Cindy Cull
Devon "The Dartmoor"
Cindy Cull’s dream was to build a an American style property, inspired by ideas they had gathered when on holiday in Maine. “I loved the clapboard houses with their overhanging roofs, decking and lots of glass, which seemed very different from Potton’s style of houses, however once I realised that we could take elements of their house plans and mix and match for a totally different look, I sat down with their architect to create a unique design for our plot.”
Cindy had purchased an organic farm in Devon’s Whiddon Down on the edge of Dartmoor, and planned to replace the burnt-down house on the land with a new dwelling. Planning permission had already been granted for a replacement, subject to an agricultural tie, and Cindy paid £450,000 for the 52 acre farm where she planned to raise pedigree Devon Red and Highland beef cattle along with free range poultry
Cindy purchased the farm in January 2003, and harboured ambitious plans for bringing her dream home and a new business under the same roof. Cindy had never built before but Potton have an excellent handholding service which means that anyone, regardless of their building or DIY skills can build their own home.
“Most people will pick a design from Potton’s brochure, and will then work with the company’s Regional Business Manager to finalise a design that suits them, and the local planning authority,” says Potton’s Terry Mahoney. “We have a database of thousands of variations on top of the 71 featured in the brochure, and it’s fair to say that we never design two houses the same.
“One of the advantages of building from scratch is that you can create a design to suit your individual lifestyle requirements, building in wonderful mod cons like under-floor heating systems, central vacuum systems and ventilation systems.”
Following the design stage, Potton’s in-house architect can then deal with the planning application. Our architect has over thirty years’ experience of working with Local Authorities on the clients behalf.
By knitting together what was essentially three of Potton’s Woodgate bungalows Cindy achieved the shape and layout she required, with a ground floor master bedroom, dressing room and en-suite bathroom to one side of the entrance hall and a WC, utility/plant room and a mud room for coats, boots and dogs to the other .
The large, open plan kitchen/dining/living room takes up the majority of the ground floor, and benefits from full height glazing with sliding doors opening out onto decking. There are two additional bedrooms and a bathroom on the first floor, positioned in the roof space to either side of an open plan study/gallery which offers double aspect views through the gable windows and overlooks the vaulted lounge.
Potton managed to design a home that captured exactly what Cindy wanted, and because the designs were based on one of the company’s existing designs, they were able to keep the overall price down. “It was a pick and mix that opened up an almost endless number of design options for us .
With a tight budget Cindy decided to project manage the build herself, organising a company to undertake the groundworks. Potton erected the kit in eight days, as well as supplying the windows, doors and second fix joinery. Working in this way meant that Cindy could spend more on the house and less on paying somebody’s salary, who employed people she knew or who had been recommended to her. “Apart from the plumber the team turned out to be fantastic, and worked a really hard shift. From the slab up the house took under twenty weeks to build.”
Having spent £450,000 on the site, Cindy only had a budget of £200,000 – "and that included the knives and forks,” says Cindy, in all seriousness. Almost all of the furniture has been newly purchased to suit the spacious 250m2 house, which has been fitted with built-in vacuum and ventilation systems. Just 2 years after completion the property was valued at £900,000 a tidy £250,000 profit should she ever decide to sell! Doesn’t that say enough about the benefits of self building your own home ?
