New house - opinions on which would be cheaper......

Chuckles1066 · 16 Apr 2008

Buy a newly built house from the likes of Wimpey or buy the land, get permission, have plans drawn up by an architect and then get a builder in to build the place?

TIA.

^woody^ · 16 Apr 2008

It depends if you want to live in a shoe box, with a window box for a garden, with 25% housing association neighbours, with cars parked all over the place and blocking the narrow roads, directly looking over/overlooked by the neighbours, crammed in like battery hens, with endless defects which the NHBC won't be bothered about, with paint peeling off the external timber but you can't get a ladder up as the neighbours house is too close, with tiles blowing off in a summer breeze, in a bland featureless monotonous environment leading to an addition to prozac

Or not

Plus you get more for the same money if you self build and don't pay over the odds for land

kingandy2nd · 16 Apr 2008

Agree fully with woody's comments - it's been a dream of mine to build my own place for a while, but it's really difficult unless you've got very deep pockets!

Other things to consider will be:

- Buying a newly built house will be far less stressful than building your own - regardless of any ever many snags you find.

- You will find it much easier to obtain a mortgage on a newly built house.

- Building plots with planning permission in nice areas of towns or the countryside are like gold-dust and you will pay through the nose for it. It's also likely you'd have to purchase the land itself with cash.

- Unless you are a builder, or have very good freinds/contacts in the trades you may not end up with a self build house that is any cheaper or of better quality than a newly build.

If you seriously want to go down the route of a self build get yourself a book on the subject - there's one call the housebuilders bible which I read and found very useful in highlighting all the things you need to consider.

JerryM · 16 Apr 2008

definitely no to buying a rabbit hutch on a farm ie new build (rooms too small, neighbours too close).

definitely no to build your own - good plots difficult to find and always expensive as a result.

solution find an existing house that no one wants which u can nock about into something special. don't look what's inside just where it is and what could be done to it.

Shytalkz · 16 Apr 2008

JerryM said:
solution find an existing house that no one wants which u can nock about into something special. don't look what's inside just where it is and what could be done to it.

Or even knock down and build what you want, depending on planning restrictions. No VAT liability for that, either.

noseall · 16 Apr 2008

if you have got the brains and the buying power, build a pair of houses.

Shytalkz · 16 Apr 2008

Definitely DON'T buy a modern box from a volume builder. They're characterless, not very good quality and everything else that Woody (and others) have said.

Chuckles1066 · 17 Apr 2008

Thanks for all the responses.

I'll elaborate on my original question; it looks very much like I'll be bounced out of my job with a year's salary at some point in the summer.......we don't have a mortgage and the mother-in-law doesn't have one either and has now decided what a great idea it would be for us all to move to Cornwall once my job has disappeared.

The idea is to pool both proceeds from the sale of our houses (should be around £300,000) and buy something new and detached down there and then build a granny flat in the garden.

I'm quite taken by the idea but I know new-builds are notorious for having about as much garden space as a matchbox so the option of building on the back seems remote, hence my question about buying land and then self-building.

Any other opinions appreciated.

kingandy2nd · 18 Apr 2008

You'll need to pick your location carefully in the West Country - in many spots your £300,000 won't go very far at all because it's on of the most popular areas in the country for second homes for those people with lots of money!

Google some estate agents/auctioneers in Devon and Cornwall - from memory there's one call fulfords that covers both counties and see what your money could get you and where.

I would suggest that if you're serious about self building on a plot or an existing site that you'll need to sell both places and rent a house for a while. Although renting is dead money, it will give you the ability to have your cash ready and waiting when that perfect site turns up.

To be honest, you're going to struggle to build a decent sized place with a good finish on your budget when you consider that you're going to have to buy two of everything - kitchens, bathrooms, etc. You'd have a much better chance of buying an existing property and extending it somewhat.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

JerryM · 18 Apr 2008

recipe for disaster for me.

put the wine glass down and start thinking what happens after the yrs salary's gone.

get what u're going to do for a living 1st. then think of a location and roof.

Richard C · 18 Apr 2008

Or you could do as I’ve done; find an older property in a nice location that’s basically sound but run down & hasn’t been touched inside; & then knock/extend that into something suitable. It’s about the only way you’ll get a decent sized plot (in my case ½ acre) in a decent area. It’ll be much cheaper than new but you will have to spend money on it & don’t underestimate how much that could turn out to be! It can also take a while to find the right property & you have to move quickly when you do or risk loosing out. It took me 6 months & one false start but the right property did finally pop up on the internet. Just 6 hours later, I’d been to view & bought it there & then; punters were lining up to view at the weekend but I had cash, could complete quickly & offered the full asking price, which was still cheap. 2 ½ years later, it’s now almost finished; it’s taken longer than anticipated as I busted the budget long ago & have ended up doing practically everything myself during the last 18 months but the renovation work, extensions & beautiful location means it’s now worth 60% more than I paid for it but I’ve not done it all just to sell up; not yet anyway!

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New house - opinions on which would be cheaper......

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