How Long does it take to plan a Self build or Property Renovation Project?

Each project is unique. No two projects have ever, or will ever be identical, and no two people will ever adopt identical ways to go about planning a project, - no matter how large or small. – Ask any two people how they would go about building a sand pit in the back garden and they will come up with different ideas on what is the best way to do it. One would dig a hole, one would buy a box to sit on top of the existing garden. One would want a large one, situated in one particular position. One would prefer a smaller one in a different place..... etc. – If that’s how it works for something simple like a sand pit, then imagine how many ways two people could differ on ideas for planning a major Self Build project. - THEN bring in the rest of the family into the equation, and you have the potential for a major operation just to get a consensus which “more or less” suits everyone.

The way the individual and the family approaches the project is the major factor in how long it will take to “get off the ground”. So, what I will try to do in this section is to take you through the different areas which you will need to consider. Each of which will affect the length of time a project will take to plan You should be able get an idea of how long the process will take YOU.

There are 4 main areas to consider at the planning stage of any major “Amateur building project”:

 

You would think that the smaller the project the less planning time would be needed. In fact that is not always the case. “Small” does not necessarily mean “simple”. In fact, “small” can be incredibly complicated!

What is more likely to have an impact on the length of time taken to plan the project is: “How far away from “the norm” you wander”!

What I mean by that is that is that, if you stick to “the norm” in terms of: “Design” “The Building Process” and the “Building materials” you use, and you try to “blend” your development in with what is around it. - Then, as long as you don’t hit any other major “hitches”, the chances are that you won’t have too many problems getting all the necessary planning applications done fairly quickly, and getting to a point where you are ready to build.

However, if you start to incorporate new or complicated design ideas, or if you want to use an unusual building system for part or all of the project, or if you have seen some new products which are pretty much “un tried” but which have taken your fancy, then the chances are that this part of the planning process could become more “protracted”. “Knitting together” new designs with new building concepts and new materials can be a troublesome and lengthy process (and one which can cause you problems further down the line – if they are found to be “mutually incompatible”!).

So, from a practical point of view, the “simpler” (not necessarily the “smaller”) your project, the quicker you will usually get through the “Pre Contract” planning stage.

If you are considering a basic “Renovation” of an average sized 4 bed detached house, where no Planning Permission will be required, the planning stage can simply involve finding a couple of subcontractors, choosing a kitchen, possibly a bathroom, and picking paint colours. This could all be done in a couple of weeks to a month and, as long as you don’t have to relocate, or wait for Sub contractors to become available, you are then pretty much able to get on with the project.

On the other hand, a large and complicated Self Build project or Renovation project, which includes new or unusual materials / designs or processes, can take some people can take 2 or 3 years to plan everything before they are ready to start.

However in general, as long as you don’t hit major snags, for a standard Self Build, Renovation, or Conversion project, about 6 months is about an average time to get the bulk of the “initial planning” done. - If you can manage everything in 2 - 3 months and you are doing well! - (Planning applications then normally take around 3 months to process after you have done the “initial planning”).

If you are only able to dedicate a few hours a week to planning the project, you will find that the it can drag “on and on”.

If you are only “free” to REALLY sit and think about the project (for example) on one day at the weekend, you will find that each time you come to the point where you are sitting down to do some work,  you will need to spend some of that “precious” time “re-capping” on what you have done previously, and checking to see if the stuff you did last week has “moved you on” at all:

Projects like Self Builds, Renovations and Conversions all take a significant amount of “dedication” and “graft” to bring them to fruition. – One of the reasons that some people take 2 or 3 years to plan a project is that they are usually either trying to plan a project that is possibly very complicated, or they simply are not spending the amount of time they need to, regularly, to continually push the project forward. AND, they are often spending too much of the time they are able to dedicate to the planning process, in an “inefficient manner” (i.e. going over stuff already previously covered).

If you want to get your project “up and running” in a reasonable time, you need to free up as much time as possible for the whole “pre construction” period. That could mean spending EVERY evening and EVERY weekend working on it.

