Self build~ Timber frame home

[scotty]

agree with smithsurf, scotframe is a good kit, im a joiner and have erected around 20 of there kits in the past and they are good.

give them a phone and they will send you out a broucher with all there different house types in it. it will give you a good idea of the house size in square meters therefore giving you a idea of what size best suits your plot.

hope this helps, they are based in cumburnauld and inverary.

cheers scotty

[surfstar]

Just finished my kit house 6 months ago. As long as you know a few friends with trades it's a great thing to do.

I got my kit from Scotframe,(Cumbernauld/Inverurie) thet do a good rande of kits.

Most kits include the basics such as, joists, flooring, insulation, partitions, plasterboard, various roughing timber,finishings, windows,doors,trusses,sarking, felt etc etc.

Its up to you to buy things like,cement, Blocks,concrete for solums lintels, sills, tiles/slates,plaster, paint, steps(outside),heating,bathroo ms, kitchens etc.

Took me about 1 year to do but that was self build evenings and weekends. Worth the work when you see the end product.

Sound advice i feel

[Vagrant No2]

Oh dear , you got my wife Tam looking into self build now ! Spent last 11 years doing up this place and I am not looking for another one to do .

Trouble with these projects is finding trades you can trust . I have had enough of the cowboys , and end up doing the work again after they leave or finishing wot they started .

[NeilT]

Don't want to be pessimistic but won't the land will be the most expensive thing especially in herts? Friend of mine tried a spot of property developing and found this - Basically land owner takes current theoretical value of the house that the size of plot could accommodate and minuses the estimate for building the house plus a bit less for bother of doing it and thats his asking price. Stands to reason really. Trouble is all the variation in house prices effects the land value not the building value, as we've all noticed this house boom hasn't put our wages up much (unless you're an estate agent, local council tax office, solicitor, inheritance tax office, surveyor etc to the lot of them) so builders fees and materials are more constant. My point is that it's the land price that is inflated not so much the house price and a self build doesn't really get around that, unless it's at the bottom of your parents garden.....

say house would be 150k
cost of building is 50k
cost of plot 90k

If house price falls to 100k
cost of building still 50k
cost of plot now 40k

Say you already had the timber house but got a mortgage for the plot at 90k your negative equity of 50k is same as if you bought the house. The only benefit would be that your mortgage is smaller making it easier to ride out higher interests.

Not sure it's going to crash?

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/
http://www.economist.com/opinion/dis...ory_id=4079027

Of course the end of the boom has been predicted for a while and a crash has yet to happen but everyone seems to agree that it is inevitable and Mr Browns staving it off will only make matters worse when it does happen. So he'll have to put the brakes on, speed wobble, out of control and into a wall most likely.

The signs are starting to mount up, how many people do you know who have had their house on the market for a year and can't sell it? They'll drop their prices... and before you know it half the buy to lets and second homes will get put on the market asap, price dropping will escalate.....

Interest rates are creeping up, to keep up with inflation which is ralated to fuel prices which is going wildly up. The Bank of England have to do it but so far only as much as they dare, but will they have to put it up further regardless of house price crash? http://www.moneyweek.com/file/5076/strategy-2511.html

It is now for the first time more expensive to buy than to rent.

House prices to wages ratio is at record high.

Record personal debt of over a trillion pounds 90% of which is "secured" on property with for example "One in 10 single people says their finances are out of control" http://www.creditaction.org.uk/debtstats.htm

Rising number of repossessions by 55% since last year http://www.dca.gov.uk/statistics/mps.../reg-q3-t2.pdf

Think renting is dead money? Well so is paying interest on that big mortgage in negative equity,- http://www.firsttimebuyerhelp.co.uk/...icle.aspx?id=9

Think prices will stay the same for a while? http://www.propertyfacts.co.uk/psych...psychology.htm

Another reason to wait could be that a house price crash will accompany a drop in consumer spending. Less spending = less work = easier to find a builder who will be glad to have your work rather than trys to fit it around his other work.

But it's not all bad news though if you've already bought - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3701070.stm

Ok scale of 1 to 10 how boring am i?

[Djandco]

chillitt is me! i used to build houses, and i have an er..interest in sheds! as for what i do, nowadays i sit in me shop and stay warm and dry. most of my holidays get hijacked by mates wanting houses knocked into shape.
you should be able to co ordinate a timber frame self build yourself, with the aid of a few tradesmen, for footings, leccy and plumbing, buy a copy of Self Build magazine there will be loads of contacts and advice in there.

That's putting it mildly!
More like an obsession I would say.
But I bet you havent got the Automatic door fitted to the shed yet!

