For quite a lot of people the concept of a self build home and design project extends to a new kitchen, bathroom or extension but for a growing number of people the ultimate project is and always will be building their own dream home. The choices of home designs is extensive ranging from stunning open plan living homes to contemporary cube like designs with walls of glass. Self building is not for dreamers it takes a lot of planning ahead and the right financing and you will have to understand the process in order to make sure you have all the right ingredients for success.
Timber frame house, log homes and timber homes have been immensely popular throughout the world for decades. With the USA and Canada , Australia and the Northern Europeans creating stunning open plan living homes, the UK is starting to catch on that affordable housing is actually a lot closer to home than they thought. With those ever increasing energy price hikes, thousands and thousands of UK home buyers and home owners are turning to the self build option and cutting out both VAT and the middle man.
The first hurdle to overcome is finding a plot of land to build on and even though the vast majority of the UK is open countryside there are planning laws seemingly inhibiting development of these much sought after new homes. Plots of land are available to purchase just as houses are, but Estate Agents frequently pass them straight to commercial builders instead of displaying them to the general public. Two websites that have a database of plots of land available are Plotsearch and Plotbrowser.
The second challenge will be to find the right mortgage that will allow you to build your dream home without the horror stories you see as part of a TV show revealing half built houses and a dried up bank account. Typically a self build project will be completed in stages and as such mortgages for this type of project are usually released at various stages too and this requires careful money management to get it right. Thankfully the High Street Banks have seen an opportunity to offer more mortgages than ever before to potential self builders and at least one innovative lender has come up with a way to finance the whole project upfront based on an insurance protection mortgage scheme.
The third challenge is the one that for most people takes far too long and is so complicated it probably causes more people to give up than any of the others and that is obtaining planning permission. The UK planning laws prohibit any new dwelling being built with planning permission but actually getting advice about how to go about is not easy either, your Local Planning Officers will be sure to let you know what their role is. Planning Permission will be granted when you can demonstrate your building and your site adhere to the Local Planning Authority development control criteria and that is one of your biggest challenges.
One of the best ways to approach your project is to think of it from your local County Highways point of view as they will happily give you free advice about securing that all important access to your proposed new dwelling. If you live in a village or town the development boundaries are likely to already be in place and not reviewed very often so your best choice is to work within the local planning policies and create a framework for your self build project around them.
Pete Cossieof Contemporary Log Living is on a mission to inspire and empower people to look at unique eco-friendly self-build home kits, log cabins and Self Build And Design Homes to make a great investments in the real estate of tomorrow today.