If you find that you can’t free up enough time from all of your commitments, to spend on planning your project NOW in the early stages, it’s probably worth asking yourself if you think you will have the time available time to actually undertake the project itself?

If you already own the land or property you are more likely to be able to keep the “Pre Construction Planning” time down to a minimum.

A major part of planning a project can be taken up with the process of looking for and purchasing land or property. - Owning it already can reduce the overall “planning” time of a Self Build project by over 50%.

Straightforward, flat plots of land, with no existing buildings, no obstructions, no drainage, no service, no planning limitations and with uncontaminated ground will not normally need to be given any “time consuming” special attention during the planning process. – You can usually just design what you want on it, and send everything off for Planning Approval. Then, as long as you haven’t included anything in the design which could cause the Planning department any “difficult decisions” you should usually get everything “passed” in about 3 months without too much trouble.

Unfortunately, most plots will have at least one or two “features” which could slow this process down.

Where possible, you should make every effort to “pick up on” these “features” before you purchase any land. Why? - Because, as well as having “time” implications involved in sorting them out, they will often also have “cost” implications.

If the list of problems which need to be overcome on a site is considerable, then not only could it take many months to sort them all out, but the process of doing so, plus the “implications” each one of them has on the build process and the overall cost, can sometimes mean the project as a whole turns out to be “practically and financially unfeasible”.

If you need to dig a large “bank” away, or if you need to divert drainage or services, remove an old building, dig up old foundations, use piles to reach a good bearing “strata”, have complicated foundations or retaining walls designed, - or if a plot comes with any one of many other potentially costly and time consuming problems, you need to sit down and weigh up all the “pro’s and con’s” so that you can make an informed decision as to whether the project is going to be financially and practically viable.

As you read the different sections of this guide, you will pick up hints and tips on what you need to watch out for when looking for land. - Hopefully this will put you in a better position to be able to decide for yourselves which are the “good plots” to go for, and which are the “poor plots” (some plots which may LOOK good, may actually prove to be poor once you start to find their “built in” faults!) 

If you go about things in the “right manner” and in the “right order” from day one, then the “Financial Planning” side of any project should not slow down your overall “Project planning” process.

If, as you proceed, you find that the “sums don’t add up”, or if the costs look like they are going to be too high, then as you go through the financial planning stage, then you may find that you need to postpone the project, or possibly even “halt it” altogether, but if everything goes smoothly, and you do what you should do, when you should do it, the financial side of things should be something which you can “fit in” around the other aspects of the “Project Planning” without having any substantial effect on the time it takes to complete that process.

If you don’t get the finances sorted out properly, then the rest of the project could grind to a halt very quickly, and possibly very painfully!

Start the process off by doing some research into what forms of funding are generally available.

Use this site to see “who can offer you what” in the way of mortgages, and / or talk to some of your local Mortgage brokers to see what products are presently available (by the way, the products and the rates change from month to month, so don’t think that because you did this exercise “last year” you know “what’s out there”)!

At this early stage you usually won’t have any ideas on how much the project is likely to cost. You may not even have started looking for land, so the figures you can take to the individual lenders at the moment are simply “what you can afford” (usually based on a multiple of your incomes). However even this figure is a good starting point, and is usually sufficient to allow you to “shop around” the different mortgage products which may be available to you.

If you do your “financial planning” at the same time as you start to think about your over all planning, then by the time you start to think more seriously about the project in respect of “what and where”, you will already know your limits. – So, as you start to plan the “practical” aspects of the project, you can, at the same time keep your eye on how your plans tie in with your available finance. – This will often result in you having to give yourself a “reality check” when your “plans” start to exceed your financial limits.

So, if you get the whole “financial planning” process underway at the right time, your finances should a) not interfere with the length of time it takes you to plan your project, and b) help to guide your “practical” ambitions as you proceed.

If your project involves the prospect of you having to relocate, the “Project Planning” process can sometimes become quite complex and lengthy.

