Palmball
MB Enthusiast
I happened to briefly mention on another thread (about a potential incoming E63) that I'm (trying!) to fund a new build that I've mostly designed and, to my disappointment, there was more interest in the house than the car :wall bash: What is this place!?!.....a car forum or cowboy builders? 
So here goes, as there was some interest here's some detail on my (not so) little project which I have to say, I'm really excited about. Although it proving rather more expensive that I'd planned
I'm sure this is childs play to some but personally, we've never done anything like this before and our last three houses have been relatively modest new builds on a typical new developments.
Now, building ones own house exactly the way you want it is a really exciting prospect, but something that I'd never considered seriously because I wouldn't know where to start, how to obtain the land, source builder etc etc....and I just don't have the time to research it properly.
Then last Christmas, we decided we should invest in a nicer house, given we really never loved the house we were in. It was actually harder than we thought because (despite living in the East Midlands, hardly the property capital of the UK) houses kept selling before we could even get ours on the market. And we're really glad that happened because the estate agent marketing our house put us in touch with a local builder in our village (which ideally is where we wanted to stay) who was about to start building a property in, err.....his back garden (he had a big garden). There are to be four houses, two have been built and he was about to start the third. It was (I feel) on the most desirable road in our village and we were just about early enough to design it how we wanted, which the builder was more than open to.
So.....our house went on the market. And sold in 4 hours
We spent most of January and February liaising with the builders architect making the house just as we wanted (pretty much changing everything) and in March the build started. We moved out of our house in April and are now homeless (a necessary evil to help fund some of this).....well, we're living with in-laws until the house is completed, hopefully by end of August.
The design itself is fairly unique, about 2500 sq/ft with a particularly complicated roof (I like odd roofs!), an open plan living / dining area with a central, three aspect fireplace dividing the space. My intention is to have the wall above and behind the fireplace clad in real slate which is causing the architect and builder some challenge as they need to reinforce the wall and floor to take the weight!
Upstairs, we've decided on 4 good sized bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and what I hope will be a nice walk around galleried landing. It's really hard to visualise on the plans what it will look like in reality so we've taken a lot of steer from the architect....lets hope we like it eh!
Garage is around 7x7m so will take two cars (unlike our last double) - this is despite having a staircase which will lead to a proper useable space above.
Spec is fairly decent as standard - underfloor heating, a very generous kitchen and bathroom budget (which I've still managed to blow past) - in fact, the builder has been utterly fantastic and is accommodating every single request and desire we have and because we doing things a bit different (e.g. a relatively daring fireplace) he's very ended in getting it right. Per square foot, we're also paying significantly less than other similar sized new houses being built by a national homebuilder ability 1/4 mile away...although we're definitely blowing any advantage on specification
The way I see it, if we don't do it now, it'll be harder and more expensive in future.
The amount of things to think of when you get the choice is significant - even simple things like the electrical design (lighting, sockets, connectivity etc) need really careful consideration.
So, enough talk, heres some photo's of progress:
The plans
Before it all started
A couple of weeks into the build
A few weeks into the build
A few weeks ago
A couple of weeks ago....
It's now actually almost ready for it's roof, which will take about 3 weeks to complete. At which point the builder reckons we could be in the house 6-8 weeks later
And thats it so far, happy to update photo's if anyone is interested as it progresses further into something (hopefully) more habitable looking!
So here goes, as there was some interest here's some detail on my (not so) little project which I have to say, I'm really excited about. Although it proving rather more expensive that I'd planned
I'm sure this is childs play to some but personally, we've never done anything like this before and our last three houses have been relatively modest new builds on a typical new developments.Now, building ones own house exactly the way you want it is a really exciting prospect, but something that I'd never considered seriously because I wouldn't know where to start, how to obtain the land, source builder etc etc....and I just don't have the time to research it properly.
Then last Christmas, we decided we should invest in a nicer house, given we really never loved the house we were in. It was actually harder than we thought because (despite living in the East Midlands, hardly the property capital of the UK) houses kept selling before we could even get ours on the market. And we're really glad that happened because the estate agent marketing our house put us in touch with a local builder in our village (which ideally is where we wanted to stay) who was about to start building a property in, err.....his back garden (he had a big garden). There are to be four houses, two have been built and he was about to start the third. It was (I feel) on the most desirable road in our village and we were just about early enough to design it how we wanted, which the builder was more than open to.
So.....our house went on the market. And sold in 4 hours
We spent most of January and February liaising with the builders architect making the house just as we wanted (pretty much changing everything) and in March the build started. We moved out of our house in April and are now homeless (a necessary evil to help fund some of this).....well, we're living with in-laws until the house is completed, hopefully by end of August.The design itself is fairly unique, about 2500 sq/ft with a particularly complicated roof (I like odd roofs!), an open plan living / dining area with a central, three aspect fireplace dividing the space. My intention is to have the wall above and behind the fireplace clad in real slate which is causing the architect and builder some challenge as they need to reinforce the wall and floor to take the weight!
Upstairs, we've decided on 4 good sized bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and what I hope will be a nice walk around galleried landing. It's really hard to visualise on the plans what it will look like in reality so we've taken a lot of steer from the architect....lets hope we like it eh!
Garage is around 7x7m so will take two cars (unlike our last double) - this is despite having a staircase which will lead to a proper useable space above.
Spec is fairly decent as standard - underfloor heating, a very generous kitchen and bathroom budget (which I've still managed to blow past) - in fact, the builder has been utterly fantastic and is accommodating every single request and desire we have and because we doing things a bit different (e.g. a relatively daring fireplace) he's very ended in getting it right. Per square foot, we're also paying significantly less than other similar sized new houses being built by a national homebuilder ability 1/4 mile away...although we're definitely blowing any advantage on specification
The way I see it, if we don't do it now, it'll be harder and more expensive in future.The amount of things to think of when you get the choice is significant - even simple things like the electrical design (lighting, sockets, connectivity etc) need really careful consideration.
So, enough talk, heres some photo's of progress:
The plans
Before it all started
A couple of weeks into the build
A few weeks into the build
A few weeks ago
A couple of weeks ago....
It's now actually almost ready for it's roof, which will take about 3 weeks to complete. At which point the builder reckons we could be in the house 6-8 weeks later
And thats it so far, happy to update photo's if anyone is interested as it progresses further into something (hopefully) more habitable looking!
