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Land for Sale & Self-Build Resources
“Since our launch in September 2008 MitehartLand have become the UK’s fastest growing Land For Sale, Self-Build, Building Plots, and Smallholdings portal...”
House Design
Part of the enjoyment of building your own home is the opportunity to have some input in the design. We all have our own ideas of how we would like our home to look and feel, but only a few of us will enjoy the chance to actually participate in having a say in the layout, the size and shape of the rooms and be able to suggest personal preferences to suit our lifestyle.
You have various choices as to who will assist you with the design of your house and prepare your plans. Factors to be considered will include the cost of this assistance, the extent of the involvement of the party concerned and what style of completed home you envisage. Designers offer a range of services from strictly design only, to design and build, and something in between the two.
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You must consider carefully what assistance you will require with the preparation of the plans for your house, as a good rapport between the Self-Builder and the designer usually makes for a successful project. You should seek advice on a suitable designer and look at examples of their designs. Many who have built their own homes will be glad to give personal recommendations
Designers & Architect Services
There are many Designers whose designs will appeal and you should shop around to see whose ideas appear attractive and obtain testimonials from previous clients. Your Designer may simply provide the drawings, or he may involve himself in the project and oversee certain aspects of the build as it progresses, or he may be asked to provide a complete service, supervising every aspect of the build.
The costs of his architectural services will vary according to the level involvement, and you should negotiate a fee at the very beginning and have the fee and what it covers confirmed in writing. Some Architects are members of the Royal Institute of British Architects (R.I.B.A.) or Royal Institution of Architects in Scotland, but all working in the UK must be registered with the Architects' Registration Board.
Qualified Architectural Technologists (MCIAT) also provide services in helping with design. Contact C.I.A.T. for further details.
Further assistance with design may be taken from the In-house designers employed by most of the timer frame package companies and they can provide standard designs from their Company's range of house styles, or adapt these to suit your own personal requirements.
Design is one of the most crucial elements in building your home and care and deliberation should be taken to learn the various options that you have in terms of style, materials, heating, insulation etc. in order that you can incorporate as many of your own ideas into the plans as possible, bearing in mind your budget, the feasibility of your ideas and the wishes of the local planning authority.
Stone work
Most would agree natural stone is is far superior aesthetically but can it can be much more difficult to repair properly. The stone may have been quarried from some local and long since forgotten source and it could be difficult to locate replacement stone. However, there are many solutions and a good stone mason will be able to help you. Sand blasting gives the wall a face lift and works well on many types of masonry. All this work is specialist and as stone masons train for years to become skilled tradesmen it's unlikely an amateur will be able to create the desired result.
Reconstituted Stone
This is when crushed natural stone is bonded together with artificial colours and materials to create easy to work with rutic looking blocks. They are NOT structural load bearing and are used as an external cladding similar to the way facing brick is used. They are arguably no match for the looks of natural stone but as explained above natuiral stone is hard to locate and expensive to purchase and build. Step forward reconstituted stone which is relatively inexpensive,easy to work with and has many different styles available and unlike natural stone is easy to locate and order
Building Regulations
Each local authority has a building control department which acts as an independent assessor of your project and proposals. They ensure that the plans of your new home together with the materials and workmanship which go to into the construction comply with the legal requirements laid down by Parliament and which are expressed as Building Regulations.
Virtually all Self-Build projects will be dealt with by the local authority building control office. Building Regulations apply to new homes without exceptions, specifying a minimum standard of performance which must be achieved. Self-Builders may therefore consider that they can improve on the minimum standards required and this can be done in a manner of means which will enhance the value and efficiency of the house - larger floor joists, improved levels of heating and ventilation.
The main purpose of Building Regulations is to secure health and safety of the people in the buildings but they also deal with energy conservation, providing access and other matters. Detailed plans must be prepared showing all constructional details and should be submitted well in advance of commencement of work on site. There is a fee involved and the local authority must pass or reject your plans within a certain time limit or they ma, with your agreement, add conditions to their approval. They must, if satisfied with your proposals, issue an approval notice within five weeks, or, if you agree to an extension, no longer than two months.
If the plans are rejected then there is a procedure for a review. Building Control will also act in regular inspections of the work as it goes along and you should treat your Building Control officer as an additional and impartial pair of eyes to inspect work in progress. Once the local authority are satisfied that the works have been carried out and meet the Building Regulations a Certificate of Completion can be issued. This is a valuable document which should be retained safely, probably with your title deeds.
Tel: 020 7564 7516
E-mail: support@mitehartland.co.uk
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