Weekend visits, and having to “start from where you left off last time” will always make the process of researching a new area and trying to find suitable plots or properties, more time consuming and complicated.

If you are relocating, the process will be speeded up dramatically if you can find a way to spend a “full week or two” in the area where you intend to move. - If you know someone in the area, see if you can tie this in with a “social visit”, or get a B & B for a few nights and tie your research in with “having a break”.

Before you go, do as much planning as you can. Use this site to do some research into each of the areas where you may think about living. Find out about the schools, leisure facilities, and everything else that may be important to you and your family.

Get in touch with Estate Agents to see what properties they have available (there are over 5000 Estate Agents listed in the Trade Directory on this site. Just type in a post code and choose “Estate agents” to see a list of Agents in the area you may wish to move to).

Download the details of [lots / properties if possible, and then sit down and plan a timetable and a route plan so that you can try to visit all the places you feel that you are most likely to be interested in.

It may be worthwhile making a few appointments to view plots or properties which may be “top of your list”, so that you can start to get a proper feel for a) what is available and b) what prices your are likely to have to pay to get what you want (this will help you to be able to start thinking about your “goals”, your “finances” and “budgets” when you get home).

It may also be an idea at this time to find one or two Contractors or subcontractors who you think maybe suitable and arrange to meet them to discuss your initial ideas. - The Estate Agent may be able to help you to find suitable people, or again, use this site (the ads in the directory all have our “quick reference guide”. – Use this to see which Contractors are happy to offer “free advice”).

If time permits, if you have a particular plot or property in mind as an “early favourite”, it maybe be a good idea to try to arrange to meet a “Planning Officer” to discuss any of the more definite ideas you have. They will usually need to see at least some sketches to give them an idea of what you are thinking about for your development, but they may be able to give you some very useful advice which could help you to make up your mind on whether to “go for it” or not.

As well as looking at plots / properties, try to have a good “general” look around the area. Drive around the different neighbourhoods, towns or villages, so that you can get the “feel of the place”. Make a note of where the schools are, the pubs, the leisure facilities, bus stops, train stations, how busy roads are etc. Basically try to look into anything that could be of importance to you and your family if you were to move to this area. Try to visit early in the morning to see what the traffic is like in “rush hour” and then call back in the evening too to see if there may be any potential problems with noise or youths in the area.

Once you have spent this “quality time” in the vicinity over this “concentrated time period” rather than a few hours “here and there”, you will probably be amazed at how much further ahead you are with the planning procedure after just a week or so. You will usually also have gained more confidence in your overall ability to “make it all happen”. - You will have a better idea of “what you can get” for your money, and where you would like to be situated. The chances are that you will feel happier with one particular location than with most of the others so you can now start to focus your minds better on that as a first option.

This sort of “trip” may have also often highlight things which may cause you problems which you would not have come across if you just do one or two “drive round” visits, or try to plan the whole thing from a distance. – The “feel” of a place is important. You need to spend time in a place before you can get a real appreciation of it.

By making the effort to do this trip of a few days, you will probably find that you speed your overall planning process up considerably. If you do the odd day over 2 or three months, the chances are you won’t have as much knowledge or “feel” for the place and you won’t feel as certain about “where” you would like to be, or the likely costs / problems / advantages / disadvantages of the area in general.

If you don’t get chance to spend a week or two in the area, then maybe two or three weekends, one after the other will suffice.

If you aren’t able to do that, then you could find that the whole of the planning and decision making process becomes very protracted and difficult It could easily drag on and on for months on end, and may even result in you losing interest and giving up!

Although the “Practical” “Financial” and “Geographical” factors are all important in determining how long a project takes to plan, the one which actually normally has the most impact, is the one which deals with the “personal” aspects: What do we all want? What do we all need? How can varying “ideas” within the family unit be brought together so that everyone will be happy? Etc.

