self build case study 7

	Name:	John & June Adams	Location:	Dorset
	Age:	40+	Land Cost:	£50,000
	Profession:	Airline Pilot	Build Cost:	£179,944
	House Type:	Denham from the Shire Range. 2650sq ft	Current Value:	£400,000

June and John caught the self build bug back in the 1970’s when they visited the Ideal Home Exhibition, what they saw opened their eyes to a possibility and gave them thought for the future.
Many years later a job move took them from Yorkshire to the south of England.
After looking around for a house they soon realised that prices were almost double of those in Yorkshire, it was then that the idea of self build came back to them again.
John is a pilot and his new job would be based at London Heathrow so they could afford to look for a plot in a fairly wide area, they went to see literally dozens of sites
But there always seemed to be something wrong with either the site or the location, so, having had no success in the areas around the north of London they decided to venture further west and eventually found an estate agent who actually had a plot in Dorset.
The plot was part of garden that already had a self built house on it, it had outline planning permission for a two storey house and June and John had to move very quickly to secure it at £50,000.
Having previously lived in a traditional old post and beam house they remembered the heritage house they had seen all those years ago and made a visit to Potton’s show centre where they finally decided on a modified Denham from the shire range
Drawings completed, the next step was to get some informal feedback from the local council before making the final planning application.
The main points of contention were the dormer windows and a bay window on the front elevation these were felt to be out of keeping with the local architecture, so, with the help of Potton and a local architect the plans were amended, submitted and gained full approval in February 1998
During March the Adams’ spent time sending out plans to suppliers and subcontractors in order to finalise their build cost,
The council had insisted that the external cladding should be of local stone but in order to reduce the cost the Adams had negotiated that they could use render on the side elevations of the house and the garage.
By June time, the block and beam floor was in place, the Potton kit had arrived and been erected in less than a week, the clay roof tiles were on by early July, with external stonework and internal works going on at the same time.
By august the Potton second fix pack had arrived and soon the staircase, doors, skirtings and architraves were fitted and things were starting to look finished but still quite a lot more to do. During September the second fix electrics and plumbing were well underway and the Rayburn cooker was fitted in plenty of time for john’s birthday and the final moving in date set for the 27th October
June and john could now proudly say that they had successfully created a traditional stone cottage that fitted perfectly with its rural surroundings in the heart of Dorset.

Land cost: £50,000

Build cost including floor tiles and all carpeting : £179,944

Total cost: £229,944

Current valuation:£400,000 +