A Year in the Mortgage Maze: Our Self-Build Saga So Far
If you’d told us a year ago that getting a mortgage for our self-build would feel like running an obstacle course in slow motion, we might have laughed. Now, twelve months later, we’re not laughing — but we are wiser, slightly battle-worn, and still determined to get this thing over the line. The First Broker…
Discharge of Conditions Approved
We’ve had a bit of progress on the house front: the planning conditions attached to our permission have now been formally discharged. That means the local authority is satisfied with the details we submitted — things like materials, drainage, and landscaping — and we’re now permitted to begin construction. We’ve already got the builders lined…
Condition Discharge Again
Starting the build of our house near Colchester has been a slow journey and has come with a huge amount of paperwork, compliance checks, and planning obligations. Thankfully, we’ve had PlanFree managing the planning and condition discharge process, taking care of the heavy lifting and helping us navigate the complex requirements. Understanding Condition Discharge Planning…
No longer a pipe dream!
💧 Water Connection Achieved on Site! We finally have a water connection on site—an essential and much-anticipated milestone for the project! As mentioned in a previous post, our future neighbours have recently switched over to a borehole system and generously agreed to hand over their previous mains supply, which conveniently runs right past the entrance…
Electricity Connected
The journey to getting electricity on-site has been a steady, coordinated effort. It started with Build Free, who dug a trench from the electricity pole to the site and installed a kiosk, laying the groundwork for the connection. Unfortunately, I didn’t make myself clear, and the kiosk was installed the opposite way to what I…
Pre-build Aerial Shots
Following another visit from EPS Photography we have some wonderful new aerial shots of the plot. As you can see from the photos, the main barn has gone, and the removal of the asbestos roofing is very obvious. What used to be ungrowth and brambles has slowly become closely resembling a lawn with a year…
Wait! How much?!
Building a new home is an exciting yet challenging endeavour. As we embarked on this journey, we were aware of the various factors that could influence the overall cost. However, the dramatic increase in build costs since we started the process has been quite unexpected. When we initially considered our new house build, our estimated…
Demolition Begins 💣
This week I started taking down the turkey shed. We have several buildings to demolish but have started with the main barn this week and will then move on to taking the other barns down throughout the year. The budget will be very tight for this project and following costings from the builders we need…
Solar Research
We have been very keen throughout this project to consider how our build will affect the environment. Whilst we are not planning to build the kind of house that requires us to drink our own wee, we do want to have a construction that doesn’t make the earth groan. Solar is a great option for…
Why we have chosen a timber-frame build
Building a home is a monumental decision, and choosing the right construction method is crucial. After extensive research and consideration, I decided to delve into the various house-building options available in the UK. Here’s a simple breakdown of the pros and cons of traditional masonry, timber frame, SIPS and ICF and why we ultimately chose…
