Tag: Homebuilding & Renovating

HPH275 : How to reduce the cost per square metre on a self build – with David Snell
With 14 projects under his belt, author and serial self builder David Snell explains how you can stop costs from running away from you.

Interview with David Snell

Some people see self build as a once in a lifetime opportunity to have the house of their dreams, but David Snell has had a different approach. Having never spent more than three years in one place, he finds the desire to move on coming from a mixture of boredom and opportunity. Currently approaching three years in his latest house (but he’s starting to get itchy feet so it might not necessarily be his last!), David is able to draw on experience from his previous 14 projects to offer advice on how to stick to a budget.

There is a profit incentive

As well as the joy of creating a house of your requirements in the place of your choosing, a big incentive of self building for David has been getting it for a price that also gives you a healthy profit. His current house, including the price of land and construction, cost £237,000. By the time he moved in it was worth upwards of £400,000.

Each time he has moved it has been to suit their situation at that time, but always in mind was gradually building up their equity to get to their current point where they are mortgage free in this house, while also owning other debt-free properties.

Have a benchmark to work from

Almost as soon as he has some plans David will send them out to costing organisations such as Online Estimating Limited to make sure that he is on the right lines. He will always have a benchmark price in mind for what he can afford and thinks is worthwhile putting on that plot in order to make positive equity. If the costs come back significantly higher than that, he knows he would have to go back to the drawing board with the design.

Shop around to get the best prices

David says that many self builders come from within the construction industry and are familiar with what sort of prices they should be paying for labour and materials, so he puts himself in their shoes.

He doesn’t believe in settling for the figures that the estimators come back with. He sees them as targets to beat.

There will always be extras

Whether they are from unanticipated groundworks, or “elective extras” on finishes, there will always be extras in any building project, and it is for this reason that a contingency fund is necessary.

David does warn against going overboard on spending on finishes where it’s possible to spend an awful lot of money without any particular gain. He says that it is easy to become obsessed with wanting specific items. Particularly if you’re looking at the house as an investment, just remember that anyone coming to look round to buy the house isn’t going to be looking at the brand name of the taps or toilet!

“It’s something that people can get obsessive about at the build point and they can be sucked into buying and paying twelve-hundred pounds or two-thousand pounds for a bath where they could get something that would look absolutely identical and work absolutely the same way for a tenth of that.”

Photography Simon Maxwell c/o Homebuilding & Renovating

The house cost £861 per square metre

That price includes carpets and curtains, so David has had to be clever with his purchasing. One tactic was to buy kitchen floor tiles from a company dealing with end of line goods and seconds. Even though he bought a lot more tiles than needed (in case of breakages etc), he paid £20 per square metre for a tile that he says you could be charged £60 per square metre for in a different shop.

David also picked up a bargain with his oak internal doors. He happened to be passing Howdens when they had an end-of-line sale, and he got them for half price.

“I bought them long before I needed them and I stored them in my son’s garage until I needed them. I looked out for an opportunity, I bought them and I saved the money on them.”

He has been meticulous about logging expenditure in his notebook

From his starting point of knowing the projected cost, David was able to keep a running total of everything spent and how much money was left. By logging the net cost and the VAT, it was also useful in keeping track of how much VAT they would be able to claim back at the end.

Keeping these records up to date and cross-checking them against the original costings gives visibility of any overspends, and therefore whether savings will need to be made elsewhere towards the end of the project on the high value finishes.

“I’m not stingy but I’m frugal. I don’t spend more than I’ve got or have originally budgeted for.”

With any luck there will be savings made along the way which will allow more money to be spent on the kitchen and bathrooms at the end.

Incorporate landscaping into the budget

If it’s left until the end, often the landscaping can be the thing that falls by the wayside as there’s not enough money left by that point. Instead, David incorporated it into the costings as he went along and the landscaping was happening while the house was being built.

There was plenty of landscaping to do on this project, with about 400 tonnes of material being dug out. It was initially put in a heap at the back and then brought back when it was needed during the build. They ended up creating the levels as they went and the landscaping became a generic thing that happened as they built the property.

