Happy Christmas and a very prosperous new year

Happy christmas to all the readers of the blog, hope ye will all be checking in in the new year once the real work has commenced its going to be a busy one!!!

Was on the way to work this morning and passing by the site, said i would take a photo of the sun rise on a lovely crisp christmas morning. I took it from my car i was too lazy/cold to get out!!!! Sentiments!

ESB Pole relocation

As you can see in the slideshow the pole is now open to the road due to the removal of the ditch i rang the ESB and got the phone number of the area enginner to contact him to get it moved, as it is a danger where it is now and the line was crossing over the site. To my surprise they had a new pole out in the field waiting to be put up three days later. I contacted the engineer again to make sure that we came up with a location of the new pole that would suit us both. I sent him an e-mail clearly marking where the permanent site entrance would be (a condition of planning as to where it is located) and drew where i thought would be the best location to erect the pole.
All was running smoothly, i was surprised to see when i got home the other day two poles slap bang in the middle of our new front gate!!!! Eircom were after sneaking in as well and putting up a pole!
Trying to get them relocated at the moment.

Stopping up for Christmas

Was going to try and organise a crowd and pour foundations for this weekend had forgotten about the builders holidays though. So now we will close the site off for the christmas and try and get back into once the holidays are over. Must secure the place too as we had a little incident there during the week somone turned the diesel tap on the bulldozer off. Must get some of that security fence panels €62 each

Progress GroundWorks

Oh Well this is starting to get frustrating, we started the Site on the 17th of last month. Saturday coming will be the fifth week and we still wont have foundations dug! Programme schedule gone straight out the window! I guess sometimes it pays to go with some one who is prepared to work full time, and is not doing the job as a favour/on the side. Will probably cost more in the long run we could potentially have the floors in by now if we had hired a man on a tracks machine for a week. I suppose we are not in a mad rush but it would be nice to have the foundations in before christmas.

Winter Weather....

Well looks like the winter is finally staring to hit, it is probably a bad time of year to start a site but we will get over that. The man with the jcb is doing it as a favour for my girlfriends father so he only appears on Saturdays! He has been there now for the last three!
I am informed that he is there today with a bulldozer, so hopefully we might be able to pour foundations this week or at least before christmas, can close the site down then until after the christmas. Hopefully the weather will be favourable in the new year and we can get a good run at it.
At the moment the only unexpected/unforseen we have had were that there was far more ground to be moved than we had expected once we had the level on site. When we removed the bend i thought i would need loads of fencing but we have built up a good size temporary bank, it offers storage for the soil and security (as can be seen in the pictures slideshow)The JCB man also had some good local connections for stone and concrete, so he has proved helpful.

Removal of Bend/Progress

The bend that has to be removed, our entrance will be up the passage on the left and about 30ft up, we will have to close the current gap in the site. We have to grade the current ditch from where the cone is level with the road to about 15feet into the site to open up the bend and allow road users and ourselves a better view of the road. Will be putting up the post and rail fencing there too. I have contacted the ESB to relocate the pole they are due out today to look at it.
Progress at the moment our man in the JCB has left us down he was due to be back on site yesterday cannot come now until Saturday! I guess that is the start of it!

Budget Tracker Update

Have updated the tracker item 11, it is now printable also as an A3 print out.

http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/home

Window Pricing

As a follow on to my post:- (Pricing the build: Materials & Windows) I Have put a file up on my google pages site of the returned tender prices from window suppliers.
http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/home item 12.
So how do you decide on which company to go for, do you think with your pocket and go with the €11k price or do you think with the designer fashion label mindset and go for the €66k windows (they must be great) You must also bear in the back of your mind that if you are using a mortgage for the likes of these that you are paying 5% intrest over the term of your mortgage on everything you buy.
You have to ask people what there experiences were with different suppliers, and were they happy with the quality they got and after sales service. Also with part L of the building regs now you have to be aware of the U value and quality of glass. With all these in mind you can try and make an educated decision on which option to choose. And remember the cheapest is not always the best!