Every person is different, everyone likes different things, everyone sees things from a different perspective, and everyone’s ideas on how to plan a project will be, at least to some extent, different, - even from that of their partners! (I stand to be corrected on that but have not been so far! ). - We all have our own ideas on what the results of our efforts and input could, should, or will be!

We also each often have VERY different ways of going about the planning of the project. The trick to achieving a smooth planning process, is to try to compromise with each other and come up with a sensible “middle road”.

I am a fairly practical person. I don’t have the patience to sit down for hours and compare charts, read book after book, compile lists, compare “one with another” for every item which may or may not be relevant to my project, look at every aspect from every angle to make sure that I have all the knowledge I need to make the right decision on every part of a project.

Instead, I tend to quickly get a picture in my head of “What I need and what I would like”. Once I have that picture I then want to find the best overall route to getting from “A to B” as quickly as possible and with the least fuss possible.

If I have an idea to do a Self Build, I will consider it for a few days. Then, if I think it is the right thing to do, I would normally spend a few days looking at the area where I fancy living, - along with all the areas around it, and I will have already gathered details of as many plots as I can, to visit along the route. I’ll build up a mental picture of the place and make a quick decision as to whether that is the right place for me to be.

I’ll then sit down, compare all the potential plots, “bin” most of them, and get down to a shortlist of maybe half a dozen. I’ll then look at the prices of the plots I like, work out what I can afford on top of the average plot price, and decide if it’s “doable” or not. – If it is, I will make an offer on my “first choice” plot, knowing full well that, at this stage, I am not committing myself, and that I can pull out at any time up until exchange of contracts (but intending to go ahead with buying the land, all being well).

I will continue in this manner through the purchase, design, planning, and building of the new property, and, by doing so, I can be in my finished property 8 or 9 months after I got the first idea!

Ok: That’s just me! – YOU are probably different.

You will have a completely different set of circumstances, you will have a different personality. You may be far more cautious than me, and have many more factors to take into consideration than I do.

I am at “one end of the scale”, for good or bad.

There are other types of people who will take a bit, but not much longer to get a “plan of attack” together.

Then there are people, right at the “other end of the scale” who will:

Spend six months worth of weekends visiting “each town or village” in a particular area. Each time, possibly staying in a B & B (so that they can get a proper “feel” of each place). Once they have completed that stage, they will choose one or two areas to narrow their search to, and go through the same exercise again, until after a year or so, they think they are happy with a particular area. They will wait for the perfect plot or property, which could take months or years. They will want surveys doing on it before they commit themselves. They will make then make an offer, but a low one, and spend weeks bartering. Maybe lose one property and wait for another, eventually buying a suitable plot or property.

They will go through a “vetting” process to take on an Architect, and possibly a Project Manager who they will then meet with over a few months to plan their project and get some ideas of designs. Next they will then finally submit plans for Planning Permission and start to talk to at least half a dozen of each sub contractor until they feel happy with each one. They will have official contracts drawn up for each section of the work, go on weekend course for “Project Planning” then come home and plan a programme for the contract which they will get each subcontractor to agree to, and finally start the project!!

Ok that may be a “caricature” of a certain type of person, but some in fact that is pretty much the process a lot of people actually go through!!

In fact there is NO right or wrong way of planning a project. Most methods have their benefits and drawbacks.

Hopefully, once you have read a good proportion of this guide you will be better equipped to decide which route you want to go down. – Most people settle somewhere in the middle.

All I would say regarding Planning the project is that you need to be careful not to “plan yourself into failure”. In other words try not to get so bogged down with all the “if’s” and “maybe’s”, the “alternatives” and “options”, “costs” and “savings” etc that you never get round to actually starting the project.

A small “Renovation” project with no structural work should take a matter of weeks to plan. - A larger renovation without any major complications can take from a few weeks up to 4 – 5 months.  - A Self Build can take anywhere between 2 months and 3 years, but should be around 6 – 8 months in my estimation (including gaining Planning Permission).

Any longer and you risk running out of steam, and never getting the thing started!