Finding Plots
When thinking about building your dream home, the first thing, of course, is to find a plot. Once you identified or purchased the plot, we can start a detailed briefing with you which will be the basis for a design proposal.
Plot finding, however, is not an easy task in the UK and we would like to help at least with some tips. There are numerous web services out there where you can find plots and a lot of them have alert systems which will send you an e-mail when a plot comes up which matches your specification.
- Plot Search by Build Store
- Rightmove
- Zoopla
- PlotBrowser
- Plotfinder
- When looking for land south of London and in the home counties, have a look at Orchard Online. Speak to Mr. Will Rosten about your requirements Tel : 01276 685544
- Landmarket is also a good idea, although they are specialized in development land their lists sometimes have interesting land for a small 2 to 3 house- developments. Maybe you find a partner to do the project with you or you buy the land, build your own house and market the remaining land afterwards.
The Self Build Portal has a very good website with ideas on how to find plots, see the Self Build Portal Website.
Search for a Derelict Property
Once you identified your target area, visit the estate agents of the area and ask for derelict properties. The advantage is that you will get planning permission to build again. But of course you need to thoroughly check that the building is not listed and that it is allowed to demolish the derelict building. Again, you can use the service of Dharmista and Stefan to get that researched, read more by clicking here.
Also, leave your address with the estate agents and let them know what exactly you are looking for so that they can inform you immediately when anything comes up.
Once you found a derelict property and got permission to demolish it, contact companies who might want to recycle building materials from the old house. Clay tiles, timber floors, timber beams, old taps are sought after items. Check with the planners when you are allowed to have the actual demolition work done, i.e. there are periods in some areas where demolition is not admitted.
The Personal Touch
After a long unsuccessful search, our clients who recently built their house in Purley, Surrey approached their plot search in a totally different way: After identifying the area where they wanted to live, they wrote a very personal letter explaining about their dream, presenting their family and specifying what they were looking for. They put this letter into the letter boxes of all the houses in the streets where they were looking - a hard but successful way. 3 months later one of the residents got in touch and in the end sold them a beautiful 0.5 acre plot (even with planning permission). Only 10 months later, our clients lived in their new, 5 bedroom Stommel house.
Size of a plot
It is not always necessary to have a huge plot, the location is much more important.
Build Store has a nice page where they present different plot sizes in relation to a detached dwelling: click here for more information
Once you found the plot ...
Once you found a plot, you should find out about the development potential. Dharmista Patel and Stefan Kruczkowski can support this, see here for more information.
As soon as the development potential was established, we can enter the briefing process which will hopefully culminate in the design of your bespoke dream house. (See here for more information - article coming soon in March 2014).
- Recommend this - Written by Barbara Fischer-Clark