Site Enclosure/ Fencing

It was part of the contract in the sale of the land to provide a stock proof fencing to the east side of the site where the site still bounds on to the farmers land, and it was part of the planning on the southern side where the road frontage is that we are not allowed build a wall, we must provide post and rail fencing in order to fullfil the planning conditions. The area engineer was of the opionion that if we built a wall it would not allow us sufficent view in exiting onto the main road, the post and rail would allow us to see through around the bend and eliminate the danger.
I have priced several companies for the supply, and the supply and erect of the post & rail. We decided to go with the 3 rail, 5X3 posts treated the supply costs i was getting for these were from €7.50 to €9.25/m and the supply and erect costs were ranging from €14.30 to €21.50.
I decided to go wit my local http://www.frsnetwork.com/ for the supply and erection of the fence as i thought at €7.50/m to supply it would be too much work and someting i would not be good at to erect it myself, supply and erect price from FRS Waterford €14.30/m

Commencement of Work

Had the commencement notice sent in months ago, and it says that you have to wait 14 days after sending it in but commence before 28 days have elapsed. I rang the council and they were ok to go with the notice that i had previously sent in.
Finally got it all started on site on saturday morning, i arrived there at half 8 to meet the land owners engineer together we measured and marked out the site. Put two pegs down to give us the overall size of the triangle. After we had the site marked i went about putting up warning signs up and down the road.
Machine driver was due at nine o clock, so we had a few people hanging around for the big moment, people from either side of the two familys, we waited and waited made a phone call or two!!!!, and waited a little longer... nothing people were getting very cold at this stage as there is a fair chill in the sea breeze at this time of year!
Eventually at half 11, we heard the sound of the machine making its way down the road. Our first job was to pull in and flatten the front ditch, to take the bend out of the road we will be loosing about 15feet of land the whole way along here in order to achieve sightlines of 80m either side; this was a condition of planning that we have been asked to meet and submit pictures of before commencing with any other works.
We are just glad to have it all started he is coming back again wednesday, thursday and friday and hopefully we will be pouring concrete on Saturday!
I will be posting picture of the progress tomorrow.

Upstairs looking out Pic

Cant link it up but have it loaded to the google pages link, looks well take a look:-

http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/home

Final Site Sign Off

Got the calll from my solicitor yesterday, to go down and sign the cheque. Left work early was deligthted to finally have things moving again, land owner also signed deeds yesterday so hopefully we will be the new owners of 1.2 acre site with great sea views by Monday!

Solicitors.....Ahh

Has been two weeks now since i last spoke to the land owner when he informed me that the deeds were to be signed, have still seen nothing at this stage. Its driving us mad my solicitor has the money ready to go. Rang my solicitor yesterday to tell him to try and get a push on with the whole process.

Update
Tried ringing my solicitor yesterday no luck again!! Rang the land owner last night he has told me that he has still not signed it, going to do it today. So people be warned this whole process can be very lengthy and drawnout.

Self Build Home and renovate this weekend

Going to head to this in millstreet tomorrow, see if i can get bargins and some good quotes. Will bring a couple of copies of my plans and my notebook!

Check out the link looks like there will be plenty exhibitors there. Got my tickets online for free.
http://www.selfbuild.ie/selfbuilder/exhibition.asp

Will post on the show on Monday! Have a stag to go to this weekend probably (hopefully) my last weekend free for a long time!!!

Update
Oh well never made it got held at work until two on Friday, had a flight booked for half three to Galway. Will aim to try and make the next one in Belfast. Where is the commitment!!!!!

The on going paper trail....

Im starting to pray at this stage that we will have the site handed over for next week. At the moment the deeds are with the land owners solicitor, i spoke to the land owner last thursday and he assured me that he would be signing them today. I reckon it will probably take two to three days from today for the deeds to be issued to my solicitor.
My solicitor has requistioned a cheque from the bank in order to pay for the site, met with the bank today to sign deed of assignment and hand over the life assurance policy documents. They also wanted proof of our balance of funds, letter from my engineer and a breakdown of the construction costs (the cost plan on google pages). They said they will post it this evening to their head office and should have news in two to three days regarding the cheque!
There is so much unforseen work to this stage! Ill be glad to have it handed over i can relax then!!!!!

