New Build Thread - Self Build in Shropshire

[worsy]

garyhun said:

All looks great worsy, you must be a very happy chappy.

I'm a tad jealous as I'm about 4/5 months away from that position

I hate to say, 4/5 months back and I was further on than yours. Good luck though!

[worsy]

RJD223 said:

Would you mind spilling the beans on the approximate costs for the build and land? Would love to sell up and do something similar to what you've done there!

Sure.

Land 190k
Legal fees, mortgage money, building regs, insurances, NHBC, Broker fee, SAP Energy Calcs and Structural fees 15k
Fixed cost for site clearance and landscaping to include 300 sq metres of block paving 14k

Foundations 22.5
Additional concrete 1k
Wall Plate 56k
Watertight 27.5k
First fix 29.5k
Final fix 47k

Extras 18k
Walls, additional concrete for garage, Gate pillars, upgraded staircase
less stuff I paid for and deducted from stage payments**

• included 10k for the windows and doors we had

Additional costs
Electricity connection- 9k
Stuff I paid for (Tiles, Bathrooms, Heating thermostats, ancillaries) 11k
Carpets 2k
Gates and automation 2k
Cinema screen, Projector lift, Speakers 4k
Kitchen/Utility incl all appliances 22k (Neff)

Less a projected VAT refund of 2k
Plus a guess at second fix electrics of 3k (bill to arrive yet)

So roughly £470 but £455 if you exclude fees.

Surprises - The 9k for Electricity connection was about 1000% of what we budgeted.
First fix electrics extras was roughly the builder's budget for 1st and 2nd fix. But I have Cat6 to all rooms, internet linked heating, Party music system.
Labour and concrete for the garage raft foundations (as NHBC insisted) was an additional 6k.
How a 100 here and there adds up very quickly.

Tips -
Contingency, plenty of it. We were quoted £410k, planned for 440k but costed for £500k
Don't cut corners.
Under floor heating is lovely.
When the wife wants 3 ovens, think of the cinema screen and agree.
Every trade got a cup of tea/coffee at beginning of day and never had a communication breakdown.
Muck in when you can, it's great fun.

So we have.....
4 bed, 4 bath 213 sq metres
Double detached garage 47sq metres

Value - Valuer guessed at 400 excluding the garage initially. When he returned he reckoned that added at least 40k but couldn't give me a figure other than it was sufficient for the lending criteria. I'd hazard in the current market we'll not have lost anything, but unlikely to make money if selling fees taken into account.

On the upside. Got a fantastic house, exactly as we wanted it. Actually I really love it.

[worsy]

Thank you

[worsy]

E36GUY said:

Fabulous house. Congratulations. I like everything apart from the Aurora lighting

Ha, we had to draw the line somewhere

[worsy]

RJD223 said:

Wow! That's a detailed breakdown I didn't expect you to go into!!

Top marks to you - chances of you finding an exact house done up exactly like that for what you paid are slim to none!

Would love to do it if the right plot came up...

Most of it was simply fixed price build costs. I'm lucky in so far as even though it was fixed, the builder refunded anything which was under.

buckrogers21stc said:

Hats off mate, cracking build on well, a cracking budget.

About to start into planning a self build (albeit a bit smaller) but great thread to read through especially with your breakdown and advice there.

Mostly taking on board the ovens vs cinema setup. That ones in the top pocket lolol

I used Pure Theatre equipment. They do a lovely recessed screen and recessed projector lift. I have a 180 screen and a Large lift which is ideal. Early on I had to ensure the joists ran the correct way, so even if you can't budget for the screen/lift, make sure the infrastructure suits. I ran two HDMI cables, power and a mono line to act as 12v trigger.

Set up the home cinema last night and it is wonderful. Makes the 47" on the wall feel like a portable.

[worsy]

Spice_Weasel said:

worsy said:

Additional costs
Electricity connection- 9k
Stuff I paid for (Tiles, Bathrooms, Heating thermostats, ancillaries) 11k
Carpets 2k
Gates and automation 2k
Cinema screen, Projector lift, Speakers 4k
Kitchen/Utility incl all appliances 22k (Neff)

A super outcome, Worsy. I've bet you've really enjoyed it. I'd be interested in some detail on the gates and automation costs/breakdown. We've just exchanged on a new place which will need quite a bit of work (bathroom modernisation, extending both ground floor and first floor etc) but one of my first jobs is to install some gates both for security and a safe place for the kids to cycle/scoot along the drive.