[surfstar]

Don't want to be pessimistic but won't the land will be the most expensive thing especially in herts? Friend of mine tried a spot of property developing and found this - Basically land owner takes current theoretical value of the house that the size of plot could accommodate and minuses the estimate for building the house plus a bit less for bother of doing it and thats his asking price. Stands to reason really. Trouble is all the variation in house prices effects the land value not the building value, as we've all noticed this house boom hasn't put our wages up much (unless you're an estate agent, local council tax office, solicitor, inheritance tax office, surveyor etc to the lot of them) so builders fees and materials are more constant. My point is that it's the land price that is inflated not so much the house price and a self build doesn't really get around that, unless it's at the bottom of your parents garden.....

say house would be 150k
cost of building is 50k
cost of plot 90k

If house price falls to 100k
cost of building still 50k
cost of plot now 40k

Say you already had the timber house but got a mortgage for the plot at 90k your negative equity of 50k is same as if you bought the house. The only benefit would be that your mortgage is smaller making it easier to ride out higher interests.

Not sure it's going to crash?

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/
http://www.economist.com/opinion/dis...ory_id=4079027

Of course the end of the boom has been predicted for a while and a crash has yet to happen but everyone seems to agree that it is inevitable and Mr Browns staving it off will only make matters worse when it does happen. So he'll have to put the brakes on, speed wobble, out of control and into a wall most likely.

The signs are starting to mount up, how many people do you know who have had their house on the market for a year and can't sell it? They'll drop their prices... and before you know it half the buy to lets and second homes will get put on the market asap, price dropping will escalate.....

Interest rates are creeping up, to keep up with inflation which is ralated to fuel prices which is going wildly up. The Bank of England have to do it but so far only as much as they dare, but will they have to put it up further regardless of house price crash? http://www.moneyweek.com/file/5076/strategy-2511.html

It is now for the first time more expensive to buy than to rent.

House prices to wages ratio is at record high.

Record personal debt of over a trillion pounds 90% of which is "secured" on property with for example "One in 10 single people says their finances are out of control" http://www.creditaction.org.uk/debtstats.htm

Rising number of repossessions by 55% since last year http://www.dca.gov.uk/statistics/mps.../reg-q3-t2.pdf

Think renting is dead money? Well so is paying interest on that big mortgage in negative equity,- http://www.firsttimebuyerhelp.co.uk/...icle.aspx?id=9

Think prices will stay the same for a while? http://www.propertyfacts.co.uk/psych...psychology.htm

Another reason to wait could be that a house price crash will accompany a drop in consumer spending. Less spending = less work = easier to find a builder who will be glad to have your work rather than trys to fit it around his other work.

But it's not all bad news though if you've already bought - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3701070.stm

Ok scale of 1 to 10 how boring am i?

Looks like ill be holding on for a while then

[NeilT]

Looks like ill be holding on for a while then

but don't just take my word for it, check out the land prices and see what's what. I'm in the same boat mate and thats the conclusion I've come up with. I'd dearly love a place of my own (with a garage ) but i just can't see how it makes sense to do it now. This whole price madness is a wind up i can't see how anyone benefits from the prices going up but everyone seems to be really happy about it. It don't make no sense at all...

[TJG]

I earn my crust buying land and building fings on it. I've never done a single plot so the land value might be a bit more but I generally find that the land value is about 1/3 of the build cost in round numbers. Obviously depends on build costs in your area but I work in the SE. Pricing land is not hard using a residual valuation. Assuming the land has planning, take the open market value of the finished house, take 15-20% off which any developer worth his salt will be looking for as margin. Take off every penny it is going to cost you to get to the finished house, design, fees, build, interest and finance cost etc etc. What you have left is the rsidula value of the land. Now your problem starts, if there is already a building on the site then it is unlikely that the residual for the land will be in excess of the current use value, which means the vendor will be better of selling what is alread on there. Build costs are the killer as these stay fairly constant no matter what the outurn values in the area are.

As far as timber frame goes it is almost traditional build now. It is hugely important to get the foundations level and square. Tolerances may be as low as 3mm. If the sole plates don't go in exactly right the problems will become magnified as you go up so make sure it is right to start with. Ensuring the vapour barrier is intact is also vital. You can't go far wrong, assuming you will be financing with a mortgage then the NHBC bloke wont let you get away with much. If in doubt enage a surveyor to check that your work is up to snuff. It may seem expensive now but it will pay down the line. Lastly if you do go timber frame then why not go for one of the non UK super efficient systems? Canada & Scandanvia have been doing some super products for years, now eastern europe is also comming up and very cheap. If you like modern go huff haus http://www.huf-haus.de/en/ they will even stick the frame up for you to ensure it is right.