Buying land and building a house

Noxin

Surprised there is no topics on this... or at least not that I can see...

What do people think on buying a plot of land and building your own house on it?

Obvious pros and cons such as the house being the way you want and not some standard design in a housing estate, a lot of work involved in it which can be difficult if you are working a 40 hour week already...

Any thoughts? Expensive or cheaper? etc etc etc :rolleyes:

athtrasna

One of the biggest problems these days is that a lot of councils won't give planning permission for once off houses. Check out the county development plan for the area you are thinking of.

Victor

300,000 orphans in the country and you want to make a designer baby?

swirlser

Victor wrote: »

300,000 orphans in the country and you want to make a designer baby?

Well I think this answers why theres no other threads on the topic

For what its worth, I would like to make a designer baby!

But land in a good location still has a hefty premium and the time it would take to get planning permission through on the kind of building Id want to create would take more years than Id care to see waste away chasing it

paul71

swirlser wrote: »

Well I think this answers why theres no other threads on the topic

For what its worth, I would like to make a designer baby!

But land in a good location still has a hefty premium and the time it would take to get planning permission through on the kind of building Id want to create would take more years than Id care to see waste away chasing it

I can see where Victor came from with this comment, but many of the 300,000 were built to a poor standard and having been empty for a while now I wonder if they have deteriorated.

A word of caution on a self-build op, you have said that you will be working a 40 hour week so would be unable to put much time into the work/supervision I assume.

There are a lot of shoddy builders out there, my brother in law did build 2 years ago, trusted the builder he hired but was in a similar situation to yourself re work and has been left less than happy with the end result.

johndaman66

Noxin wrote: »

Obvious pros and cons such as the house being the way you want and not some standard design in a housing estate

You may need to consider that one more carefully Noxin. Its just I know a few friends and relatives who went down the self build route. Of course they initially thought they were getting the design they wanted. However, the local authority placed so many restrictions on their design and insisted on such changes before granting full planning permission that the final design was at considerable odds with their initial thoughts. That seems to be the general run of things in this part of the country from my experience anyway.

Noxin wrote: »

Expensive or cheaper?

More expensive I'd suggest. Vast amounts of information available on the planning and construction forum re self build costs though and well worth spending a few hours on seen as you seem to be considering a one of self build.

I'd like to buy a house at some stage in the next few years. I would be able to acquire a site for a nominal consideration if not free in reality and have toyed with the idea of a self build. However, having done my research, made comparisons with similar houses on Daft etc. believe me I still wont be going down the self build route due to the high cost.

This brings me back to the first point...even if you were to get the exact design you wanted how much of a premium do you place on that? I dont consider it to be worth the premium you will most likely pay for your own self build...your sentiment may be different though

johndaman66

paul71 wrote: »

I can see where Victor came from with this comment, but many of the 300,000 were built to a poor standard and having been empty for a while now I wonder if they have deteriorated.

paul71 wrote: »

There are a lot of shoddy builders out there, my brother in law did build 2 years ago, trusted the builder he hired but was in a similar situation to yourself re work and has been left less than happy with the end result.

Is it just me or do them two statements seem to contradict one another. At least its fair to say one statement hardly compliments the other anyway I think. I totally acknowledge that many of the empties were build to a a pretty poor standard, in particular apartments, poor sound-proofing, insulation, ventilation etc. but fair to say not all of them either. I suppose you can get your independent survey done before you buy though and at least it will give you some peace of mind in that regard.

I do feel that with a self build you are at the mercy of builders and tradesmen. Like your brother in law my cousin completed her self build about 4 to 5 years ago. She too trusted the builder but in the end it transpired he wasn't so good after all. Granted many of the problems are probably small and niggly enough, perhaps not structural but still it hardly inspires confidence. Worse still she recommended the builder to a few of her friends and work colleagues when her build was in progress who heeded her advise and hired him also

borderlinemeath

Another thing to consider is where you want to build may be considered a "local needs" area. ie you have to have roots in the locality you want to build in. Depending on the cc, you may fall short of the requirements as some look for residency of maybe 10 years, others look for your primary school records.

My cousin and his wife couldn't get permission in the field next to her parents house. She's lived there all her life, schooled in the area and her parents still live there.

jmayo

Victor wrote: »

300,000 orphans in the country and you want to make a designer baby?

Maybe some people do not want to live with someone else's orphan.
Has that ever crossed your mind ?

Some people would like to build a house/home the way they would like it.
Maybe you should watch Grand Designs or the like some time.
Oh wait with all our huge property bubble I believe we had one property on that show. (old church down in Mayo from memory).
Kinda says something about our design principles I guess.

athtrasna wrote: »

One of the biggest problems these days is that a lot of councils won't give planning permission for once off houses. Check out the county development plan for the area you are thinking of.

Forget it if you live in Wicklow and don't happen to be a 10th generation inbred or a property developer who wants to build a hotel. :rolleyes:

BTW OP if do finally get permission and you are building check out prices in UK for things like tiles and you can save yourself a fortune.
And no I don't see why I should support the local supplier who is taking me for one expensive ride.

ricman

it might be easier to buy an small old house in the country then extend it .Talk to the local planning office before you buy a site or house ,theyll give you advice re planning permission.You could buy an old house in dublin for 100k, put in a new kitchen etc a site would cost you at least 40k in dublin.

paul71

johndaman66 wrote: »

Is it just me or do them two statements seem to contradict one another. At least its fair to say one statement hardly compliments the other anyway I think.

I was puzzling over why you thought it was contradictory given that both statements claimed shoddy workmanship in the building trade. I do now see what you are talking about, the op asked for an opinion on which was the better option, and I opinioned both to have the same flaw so contradictory as in unhelpful, yes.:(

Sorry op, but the most helpful I can be is to state the pitfalls that I see openly. I suggest perhaps an independant QS to supervise the work of your builder in event that you choose self-build.

johndaman66

ricman wrote: »

a site would cost you at least 40k in dublin.

Thats very low water I'd suggest. The only site I see in Dublin on Daft down around the 40k asking price mark is 0.05 acres in size. Believe me thats a very very small site to attempt to build any sort of house on....