Plans of house my brother's impressions

Self build house insurance & Mortgage protection

Had no idea of this initially, and with http://www.askaboutmoney.com/, http://www.boards.ie/ got some great advice; these sites are invaluable to one and all, to find out experiences and discuss matters with people going through the same procss as yourself.

Mortgage Protection
For the mortgage protection insurance i consulted the following link http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=23074
From peoples advise here; i went and priced a few of the companys mentioned, eventually went with LA Brokers very friendly and great customer service. www.LABrokers.ie. The mortgage company requires you to take out this protection and will not issue initial payment until this is in place, be wary of the mortgage company trying to sell you their policy as your are not obliged to take it and will most likley get better value elsewhere. 35Year mortgage on €308,000 cost €268.02 per annum with a first year discount of €174.21. My mortgage company were quoting me more than double the yearly payout.

Self Build Insurance
For the self build house insurance i consulted askaboutmoney and boards.ie again very useful info there also http://www.selfbuildinireland.com/article.php?start=0&articleId=10 i priced three companys one of which was the wright group on the above link, also priced FBD and campion insurance there was very little difference in price with any of them, and it generally works out at €1.00 /sqft. This covers public and employers liability and storm and theft damage make sure to read each policy to see who has the best offers to suit you. In general you will need this insurance to cover you for the period of the build, even if your contractors have their own insurance. Once again the mortgage company will require this to be in place prior to work starting on site, in some cases they do not require the insurance policy until after you have drawn down the site value!

Building Programme / Schedule

Guys,

Have put together a building schedule for the works it may or may not be of use i will be using it to track against my actuals to see how it goes. Who would have guessed that the initial planning stages would have taken so long!!! Will also be putting up a tracker for budget v's actual costs and will update them every few weeks to keep them live.
Have posted up the budget tracker too have not protected this file so it should be of help to people; the budget costs come directly from the cost plan previously loaded on the googlepages site.

http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/home

Deeds, deeds and more deeds

I prematurely posted earlier in the month saying that we were ready to start, and as i am starting to learn nothing seems to run smoothly or on time. I hope this is not an omen for the rest of the build!! (1 year and 6 months since we initially decided to purchase the site!!!!!)

At the moment, contracts are signed and the deeds are with the landowner awaiting signature for the last two weeks. I have the mortgage ready to go to pay the balance on the site €108,000. The mortgage company are unwilling to let me draw down any more than this amount so i will have to fund the initial stage to the floors out of our pocket. Even though the site is valued at €250,000 the mortgage company will only let me drawdown 90% of the site purchase value for now. They have told me once the floors are in i can claim 90% of the site valuation value and 100% of the construction costs to that stage of which they dont require back up for, once its signed off by my engineer.

I will be setting up accounts with concrete supplier builders merchants i will also have to pay my Man for the excavation and the fencing company before i get the mortgage money across.

What to and what not to include....

So why do we have to consider this:

Basically we want to reduce our CO2 emissions, and the government have targeted houses as one of the main problem areas associated with this. As a result they have introduced the changes to part L of the building regulations.
http://www.lcea.ie/Ber.asp
These have to be met by all new house builds

Heating Method

Have thought long and hard about this one, not really into the technical aspects of all the systems. It probably is the wrong point of view to have, but i have lived in our home house for the last seven years the minimum spec of aeroboard, and no insualation in the roof until this year, we have never been cold solid fuel heating cooker. I know its not all about heat and; economy (price and supply of oil) and a greener environment comes into this equation. Have read up about the geothermal, the underfloor heating woodpellet and solar. I am still not convinced about the savings with any of these methods. They say it takes seven years to get your money back as opposed to oil and other fossil fuels.

I think we are going to go with a well insulated building (floors, walls, roofs & Windows) and oil heating, condensing boiler. We might incorporate some solar panels for water heating purposes, and are looking at the possibility of using Heat Recovery ventilation.

This link proved very informative http://www.sei.ie/index.asp?locID=722&docID=-1

Method of Construction

Initial design stages, but you can change your build type after recieving planning as long as you dont alter the asthetics of the build. For us it was always going to be the standard 100mm cavity construction, as we felt this is where we would get the best value from our build as my father is a block layer by trade. We could have went with timber frame, SIPS, ICF and so on. Some of the readers of this may think (possibly including myself) that i am sacraficing my home on the pretense of the final build being cheap! Maybe i am reading too much about all these different forms of construction and i feel inadequte that we are only building a bog standard 4" block 100mm cavity wall with no fancy heating system and no use made of natural resources!

