Buying Land - pt2 - Then eventually building on it!

[ironictwist]

Anyone done it?

I'm just thinking ahead a few years & keeping mind that property/land prices will eventually come back up I'm just thinking about timing it right in turns of buying when it's low.

Ideally, in 3 years time I'd like to get onto the housing ladder BUT the prospect of buying land & then converting it into one of those projects you see on Grand Designs where you buy a bit of land & construct your house on it seems incredibly appealing.

Should I forget it or is it a well trodden path that people would recommend?

[V8mate]

There's land and there's land though. The other thread wasn't about developable land. There are still people with enough cash wandering around with land banks to top up, so you'll be back into a (reasonably) competitive market if you want to buy a building plot.

[B17NNS]

Not done it myself (would love to one day). Done a few refurbs though.

The key I think is research, lots and lots of research.

Subscribe to all the popular mags, go to all the shows, join all the forums.

You will spend more than you budgeted.

It will take longer than intended.

You will be very stressed (but potentially very rewarded).

It will put massive strains on relationships with nearest and dearest.

[satans worm]

Just finishing our first self build, over budget and over time! But would do it all again no question.
Huge satisfaction of designing your house to your needs not a builders idea/profit.
Every thing in it is your taste, or at least, your compromise! Not just kitchens/ bathrooms but skirting, doors, even how the place is built.
It will run over budget, and take alot longer than it should! You will get lows, very low lows! but reckon without these you cant get the highs as you see it come together.
If your the kind of person who can see a project through and not give up on things when they first get sticky then go for it.

[ironictwist]

satans worm said:

Just finishing our first self build, over budget and over time! But would do it all again no question.
Huge satisfaction of designing your house to your needs not a builders idea/profit.
Every thing in it is your taste, or at least, your compromise! Not just kitchens/ bathrooms but skirting, doors, even how the place is built.
It will run over budget, and take alot longer than it should! You will get lows, very low lows! but reckon without these you cant get the highs as you see it come together.
If your the kind of person who can see a project through and not give up on things when they first get sticky then go for it.

Do holding onto money pits till they eventually come good count as experience for this sort of thing?

That all sounds great though..When did you start the build & more importantly, any pictures?

[satans worm]

ironictwist said:

satans worm said:

Just finishing our first self build, over budget and over time! But would do it all again no question.
Huge satisfaction of designing your house to your needs not a builders idea/profit.
Every thing in it is your taste, or at least, your compromise! Not just kitchens/ bathrooms but skirting, doors, even how the place is built.
It will run over budget, and take alot longer than it should! You will get lows, very low lows! but reckon without these you cant get the highs as you see it come together.
If your the kind of person who can see a project through and not give up on things when they first get sticky then go for it.

Do holding onto money pits till they eventually come good count as experience for this sort of thing?

That all sounds great though..When did you start the build & more importantly, any pictures?

We bought the land Feb06, got planning permission feb07, started building sept07 and, hopefully with everything crossed, will be in end of Jan

Big day today, the boiler and UFH was finaly started

When weve finished I might start a thread with some pics, just dont have the energy for it right now!

[Davi]

If this place hadn't gone quite so badly over budget, that's pretty much what I'd have been looking to do - wait till the arse had really been kicked out the market, buy a decent sized plot and sit on it for 5 years till we're ready to move on again (in other words when I've finished this one )

Parent's have done it a couple of times, comparing their efforts with my renovations / modifying old properties - it seems to be a lot simpler starting from scratch!

Edited by Davi on Sunday 7th December 20:09

[TommyTT]

Bought a plot of land recently in a really good area, had the digger in yesterday clearing the site. Will start work in the New Year. I know it is going to cost more than we think and may take longer, but it is what we both want.

SatansWorm, how much over budget did you go?