Don’t believe that you’re on an unstoppable train

“You are on a train that you can stop. At any time if it’s running ahead and away from you money wise, you have to have the ability and the power to say stop. And you do have that ability and power because it’s your chequebook that’s paying for this. If it’s not going right and you want to stop and think, do so.”

If you end up having quotes that are much higher than anticipated, be prepared to take the time to wait until you can beat them. By believing you’re on this unstoppable train you can get carried away paying the larger sums to keep it moving and soon being way over budget.

He is still learning!

A lesson learned from this project is to never mix MDF and timber in things like door linings. David has got MDF architraves with timber door linings, and says that they behave and shrink differently and separate.

Inflation hasn’t been a factor across his projects

David has worked out the cost per square metre of his last five projects:
- 2001 – £706
- 2004 – £1,063 (but for a more avant-garde design)
- 2007 – £900
- 2009 – £880
- 2016 – £861
Looking at those figures he hasn’t really seen any radical inflation in costs. What he does believe is that people can go over the top with spending. They get engrossed with all the new innovations available that can be thrown into a self build, and he thinks this is what escalates costs way beyond what you need to do and spend.

This could be his thirty year house

Now aged 75, David has built this house with their long-term future in mind. And if he doesn’t get the bug to take on one further project, then this house should cater for their needs going forward. All the door openings are the right width for wheelchairs, the taps can be used with impaired hand movement, and in addition to a downstairs lounge, there is a lounge upstairs that could be converted if needed.

Find out more

Visit the website of Homebuilding & Renovating Magazine

Listen to our previous podcasts with David about what to look for in a plot of land and hiring contractors and subcontractors.

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with David Snell.

Please connect with me

Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes

Rate and review the podcast on Stitcher

Like our Facebook page

Follow us on Twitter
January 29, 2020
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

Please connect with me

Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes

Rate and review the podcast on Stitcher

Like our Facebook page

Follow us on Twitter

October 23, 2019
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
- Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes
- Rate and review the podcast on Stitcher
- Like our Facebook page
- Follow us on Twitter
September 29, 2017
HPH117 : What to look for in a plot of land – with David Snell, author of Building Your Own Home
Serial self-builder and author David Snell advises how to appraise a potential plot of land.

Interview with David Snell

We spoke with David back in Episode 50 in a fascinating discussion about hiring contractors and sub-contractors, which was packed with invaluable information gleaned from years of experience. That was at a time when he was undertaking his 14th and ‘final’ self build. After deciding to move back to Gloucestershire to be closer to his grandchildren, he’s now working on his 15th! This time he joins us to advise what you should be looking out for in a plot of land, and how to know if it’s the right one for you.

Use ‘fisherman’ tactics to find a plot!

David uses the analogy of a fisherman who puts a handful of bait into the water to attract the fish to where he’s going to be fishing, before throwing in his hook and line. And in a sense that’s what David does when he’s looking for a plot. He puts the bait out by speaking to as many people as he can: architects, estate agents, solicitors, developers, etc. He’ll also mention that he’s going to be searching earnestly in a few weeks’ time and hoping they will have something for him at that point.

Double plots are ideal for self-builders

David’s reason for this is that most self-builders know someone else wanting to build too. His current plot is exactly that – a double plot that was bigger than he needed. He had approached a local builder that he knew to come and take a look for a rough idea on cost estimates to build on it. The builder himself decided that he would like the remainder of the plot so David immediately sold it on for a £10,000-£15,000 profit.

Consider the neighbourhood if you’re planning a replacement dwelling

Unlike a greenfield site, with a replacement dwelling your environment is already fixed. You’re effectively relying on your neighbours to share the same values; that of preserving the kerb appeal of the area so as not to devalue the properties. This is why it is important to look rigorously at its immediate surroundings and approach.

“It could be lovely when you get to the plot, but if you’ve got to drive through somewhere horrid to get to it, people’s spirits have sunk by the time they get there, and so has the value of your home!”