Some good refernce material on the following links:

http://www.dlpks.ie/downloads/PartLBrochure.pdf

http://www.rockwool.ie/graphics/RW-GB-implementation/brochures/Part_L_2006_Interim_Guide.pdf

http://www.sei.ie/app_ber.asp

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad,1652,en.pdf
As for other items that need a bit of thought at this stage we have the kitchen drawn out and planned to allow for services island unit in the middle of the floor and it incorporates a sink, they priced the kitchen also €32K incl appliances.

In brief the items to consider at this stage are,

• The build type Timber Frame/ICF/TimberFrame etc
• Type of insulation
• Type of windows
• Type of heating method
• Type of/use of energy supply
• Services in the house Electrics/plumbing

Concrete & Block Pricing To finished floor level

Have uploaded pricing schedules for the blocks and concrete pricing can be found here:-

http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/home

Worth the while to shop around.

Concrete to foundations 39M3 @ €77 /M3 =€2,541

Concrete to finished floor 36M3 @ €77 /M3 =€2,772

Kingspan Insulation to floors 242.5M2 @ € 12.60/M2 =€3,055.5

Radon Barrier 242.5M2 @ €1.70 /M2 =€412.25

A393 to Fdn 81M2 @ €7.5 M2 =€607.50

4" Blocks to wall 2256 No @€.52cent per block (Supply Price) €1,329.12

Total Material Cost €10,717.37

As my dad is a blocklayer that will be coming free, and we will be doing the rest of labour ourselves also, my partner's cousin is the plumber so hopefully he will do us a favour also.

My lowdown, on the mortgage, land sign over solicitors Rigmarole

I Dont know if this is the same experience as most but this has been a long drawn out process, and as said in an earlier post we have had a couple of issues. For the mortage process and the documents required refer to post "Self build mortgages".

When we started to go about buying the site, we paid a deposit to the auctionner 10% of the site value, after this we enlisted the services of a solicitor to deal with the transactions. We went about getting mortgage approval in principle we went with EBS as they seemed to have a good package on offer for selfbuilders. We also enlisted the services on an engineer that held professional indemnity insurance this was to sign off the various stages of the build to allow us to draw down the mortgage.

EBS sent a valuer to value our site to progress the mortgage application and we recieved approval in principal for the value which we sought. http://online.ebs.ie/internet/pdffiles/public/selfbuildhomeloan4.pdf

When the inital contracts were issued my solicitor informed me that there may in the future be the potential for argument over a right of way to land, he progressed to alter the contract and send back to the landowner's solictor. As you can imagine this was a lengthy drawn out process.

We also had to get mortgage protection insurance at this stage to fulfill the requirements of EBS, they also require Site Insurance before paying money on the works on the site.

Have been informed today by EBS that they are just awaiting the deeds of the land before issuing the money, so im waiting on the landowner to sign, and hopefully we will be all sorted.

Pricing the build process: materials & Windows

It's probably a force of habit with me and because of my profession i am probably gone over the top with this aspect; have been preparing for this for a while and there is substancial savings to be made if you are prepared to put in the time and effort, but remember never sacrafice on quality over cost, (this will be your home) this is where a clear and concise scope will help.

On the link i have several pricing schedules which i sent out to local companies, for the concrete pricing i sent the schedule to healys, John A Woods, Roadstone (Subsidary), Readymix and a local supplier this gives you a great help in deciding, over cost and quality of each company.

For the windows i sent tenders to 14 different companies i know a bit drastic, but it was a clear scope and i had prices returning from €66k to €12k and many more in the middle, i will post on them again closer to the time.

I drew up a list for pricing by local builders providers "material List" i sent this to two local hardware stores and to two nationwide suppliers in the region this allows you to get value for money from both if you can and is an excercise well worth doing, make sure to ask them for a builders discount.

All pricing schedules can be found on the link below:-

http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/home

The first Step...

