Which is best for us? Self Build, Renovation, Conversion or Extending?

One which it is not really possibly to cover fully in a short guide like this, but I’ll try to give you some pointers.

There are financial and personal benefits to be gained from all the options. One or two of them will have the potential of offering more “dramatic” benefits than others. But, for most people, “the right one” to go for, I think will generally become more obvious as you begin the process of looking into, and getting an idea of the “overall picture”.

It’s a good idea to start by considering all of the choices that are there “in front of you” before you start to narrow them down.

Some people will have very definite ideas on the way they want to go (usually “Self Builders”), and some people are so sure of their choice that they won’t even bother reading this section:

Some people will want to be able to start their project with a “blank piece of paper” and be able to bring all of their own ideas and thoughts together to create first, their ideal design, and then their dream home, in their dream location. With everything designed and built from “scratch”.

Some people will put more importance on simply trying to increase their “living space” and keeping within a budget, to cater for a growing families needs their priorities are more towards finding the cheapest and quickest way to do it. That could mean considering all the options, from a new Self Build, to extending and improving the place they live now.

Some people may have, for many years, had the “dream” of converting a barn or renovating a “picture postcard” cottage in the middle of the countryside.

Let’s say for the purposes of this section, that you have not decided what your best option is yet, and you are “just as open” to the thought of “Self Building”, “Moving and Renovating”, “Staying where you are and Renovating” “Extending” or “Converting.

It really starts with considering:

I will now compare the 3 most common situations that people tend to find themselves in as they start to consider taking on one of these projects. Looking at what sort of things will influence your decisions to help you to decide on the best choices for you.

 are obviously the major factor around which any decision needs to be made. The implications of choosing one type of project over another could have fairly profound effects on their day to day lives. It can either mean them being able to stay living where they are, or having to pack up and relocate.

If they have to move, the change of location could result in them having to change schools, - possibly also meaning them moving a fair distance away from their friends. Their new location may be too far away from their “social hub” to be able to carry on with their usual social life (some parents actually see this as a “positive” reason for moving!).

One of the most unsettling aspects for kids is the fact that the project may mean them having no proper “permanent base” for a number of months, maybe while you live in a caravan, B & B, or rented house. - It’s the upheaval and the lack of security that can, and does cause problems within the family. If kids lose their bedrooms, it can actually be a very traumatic event for them (which could then have a knock on effect on you and the project with them possibly being “sulky” or “unhelpful”).

To try to see the picture from their side, think back to when you were their age. – If your parents had suddenly decided to “up and move”, what would your reaction be? – Maybe that’s exactly what happened to you. What did you make of the experience?

I’m not advocating here that the kids have the “final say” on the decision as to whether or not you build / move / extend or whatever. YOU will know what is best for your family when you look at the “bigger picture”. - BUT, I am just saying that if the kids are “on board” and if, by making sure you take their needs into account, you can get them to be “enthusiastic” and “keen” on the project, you have won half the battle before you start. If they are against the idea from day 1 and you can’t “bring them round”, - BEWARE!! - What you don’t need is to be trying to cope with an unhappy family situation at the same time as trying to plan and organise the project. - Whilst also possibly living in a caravan or a B & B while you go about it!

If all the “personal” parts of the equation fall into place, and if it’s what you prefer, then a “Self Build” (as opposed to a renovation, extension or conversion), can have the potential to bring more long term benefits.

If the family, as a whole or in part, are against the whole idea (especially if moving from your present location could cause major upheaval for everyone) then you may be better starting to think along the lines of renovating or extending your present home. – Most families can normally plan and carry at least a modest renovation or extension without too much family unrest! – Maybe, once you have had a go at an extension and learnt a bit about “how it all works” you could then make more long term plans about embarking on something more ambitious in a couple of yers (maybe when the kids are older or have left home, and the implications of trying to plan and get everything done are not going to cause you and everyone else in the family so many headaches.

“Conversion projects” and “Families” don’t usually go together all that well, and are not usually the best option. There is often a lot more planning to do for a Conversion project before you can actually start work. Which can sometimes take a long time (often many months) to get sorted. - The actual “Conversion process” can also often be a lot more complicated and slower than a Self Build.  

Where families are involved, “simplicity” and “speed” are usually important, so if you have other options than conversion that you can consider (unless you have some “overriding reasons”), you may be well advised to steer clear of conversion.

Our working careers are another “prime mover whenit comes to making decisions on what sort of project would be best for the family.