By choosing where you’re going to live you’re choosing your neighbours, and in a way they’re choosing you because they will freeze you out and make you not want to live there if tensions are high! David says that he has never not had animosity from neighbours when he has self built, because by building nearby he is upsetting the status quo. Within a few years however the house will be built and then by being part of the new status quo he expects to eventually win them over!

Choose a plot that “sings to you”

With so many different types of plots available, and different things being of importance to different people, it’s wise to choose a plot that calls out to you and says “I’m for you”. If it’s the right plot you’ll move heaven and earth to get it and be more likely to take on and overcome any challenges along the way.

Don’t consider land unless it has some form of planning permission

David doesn’t recommend a first time self-builder to even consider buying land if it doesn’t already have either outline or full planning permission.

Even if the plot has planning permission on it the chances are that you will be able to change the permissions – within reason and subject to local planning approval – to a different design more suited to you. If you’re wanting to scale down the plans then it’s unlikely you’ll have any argument about it. If you want to increase the size however then either it might not be the plot for you or you might have to do it incrementally, i.e. build to the plans and then later on submit plans to extend it or use permitted development rights.

All planning permissions have conditions

In most circumstances planning permission is only granted with conditions attached. So when buying a piece of land, pay attention to when planning permission expires because you need to have enough time to discharge all of them.

Some of the conditions are discharged in the normal course of events, such as getting building regs etc, but others may need to be discharged before works can commence.

There is now a time limit of 8 weeks in which planning officers need to make a decision on discharging conditions. If after the 8 weeks they have not given you a decision, then the condition is deemed to be satisfied.

It is important to add that while planning permission states that you ‘may’ build something, it doesn’t mean that you ‘can’. If there isn’t a legal right to build, i.e. somebody else owns the land you want to build on, then even if you have planning permission you will not be entitled to act upon it.

Ensure the plot has suitable access

Without access, it just isn’t a plot. And that applies both to vehicular access and access for construction. Land that can’t demonstrate suitable access is unlikely to get planning permission anyway.

Trees on a plot can give you an understanding of the land

The types of trees on a plot can give you an indication of the sub-soil you’re likely to come across. Beech trees might indicate chalk, oak trees can indicate clay. Alder trees can indicate that the land is heavily waterlogged, and the roots of willows and poplars can be incredibly damaging to property. If you have clay, the removal of trees can lead to soil becoming waterlogged and creating heave, which can be disastrous to a building.

The presence of trees and understanding the ground conditions better can help you budget more wisely, knowing that you may need to factor in extra for the foundations.

Tree Preservation Orders can also be challenging, though not necessarily impossible to overcome. David highlights the importance of negotiating about them, and not cutting the trees down without approval!

A covenant gives somebody else rights over your piece of land

While covenants are not necessarily going to put you off buying a plot, they are certainly something to take into consideration. Some covenants may expire over time because the property or people to which they relate are no longer there. David suggests a restricted covenant indemnity policy to cover such a situation.

In many cases covenants that self-builders will come across have been put in place by the owners of the property that have sold part of their garden off as the plot. These tend to be extremely difficult to remove and might cover things like not having any windows overlooking their property, etc.

In other cases there may be a ransom covenant, whereby someone has sold off their land as a paddock, but uses the covenant to clawback any uplift in value if that purchaser later gets planning permission.

Find out more

David Snell talks about how to find a plot of land, in this video for Potton Homes

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with David Snell.

The Hub update

Tying in to the theme of today’s podcast, we’d like to remind you about our course on Finding Land, which is available in The Hub. It is free to access and draws information from all the sources and chats we’ve had so far, and puts it in a logical sequence without being overwhelming.

Please connect with me
- Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes
- Rate and review the podcast on Stitcher
- Like our Facebook page
- Follow us on Twitter
February 24, 2016
HPH037 : Overcoming the Challenges of Self Build – with Jason Orme from Homebuilding & Renovating
Jason Orme, editor of Homebuilding & Renovating, shares some of the key challenges that self-builders face and what can be done to make sure they don’t become pitfalls. He also explains how custom build might be a good option to explore for those who want a bespoke home but without the same level of risk.