Aside from the pillars which were in the "Extras", I have two Sapele hardwood gates, one is a pedestrian gate, the other for vehicles. Between them is a steel post clad in Sapele, so only steel is mounted below ground. They are of a field gate design. The cost was a little over £700 including the dreaded VAT.

For automation, I'm only automating the vehicle access of course. So I have a NICE Toona ram arm, Farfisa colour intercom, CISA lock, Nice control panel, and 4 remotes. That was 1100 inclusive from http://easygates.co.uk/electric_gates.asp

I'll post a pic when they are done.

[worsy]

Finally finished off my gates at the weekend. Automated with a Nice Toona Kit and a Farfisa Colour Intercom. All very posh!

Front



Rear

[worsy]

Thanks. Wished I'd had the time to blog but hey ho.

As a further update we've had the final bill from the sparkies. It was a little more than I expected and waiting on what the builder has to say. You might have seen my thread on it a few days ago. The figures above need about 4k adding to it.

Only bills now will be any extra from the builder for the driveway setts. I'm expecting a similar number to the above, to be offset by my VAT return.

[worsy]

Legend83 said:

Worsy - do you have any more pics of the inside? Would love to see as it's a great build.

Looking for inspiration all the time for our planned extension next year.

Sure, but please excuse the mess. It's a family home not a show house.

Heatmiser thermostat



Mirror Radiator Master bedroom



Walk in wardrobe (with charity bags ready at the end )



Family bathroom, the other other 3 are far too messy for pictures.



Landing and stair LEDs. We have some in the hall too.





Kids TV Room



Oven in action!



Kitchen



Dining area



Working Room





Lounge, with and without projector on

Edited by worsy on Tuesday 18th February 18:10

[worsy]

Muncher said:

Like that!

Thanks, yours is coming on great as well.

Got one more....

Thought I'd added the network cabinet

[worsy]

Quattromaster said:

Cracking read, thanks for photos, couple of questions If I may please.

Any info on your office chair, like the look of that.

And for a daft no nothing fella like myself, What's an network cabinet.

Thanks in advance.

That was my new purchase yesterday. Ergo Tek from www.office furniture. Very comfy!

I have 32 cat6 Ethernet ports terminated in that cabinet, with two 24 port managed switches. On top is a dray trek router, fibre modem and Sinology music server. It drives internet and network capability through the house.

I can adjust my heating from the pub and select music in the kitchen from my iPhone.

[worsy]

Legend83 said:

Very nice! Don't worry, we have 2 year old twins so I know what mess looks like - and that aint it!

Impressive home network - did you rig that all up yourself?

The sparkies ran the cables and terminated the individual wall ports. I fitted the cabinet, terminated the patch panel and installed the switches, and other IT Stuff.

[worsy]

garyhun said:

Worsy - what cabinet is that? I'm going to need a similar sized one in my place so would be interested to know what you got.

Thanks
Gary

Wrote a reply which seems to have disappeared.......

Its a 450x6U cabinet from Broadbandbuyer. Asthetically it is great as it is not too deep, however a switch is 420 deep, and with the power cable, am unable to move the cage back far enough to fit that with an ethernet cable, and shut the door. A 600 cab would look silly in my study.

My advice would be to go with a 600 cab but mount it in a store room.

[worsy]

GoneBananas said:

I really like your floor tiles.

Thanks. Once we saw them we couldn't find anything we liked more. They were £59 a sq metre but we managed a huge discount which made them affordable.

[worsy]

garyhun said:

Worsy - how many Cat 6 cables do you have seeing as you need 2 patch panels and 2 switches?

Gary, each switch is 24 port. It is more cost effective than one 48 port switch. i have:

Study 8
Under Stairs 1
Store 2
Kitchen 2
TV Room 4
Lounge 3
Bed 1-4 2 each - 8

28

Directly Connected

Router 1
Loop Switch to Switch 2
Music Server 1

Total 32

[worsy]

garyhun said:

worsy said:

garyhun said:

Worsy - how many Cat 6 cables do you have seeing as you need 2 patch panels and 2 switches?

Gary, each switch is 24 port. It is more cost effective than one 48 port switch. i have:

Study 8
Under Stairs 1
Store 2
Kitchen 2
TV Room 4
Lounge 3
Bed 1-4 2 each - 8

28

Directly Connected

Router 1
Loop Switch to Switch 2
Music Server 1

Total 32

Thanks.

It does add up doesn't it? I was thinking I'd be fine with 24 but looking at that I think I'm going to be close to being in the same boat!