[poj]

I would recommend buying yourself a plot of land,we did it about 5 years ago.I got a builder to do virtually everything for us,it was the easy(but expensive)route as our previous house was a 150 year old house refurb that took seven years and we didn't feel like we had time to enjoy the house before we had to move.
HTH

[Oilchange]

I would be interested in reading a thread on it if you have time in the coming months and good luck finishing it off.

satans worm said:

ironictwist said:

satans worm said:

Just finishing our first self build, over budget and over time! But would do it all again no question.
Huge satisfaction of designing your house to your needs not a builders idea/profit.
Every thing in it is your taste, or at least, your compromise! Not just kitchens/ bathrooms but skirting, doors, even how the place is built.
It will run over budget, and take alot longer than it should! You will get lows, very low lows! but reckon without these you cant get the highs as you see it come together.
If your the kind of person who can see a project through and not give up on things when they first get sticky then go for it.

Do holding onto money pits till they eventually come good count as experience for this sort of thing?

That all sounds great though..When did you start the build & more importantly, any pictures?

We bought the land Feb06, got planning permission feb07, started building sept07 and, hopefully with everything crossed, will be in end of Jan

Big day today, the boiler and UFH was finaly started

When weve finished I might start a thread with some pics, just dont have the energy for it right now!

[Slagathore]

There's a project thread floating about from a new build. Can't remember where, I saw a link to it in another thread.

Was a very interesting read.


I would love to do a self build aswell. buying the land could be quite expensive, though.

I don't want a huge house, just want it built to how I would like it.

[ironictwist]

poj said:

I would recommend buying yourself a plot of land,we did it about 5 years ago.I got a builder to do virtually everything for us,it was the easy(but expensive)route as our previous house was a 150 year old house refurb that took seven years and we didn't feel like we had time to enjoy the house before we had to move.
HTH

That's an interesting approach...Could you elaborate a little bit for me?

For example, how long did the project take? In terms of how much you spent, was it considerably more/less than buying an equivalent spec property? Was it the result you wanted in the end?

[rex]

Bought a bungalow 6 weeks ago and we are just getting drawings done to submit to planning. Wife has started a blog but not much in it yet.

[poj]

ironictwist said:

poj said:

I would recommend buying yourself a plot of land,we did it about 5 years ago.I got a builder to do virtually everything for us,it was the easy(but expensive)route as our previous house was a 150 year old house refurb that took seven years and we didn't feel like we had time to enjoy the house before we had to move.
HTH

That's an interesting approach...Could you elaborate a little bit for me?

For example, how long did the project take? In terms of how much you spent, was it considerably more/less than buying an equivalent spec property? Was it the result you wanted in the end?

We bought a plot of land in December 2000,then sold our refurbed house,bought a much smaller house to free up as much money as possible,the land needed a bit of site clearance and earthworks doing,this was done whilst we looked around for a builder,got three quotes from local companies that had done similar schemes that could be viewed,the wife had a good idea of what she wanted(as a tip,she always carried a camera around with her so that if she spotted a certain feature on a house she could show that info to the architect).
Once a builder was engaged,the project was started during October 2001 and he gave us the keys in june 2002.we had agreed a staged payment method for each major task that was completed,this worked well for both parties.I chose to have the house constructed using beam and block floors and breeze block walls as I felt that this would give the house a "solid" feel,underfloor heating was also specified.this heating method appears to be very popular and i would happily fit this again if I do decide to self build again.
As to equivalent spec houses,we looked but didn't see anything around that was comparable so we got the house valued and it was valued quite a bit higher than we had invested,so from that point of view it was a sucess,Our previous house was only sold as it was would have meant a bus/car trip to school and the location of the plot was within walking distance from the school and closer to my work so It ticked nearly all the boxes.
I have been looking at land/plots recently and have noticed that some that does not have planning permission comes with something called an "uplift" I gather that this means should you gain planning permission then the seller gets a share in the increased value of the land,perhaps something to keep in the back of your mind

[pwd95]

Well worth it if you can do it. I organised mine myself as opposed to getting a builder to do it all. Very stresfull, completely dominates your life, but worth it in the end.

My slide show.

http://s60.photobucket.com/albums/h32/pwd95/House/...