Well it's been a long time coming, but i can now finally start on site have priced the local machine drivers earlier in the year and again two weeks ago, there seems to be more of an availabilty and a willingness to negotiate on price got the driver and machine from €2,000 to €1,500. Will probably take three days to move front ditch, strip the site and dig the foundations will also get him to stone the temporary driveway. €50 an hour there or there abouts for a man and a machine!

I have also priced all the local concrete suppliers, blocks, sand, stone and mesh. Make sure to shop around as we are saving over €2k to this stage, by doing the work ourselves my father is a builder we are saving over €14k from a local builders quotes to bring the house and garage to finished floor level.

I have a budget in for €12k was priced at €26k by a local builder. The joys of going direct labour.

Costings Budget Tracking

http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/home


For all the readers of the blog there are two handy links of costings i have made; and a Bill of quantities (BOQ) for the house, this will give you a good idea of the use of a Quantity Surveyor on a project like this. In order to have some financial certainty as to where your project is going it is necessary to work to some sort of budget, many self builders just throw there money into the project only to realise that they have run out before completeion. By setting a realistic budget it allows you to alter the spec and the finishes of the house, and if you are starting to run over budget you can perharps cut down on the spec of the €30K fitted kitchen providing the other half agress!!!!
The BOQ is basically every item of the build that is to be carried out, the more detailed the spec the more sure of the price back you will recieve. You can break the BOQ into the seperate work sections, ie to the seperate stage payments of the self build mortgage or the seperate work element, to floors, external walls, plastering and so on.
By doing this it allows you budget against the various elements and try if you can to bring each section in on budget or even better under!
I will update this external link every so often with my running budget v's estimate hopefully this will be of help.

The House Plans (Copyright)

http://jollyman2.googlepages.com/home

My brother the architects initial sketches on the above link! Attachements A&B

Ready to start finally! Stamp Duty

It has been a while since my last post, and now im glad to say we are finally able to start have been held up with solicitors and a right of way to the land but now all that has been sorted.

Hopefully i will have the tracks machine in Saturday week, to strip the front ditch(condition of planning) and level the site, must get my brother (the architect) to mark out the site and get our foundations poured will be a great mile stone to have achieved.

Stamp Duty

Rates of stamp duty on land/housing sites without residential buildings
Up to 10,000 euro
Exempt
10,001 euro - 20,000 euro
1%
20,001 euro - 30,000 euro
2%
30,001 euro - 40,000 euro
3%
40,001 euro - 70,000 euro
4%
70,001 euro - 80,000 euro
5%
80,001 euro - 100,000 euro
6%
100,001 euro - 120,000 euro
7%
120,001 euro - 150,000 euro
8%
Over 150,000 euro
9%

Next Costs stamp duty 7% €8,400!!!!!

Self Build Mortgages (www.selfbuildinireland.com)

Most of the major Lenders in the mortgage market today will give you a mortgage to build your own home in Ireland.There is 4 key factors to consider for a self build mortgage in Ireland
:1) Do you need money to buy the site?
2) Does the site have full planning permission?
3) What will the cost of construction be and what will the estimated market value on completion be?
4) Will the mortgage been drawn down in stages at each step of construction?
To determine the maximum you will be allowed borrow, Lenders will ask the following key questions
:1) What is your current salary?
2) What are you current loan liabilities?
3) What age are you?They will then advise of your maximum borrowing potential.The amount you can actually borrow is then determined by a set of restrictions call loan to values.Firstly most Lenders will only allow you to borrow 80% of the site value to buy it assuming your maximum borrowing potential covers this amount.They will then lend you 100% of the cost of construction assuming your overall borrowings will be less then 92% of the completed open market valuation of the property.One key point to note is the site must have full planning permission on it before the Lenders will give you a loan offer or money to buy the site.
The following is a list of documents you will be required to present to have your case formally assessed.If you are a PAYE employee of a company you will be required to present the following documentationa) Salary Certificate (1 page document filled out by your employer)b) 2/3 recent payslipsc) Last years P60d) Last 6 month personal current accounts. If you are self employed usually you would be required to present the following documentation:a) Accountants Report Formb) 2 Years trading accountsc) 3/6 month business current accountsd) 6 month personal current accountsAdditional for a site build you will also be required to submit:a) Full planning permissionb) 6 point letter from the builder \ engineerc) Costings from the builder \ engineerThe 6 point letter above is a standard builders letter which will detail the breakdown of construction at each stage.
The loan can then be drawn down in stages on receipt of stage certs from the builder \ engineer.For example:Site Purchase 80kStage 1 Foundations 20k Stage 2 First level flooring 25kStage 3 Roof Level 30kStage 4 Final Completion