Interview with Jason Orme

Jason Orme was keen to become a journalist and so he applied for a job at Homebuilding & Renovating magazine. It was only after landing the role that he really began to increase his knowledge, and this eventually led to him buying a plot in 2004 and building a house. Now he has seen and written about hundreds if not thousands of projects and in his own words he is ‘a little bit obsessed by it.’

Finance and Plot Availability Prohibit Most People From Self Building

Jason says that since the recession of 2008 getting access to finance has become much harder. He does, however, believe that as the economy improves more and more mortgages will become available again.

By far the biggest problem is the availability of plots and therefore price of plots. The two are very closely linked. It’s not difficult to find a plot if you’ve got lots of cash!

Jason’s own self build

Even Great Architects Are Not Necessarily Good With Budgets

It is not uncommon that projects go over budget. If a project starts to go over budget on the first day then this is likely to be a sign of things to come. In Jason’s experience architects are great at designing houses but they are not so good at marrying up the budget to the design. People often have plans for large, complicated houses with lots of kit and a budget that is completely unrealistic.

A Quantity Surveyor Can Provide an Independent Assessment of the Project’s Cost

By running most things through a quantity surveyor, or QS, there is the opportunity to check the finances. A QS is an independent expert who will effectively do a full materials and labour schedule of your build from the plans the architect has produced. This means any potential problems are discovered in the planning stages rather than during the build.

Once ‘Out of the Ground’ Build Costs Should be Predictable

Jason recently met someone who had gone 50% over budget on a nearly £2 million build! So it can happen at all budget levels, big or small. There are certain elements that are difficult to budget for, such as the foundations, because you may not know the full story until you start, but Jason stresses that ‘above ground’ is manageable and quantifiable in most instances.

There’s Definitely a Sweet Spot When it Comes to House Size

The average floor area of a self-build house that Homebuilding & Renovating might feature is around 200m². This compares to a typical new estate house (in the UK) that might be 80m² or 90m². So the self-builders that Jason meets tend to build bigger houses. At the upper end of that scale he once saw a house that was 2000m²!

However Jason suggests that if a house is too cramped there can be averse affects: “David Snell, who continues to write for the magazine, always says that one of the great reasons for the breakdown in society is because houses are too small. So growing families, particularly when you’ve got teenage kids, they need their own space and it’s preferential if they’re in their own big bedroom with a bit of a guest suite rather than on the streets. My view is the same. I think homes should grow with families and be flexible enough to do that.”

Custom Build Should Take a Lot of the Risk Out of Self Building

Custom build is a subset of self-build and it aims to allow bespoke homes to be constructed but with the minimum of risk. It’s revitalising an old concept whereby a large area of land is divided into serviced plots and the planning for the whole site (rather than on an individual basis) is done upfront to speed up the process. Fixed priced build costs also enable people to be very clear of what they are letting themselves in for.

Graven Hill near Bicester in Oxfordshire is the UK’s largest scheme to date. Almere in Holland is often cited as one of the world’s most significant schemes.

Self-builders Tend to Have an Entrepreneurial Spirit

While lots of people desire to build a house (typically between 10-30% of the UK population of 63 million) when it comes down to the practicalities of finding land and so on, the figures drop off significantly. Currently there are 11,300 new self-builds per year in the UK.

Having met lots of self-builders, Jason believes that one trait they all have in common is an entrepreneurial spirit. Even if they come from different walks of life, they tend to be independent and have a strong desire to create something specifically for them rather than settling for any old house.

In Australia ‘Package’ Builds Make Life Easy

Jason likens the house building process in Australia to buying a new car: “You’ve got the basic package, you’ve got the optional extras, all of which is guaranteed in terms of price and scheduled delivery as well.”

Interestingly Australia deliver far more custom build homes (Jason says somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 per year) than the UK despite having a smaller population of 23 million!

The UK’s Housing Market Will Continue to be Focussed on Second-Hand Stock

Even if custom build took off in the UK and 30,000 or 40,000 new houses were created each year, it would still be a small part of the market. This is because there are currently around 23 million houses in the UK, so the chances are that most people will be buying a second-hand house rather than a new custom build house.