It does! on top of this I run two Wireless SSID from the router plus a seperate Wireless AP at the other end of the house. The sitting room has TV, DVD, XBox, Sky box and although I have four points they are configured for two seperate locations. I'm already therefore using local 4 port switches

[worsy]

garyhun said:

I assume with a managed switch you can assign live connections through software rather than having to move jump leads?

Does that mean there is also control of the patch panel itself? I'm trying to work out how a managed 24 port switch can manage 30 connections without manual input to the patch leads - unless I'm not reading your post right VEX.

Edited by garyhun on Saturday 22 February 07:02

Vex is suggesting you terminate the patch panel but not connect to the switch. A managed switch allows you, amongst other things to control bandwidth.

Edited to say, if you are not technical a non managed switch will suit you better. Cheaper too,

[worsy]

garyhun said:

worsy said:

Vex is suggesting you terminate the patch panel but not connect to the switch. A managed switch allows you, amongst other things to control bandwidth.

Edited to say, if you are not technical a non managed switch will suit you better. Cheaper too,

Best I stay away then . I assumed that every patch had to go to the switch if you wanted that to share the Routers Internet connection.

You are correct, except that it could go directly to a router. So if you have a 24 port switch plus the router has 4, you have to connect the switch to the router giving you 23 ports + 3 on the router.

[worsy]

mikeday1991 said:

Cracking thread, only just read this!
What are you using for your music? Sonos or something wired?

I'm looking for a wired solution but don't know where to start! (Without a second mortgage!)

Mike, I have hooked up a Yamaha A2010 AV Amp driving two zones. As it supports Airplay I can run my ITunes from phone, Ipad and PC through the two zones (Lounge and Kitchen). I then have a Synology server which has an apple app (DS Audio) that can do the same. All can be controlled wirelessly. Obviously the speakers are hard wired through the joists back to the Amp.

[worsy]

worsy said:

RJD223 said:

Would you mind spilling the beans on the approximate costs for the build and land? Would love to sell up and do something similar to what you've done there!

Sure.

Land 190k
Legal fees, mortgage money, building regs, insurances, NHBC, Broker fee, SAP Energy Calcs and Structural fees 15k
Fixed cost for site clearance and landscaping to include 300 sq metres of block paving 14k
In the end we had an additional 110 sqm of block paving which was part subsidised by the orginal quote for paved patio areas - extra 3k

Foundations 22.5
Additional concrete 1k
Wall Plate 56k
Watertight 27.5k
First fix 29.5k
Final fix 47k

Extras 18k
Walls, additional concrete for garage, Gate pillars, upgraded staircase
less stuff I paid for and deducted from stage payments**

• included 10k for the windows and doors we had

Additional costs
Electricity connection- 9k
Stuff I paid for (Tiles, Bathrooms, Heating thermostats, ancillaries) 11k
Carpets 2k
Gates and automation 2k
Cinema screen, Projector lift, Speakers 4k
Kitchen/Utility incl all appliances 22k (Neff)

Less a projected VAT refund of 2.6k
Plus a guess at second fix electrics of 3 5k (bill to arrive yet)

Extras = Landscaping came to 2k

So roughly £470£480k but £455£465k if you exclude legal fees.

Surprises - The 9k for Electricity connection was about 1000% of what we budgeted.
First fix electrics extras was roughly the builder's budget for 1st and 2nd fix. But I have Cat6 to all rooms, internet linked heating, Party music system.
Labour and concrete for the garage raft foundations (as NHBC insisted) was an additional 6k.
How a 100 here and there adds up very quickly.

Tips -
Contingency, plenty of it. We were quoted £410k, planned for 440k but costed for £500k
Don't cut corners.
Under floor heating is lovely.
When the wife wants 3 ovens, think of the cinema screen and agree.
Every trade got a cup of tea/coffee at beginning of day and never had a communication breakdown.
Muck in when you can, it's great fun.

So we have.....
4 bed, 4 bath 213 sq metres
Double detached garage 47sq metres

Value - Valuer guessed at 400 excluding the garage initially. When he returned he reckoned that added at least 40k but couldn't give me a figure other than it was sufficient for the lending criteria. I'd hazard in the current market we'll not have lost anything, but unlikely to make money if selling fees taken into account.

On the upside. Got a fantastic house, exactly as we wanted it. Actually I really love it.

Had final bills in so updated costs for anyone embarking on their own build.

Edited by worsy on Saturday 22 February 14:33