The never ending paper Trail

It's partly my aim from this blog to try and help any readers who are about to embark on the self build process to understand what the steps are; the costs involved and the actual work you need to do.
I was completely new to this whole process and it is a great learning curve for me and i hope to give a good insight to it. The whole process from getting mortgage approval and organising solicitors.
Step 1:- Site Deposit
Step 2:- Appoint Solicitor
Step 3:- Apply for planning
Step 4:- Recieve Planning
Step 5:- Mortgage options recieve approval in principle
Step 6:- Sign Contracts (on reflection this can take several months)!!!!
Step 7:- Organise mortgage protection insurance
Step 8:- Draw down mortgage to pay for site through solicitor and stamp duty/land registry fees
Step 9:- Site self build insurance covers all people on site
Step 10:- Commence

Costs of the Planning process and up to site setup

• Initial Costs are the Site deposit purchased subject to planning permission €12,000
• Hire Engineer to draw up and go through planning process €500
• Planning process Site location Maps from Ordanace Survey Ireland €120 x 2 = €240
• Submitting of planning application to council €65
• Self build house insurance shop around €2,041 (FBD)
• Mortgage protection Insurance €268 Per Annum
• Site hoarding fencing and signage €360
• Commencement Notice to council €35

Total Cost To site start €15,509.00

The Planning Process Still Going...

Resubmited all the info for the second time this meant that we had to shell out another €120 for site maps as the council apparently dont give them back! But they do refund the value of the planning €65. To cut along story short after a further 2 months recieved a letter from the council stating that they would accept no house on the site only a bungalow of traitional construction. With a roof pitch of less than 36 degrees.
We had to go and design a third house, if this had all been said at the initial pre planning we would have accepted it and got on with the plans for a bungalow. But the council just strung us along this was now our 7th month. We were lucky that i was friends with the engineer so the costs were kept to a minimum. Resubmited all our info once more and to our surprise finally recieved planning three months later.

The Planning Process Continued...

View to left of the house

Patiently waiting for some news as the three month date quickly approaches and eventually the letter comes in the door, requesting further information and changes to the house that they had previously accepted in the pre planning meeting.
They asked for us to alter the windows and the shape of the house get rid of stonework and bay windows this meant that we had to redesign and resubmit all the drawings and packs once again, it also meant that we had a further three months added to our schedule.

The Planning Process

View From our new front door

After getting the go ahead at the pre planning we set about getting all the drawings and sections of the house together, myself and the engineer surveyed the site and we set up our planning pack, details of this can be got on your local council website. The items you require for this apart from the drawings are carry out the percolation test, get land map drawings from ordinace survey ireland, and send site notice to a pre approved newspaper as issued by your county council.

We submitted our planning pack on the 19th of May 2006 and you then have your three month waiting period before you here anything from the council presuming that your application is validated ie "complete" it is very important that you check this thouroghly before submitting as small mistakes can lead to big delays.

The Start of the Journey

Way back in April 2006, myself and my girlfriend set out to look at purchasing a site in her hometown. We viewed several in the area ranging in price from €80k - €120k, none of the initial sites really suited what we were looking for.
Eventually the auctioner rang one evening with the perfect site for us and we decided to go with it and put the deposit down on the 28th April 2006.
Our next job was to get in touch with a solicitor to handle the transaction and to look over the contracts.
Once we had the deposit down we set about coming up with designs which we liked, they came from the usual sources magazines internet sites and houses that we have always admired in the past.
I work with a construction company so the engineer at work decide to help us with the drawings (he deserves a lot of thanks for his hard work and patience) We held an initial pre planning meeting with the council; which we were dreading as we taught they would knock our design straight away, as it is an known area for being hard to recieve planning permission.
At the pre planning the area engineer gave us the go ahead with the design which we were very surprised with.