsty would ask about the client’s ethos towards Passivhaus, eco-materials, energy and comfort. It is helpful for her to understand these for each of the members of the family in case they have differing priorities and ideas!

A client scrapbook of ideas can also be a benefit to the designer. Kirsty says it isn’t essential but it certainly does help and she would encourage a client to bring it to the meetings if they have one. It can help with some of the less tangible elements of designing a home, such as acoustics and atmosphere, and what makes something really feel like a home.

Kirsty also finds it can be helpful to understand a client’s current home and therefore how that’s informing their reactions to their new house.

Understanding the budget

As part of the feasibility stage, it is important to understand from the outset what the available budget for the project will be. While Kirsty is not a cost expert, she can use experience from other projects to establish roughly what might be feasible to ensure that time and emotional effort in the project are not wasted!

Looking into the budget, Kirsty can help to establish what amount is available for construction costs, what might be needed to set aside for fees and expenses for the plot, and also suggest the client gets an idea of how much it would be to bring services onto the site. That can then be broken down into what’s available for the build itself and apply a pounds per m² rate, based partly on looking at what was appropriate locally.

Particularly if there is a site already, they might sit down with a quantity surveyor to work out two or three cost options based on the budget. This helps people prioritise what they would like to do, and indeed whether they are still happy to progress.

There are other site specific considerations

Other things which can only really be considered once the plot is known, are things like planning restrictions and whether it is in a conservation area. Kirsty also talks about access to the site, ie, it could be a great plot but there might be difficulty getting cars onto the site. She also explains that some planning policies require your garden to be a certain percentage of the plot.

“So if you know that 60% of your ground has to be garden you’ve got a house of a certain size you need parking and access then that starts to dictate the size of plot that you need.”

The feasibility study is a worthwhile process, whether or not you have a plot

“In terms of the feasibility study, I think it’s great to do that whether you have a plot or not. I think it sets out the basis of the entire project so that people can really enjoy the design stage, knowing that some of the absolutely critical elements such as budget, planning, some of the if you like drier sides of it but essential to the success of a project, are in place and are addressed right from the start so it creates a great foundation for everything from there on in.”

Hayshed Passivhaus Farmhouse

While not directly related to the main subject of the podcast, Ben didn’t want to pass up the chance of asking Kirsty about her award winning Hayshed Passivhaus Farmhouse project!

The client, Duncan, had a plot on his farm land in a stunning location with the building being designed to look out over Arran, Ailsa Craig and the sea over the west coast.

He already had outline planning permission when he came to Kirsty. Although a farmer he is also a contractor himself, and had a strong vision and artistic ideas about what he would like on the site, and was very interested in low energy and Passivhaus buildings. Being on the edge of a cluster of farm buildings, they followed the idea of using traditional buildings and landscape to influence modern design and decided to expand the cluster in a more vernacular way by adding a building which looked much more like the traditional hay sheds.

Being one of the first Passivhaus buildings in Scotland had its challenges but the enthusiasm of Kirsty, Duncan and the contractor carried the project through successfully. It was a very collaborative project and for all the members of the team there was a can-do attitude. “It was more about how do we go to the next stage and how do we do that the best way possible.”

Find out more

Kirsty Maguire Architects

Hayshed Passivhaus – Winner of the Bespoke Project Design category at the UK Passivhaus Awards

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Kirsty Maguire

Podcast guests

We’re always looking ahead at our schedule for podcasts. In order to help us to give you the information you’re looking for, please do contact us and let us know if there is an area you would like covered, perhaps where you’ve hit a stumbling block and need further information on a subject. So do let us know if you have a question and we’ll do our very best to get it answered for you!

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November 18, 2015
HPH104 : How I Found My Plot of Land – Four Case Studies
In this podcast we’re speaking to four self-builders from Ireland, England and Australia to see how they managed to find their plots of land.

Interview with Donal O’Leary – Ireland

Originally Donal had been looking to buy a house rather than a plot. When the sale of a derelict house on a half acre plot came up they realised that if successful with their bid they would probably need to rebuild rather than renovate.

A process of phone bids via the estate agent ultimately led to them missing out.

‘If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get’

While Donal continued in his search he made inquiries locally to see if any other sites might be available, and in doing so came in contact with the man who had been successful in the purchase of the derelict house. After a few discussions he agreed to sell Donal part of the site.

An agreement was reached on price based predominantly on the share of the land, and a joint planning application was submitted. They’re hoping for the planning process to be finalised within the next couple of weeks.

Tips for Finding a Plot

Have perseverance, patience, be prepared for the long haul, walk the streets talking to people and be open to considering an overgrown field as a potential site.

Interview with Nicki Poggi – Australia

Having lived overseas, Nicki and her family were keen to return to Sydney. After missing out on a few properties at auctions she discovered a house whilst driving. The location was ideal in terms of proximity to the beach and ferry into Sydney, and on speaking to the estate agent they made an offer, being aware that it had previously failed to sell at auction.

Nicki would suggest that normally you familiarise yourself with an area and investigate what you’re able to do with the property. In her case, they were fortunate in being permitted to knock it down and rebuild, which wasn’t something they initially thought they would be allowed to do.

Interview with Arun Alex – England

For quite some time it has been important to Arun to build an energy efficient home. He has spent the last 4 or 5 years trawling websites to find a suitable plot. One suggestion he was given was to look at the local council website to see where planning permissions have been granted and to try and make contact with the owners.

Outline or No Planning Permission with the Plot Enabled Arun to Design a House to Suit His Requirements

While being able to pick up a plot of land more cheaply, buying a plot either with no planning permission or outline planning permission also meant that Arun had the flexibility to create a design for his house that would suit his family and their requirements.

After missing out on a couple of plots that had outline planning permission, Arun successfully bought a plot at auction that didn’t have any planning permission attached. While a risky strategy, Arun had a preliminary chat with a planning consultant who thought that if the design and scale were right there was a chance that approval might be given. After researching how to come up with a figure for what the house would be valued at, the offer that Arun submitted was calculated based on rough ideas of the cost of the plot, the cost of the build, the type of construction likely to be used and adding a 20-30% uplift.

Since recording this interview with Arun he has had his planning application refused. He has since purchased another plot in Glastonbury and is currently awaiting full planning approval.

Interview with Glenn Graney – England

During the economic downturn, Glenn purchased a commercial rental property with a flat upstairs and several garages, with the hope of being able to build a house behind the commercial unit. The advice from a retired chief planning officer was that there was a 50/50 chance of obtaining planning permission. As it happened the council gave planning permission without any problems and Glenn and his girlfriend were able to live in the flat above the commercial unit while the build progressed.

An opportunity arose following the death of a neighbour to purchase an additional piece of land which made a considerable difference to the size of their garden.

Glenn’s advice for plot seekers is to look for houses in poorer areas that have large gardens with the potential to be knocked down and the site divided into two, as buying land is at such a premium.

Hide House Cullinan Studios

Hide House Cullinan Studios

Find Out More

Find out more in Donal O’Leary’s blog

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interviews.

Please Connect With Me
October 20, 2015