Avoid the Eco Bling!

Certain products and materials have a lot of hype attached to them, and Jason says that people are often willing to throw a lot of money at gadgets thus making a slightly naïve specification.

Solar panel and heat pumps all have a place but often the money is far better being spent in the fabric of the building. Minimising energy use and the heat demand in the house is by far the smartest thing that people will do, particularly for those who are not on mains.

Invest in Expertise When it Comes to the Planning Process (UK)

Relying on an architect or design professional to guide you through the planning process could be a mistake. While architects may know a little about planning, their primary skill is design and so they are unlikely to be able to keep up with those minuscule changes to planning policy which happen frequently.

Finding a good planning consultant is an absolutely critical way of unlocking the potential of some sites.

Villages Often Lack Affordable Housing for Young Families

The UK has a unique situation in that it has a lack of land but also a cultural message to protect the countryside and preserve it as a museum.

Jason believes that the countryside is dying – with pubs, schools and other amenities constantly closing down – because there are no new houses to help young families live there. Yet development continues to be fought against.

Jason says: “I think we have to accept that if we want our children to live in these villages and towns then we have to allow house building in certain areas and better for it to be high quality of individual design ideally than for it to be the kind of housing stock that we’ve seen go up over the years.”

We Must Provide the Infrastructure for the Growing Population

Jason tells the story of how he was looking at an atlas with his 3-year-old son and the first page was about the world’s population. In the space of 100 years the population has jumped from around 1 billion to 6 billion.

When Ben challenges Jason as to whether new houses just encourage further population growth, Jason responds: “The fact is that people seem to want to come to want to come to the UK and people seem to want to have children, and I don’t think you can necessarily stop either of those. So to an extent you’ve got to face the fact that you need to create housing for them otherwise where are they going to live.”

Multigenerational Homes Could be an Option for the Future?

With affordable housing clearly a worldwide issue, one change could be a move towards multi-generational households where three generations of a family live under one roof.

A Smart Approach is Needed to Housing Development

The UK government have a figure of 250,000 for the number of new homes that are needed each year to cope with demand.

Jason believes that this hasn’t been achieved once since the 1960s and is unlikely to be met in the coming years. Jason also thinks that certain areas of the South East and the Midlands are approaching capacity and that it would make a lot more sense to spread the load around other parts of the UK where housing densities are comparatively low.

[The Internet is also making it easier to be very much in the heart of the business economy without being physically there!]

Homebuilding & Renovating Aims to Provide Independent Advice

The team at Homebuilding & Renovating have all been through the process of building their own houses and as such all their advice comes from experience. Newcomers to the world of self building will also find that there are lots of people who are trying to sell their products or services! Homebuilding & Renovating aims to provide independent advice, help you increase your knowledge and guide you through that jungle!

Winner of the Self Build Awards 2011. Copyright homebuilding.co.uk

It May Look Like Drama on TV, But it Doesn’t Have to be in Reality

While television programmes like Grand Designs inspire people to take on their own projects, they also create drama where there need not be drama. A few projects go over budget and over schedule but there are thousands that happen each year that don’t.

Jason concludes: “If you can get experts involved and listen to people, then generally it’s a lot easier than you might think . . . It’s a massively rewarding experience, life-changing really. It certainly was for us.”

A unique urban home. Copyright homebuilding.co.uk

Transcript

Download a transcript of the interview with Jason Orme.

Our Question for the Comments Section

What’s been the biggest challenge of your project so far? And how have you overcome it?

Want to Create Valuable Content in 2014?

As TV and radio continue to lose impact, more and more people are getting content delivered to their mobiles, tablet and desktop computers via the Internet. Any individual or company can create this content, it’s just a question of how you want to do it. Can Regen Media help you create content in 2014?

Please Connect With Me
- Subscribe, rate and review the podcast in iTunes
- Rate and review the podcast on Stitcher
- Like our Facebook page
- Follow us on Twitter
December 4, 2013