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New Homes - Self Build
Providing a new home by building it yourself is full of frustration and problems. Having built several over the years we know this as a 'Practice'.
Therefore you need the right advice from the start and where you can learn from what we have seen - the mistakes that people make. For the best advice that anyone can give to any prospective self-builder is to avoid those areas that cause problems and where this information can only come from direct experiences.
Land Securement
The first thing that self-builders have to do is to find a piece or parcel of land that fits where you would like to live and of course fits your pocket.
One of things we have learnt in this respect is that some farmers are inclined to sell private buyers small pieces of their land. This is the first tip and advice that we can give amongst an array of advisory issues.
Planning and Building Regulation's Approvals
See Architectural Design - both Planning Approvals and Building Regulation's Approval
Development Certification for the Financial Institutions
The next thing is to decide on what form of development certification the new house will be constructed under, as there are several routes available. Having worked with the all these systems that purport to give 10-years guarantee, we are now of the strong opinion that 'professional certification' is the best safeguard for the client which this practice undertakes. We state this as having experience of claims against the standard house builders insurance. What this has told us is that after 3-years these guarantees reduce substantially in what the client can claim for. As an example, a large new house in Bradford after 4 years of being built, suffered from extensive creaking floors and where the client could not sleep at night due to being constantly awakened by his family going to the bathroom. This was more acute as the client was a hospital doctor. After several months of threatening legal action, the builder decided to undertake minimal repairs. This was not due to the guarantee that did not cover these things after 3-years, but due to legal pressures exerted. Unfortunately for the client to get the builder to do anything, it cost the client over £2,000 in professional and prior builder costs which he could not reclaim under the 10-year guarantee. There are many more examples and where other professional practices now say that they would not recommend this form of house guarantee. Considering these facts, the industry norm in reality only gives 3-years of universal cover and thereafter declines rapidly in what a client can claim.
The 'professional certification route' gives a full 6-years guarantee and where all matters are fully covered.
The lender (financial institution) for mortgage purposes should then be informed that a 'professional certification route' is being adopted, if this is the case. Note that the lender cannot refuse this form of professional certification, as it is part of their agreement with the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and is stipulated accordingly in their documentation.
Development Process
The most cost-effective system for any client, is to undertake a trade-by-trade mechanism to build and to obtain 3 quotations for each individual trade specialism. This system requires the appointment of a project manager and where this practice acts as project mangers advising the client on all development matters
But having said the above, the most important factor is to get 'competent builders' and not 'cowboy builders' working for you. We say this as if the latter is the case, it will literally become a nightmare for all unsuspecting clients. Our practice specialises in recommending 'competent builders', from over 2-4 decades of experience, for peace-of-mind of our clients.
© 2009
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