If changes that are going to happen or have happened at work which mean that you are going to have to move away from your present area, then depending on how much time you have to plan and organize, a Self Build project may be a good option. Mainly because a self Build, as opposed to one of the other options, can give you “more flexibility” for “less cost”, AND often make you a better profit at the end of the day.

However, where work takes up more than about 30 hours a week, if you decided to go down the Self Build route, you would need to seriously think about taking on a Project Manager or giving the whole thing out to a Package Build company. – If you don’t then you may quickly find that the planning / travelling / upheaval / organising / building /moving etc could be too much for you.

One thing you need to consider is:

Would embarking on a major project put excessive pressure on the family’s finances at this time? – If so, Is this the best time to be starting to plan something?

If not, it doesn’t stop you from getting “stuck into” the research. Once you have spent a couple of months finding out how it all works, you may actually find that there are ways that make the whole thing “workable”. – This guide will help to show you how to build “cost effectively”. – If you can do that, you may be able to bring forward the time when you CAN get started.

If you think at the outset that your financial situation should be ok, you can then start to look into your options:

Full Self build projects are a big commitment for anyone, especially a family, which can tie most, or all of your money up for a considerable time.

Once you start to seriously plan one, it’s a bit like a snow ball starting to roll. The whole thing tends to quickly gather momentum, and before long you can find yourself making an offer on a plot of land!- When that happens you could soon find yourself committed to the project, and once that happens, it’s hard to change your mind if you suddenly find that you are struggling.

Where there is a family involved, it is more important than ever to think about the financial implications of any sort of building project BEFORE you reach that point of being committed. - You really need the whole family to be “with you” all the way through the planning and building process, to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible.

If you find that part of the way through the project you have run out of money and the kids can’t have that school holiday, the new bike, the latest computer game, then you risk losing their backing. If and when that happens, the whole project can turn into a nightmare, and you can end up “paddling uphill”, fighting hostile family members as well as possibly “fighting for your life” financially (I have heard about, and seen that happening on more than one occasion).

As long as you have no worries financially and you are confident that you will be able to complete your choice of project, then Self Build may offer the best options overall.

However, if there is any possibility that the cash supply may “dry up” part way through the project, you may be better to consider lowering your “aim” a little, and considering a “Renovation”, or maybe a “Renovation with an Extension”. This could give you more options with your “cash flow” and “commitment”, and may also allow you to “re think” as you go along. For example, if finances get tight, or if anything else is causing you problems, you can often “adjust” things to suit.

Imagine you purchase a property which you intend to “Renovate and Extend”. - You then successfully obtain Planning Permission for an Extension, and you start work on both the Renovation and the Extension at the same time.

If you start to run short of money at pretty much any time during the project, you can temporarily stop work on the Extension (making sure you “board up, and protect it against the weather), - and just concentrate on finishing off the Renovation part. - You can even re think that part of the project to a certain extent, and complete it to a “lower specification” if necessary. – Just to get it up to a point where you and the family can live comfortably in it.

The rest of the work on the extension and “upgrading” the renovation part can then be completed when funds become available (e.g. You could put the wiring in for your “surround sound system”, or for your “home automation system”, but not buy TV, the sound system, or all the “gadgets” you had planned, until later).

By not committing yourselves to a “full blown” Self Build” project, which, once you start, you have to finish, with a renovation project, you may be able to give yourself a “get out of jail card” just in case you need to use it!

Firstly, do a bit of “homework” on prices of “land” and “Renovation / Conversion property”, both in the area where you would ideally like to live, and also, if possible in some other locations that you may possibly consider to be suitable.

You can sit then down and look at the information you have.

Taking your personal, work and financial situation into account, look at all the options with your family and discuss their individual merits (including the option of staying where you are and possibly extending your present property).

Once you have “aired” everyone’s “wants and needs” lists, find out if one option is generally more popular than the others.

Set about gathering some more information about the most “popular”, and the most “sensible” options ( with a bit of luck they will be the same!). -  As you do so, you may start to find “obstacles at every turn”. If that happens, then you would possibly be wise to re consider. Explain the problems that you have come across to the family, then go to “Plan B”, and try to get the same sort of consensus on “the next best” option.

Once you have come to some sort of “happy compromise”, and you are starting to get a clear picture of what looks like a plan that “could work”, then use this guide and some of the other available publications, plus the networking section of this web site, to learn more about your chosen option.

Start to look into things like “availability of plots / property”, and “cost estimates”(both of which are covered within this site).

If you can, try to find out what is it has cost others people in the area, to complete similar projects to the one you have in mind. (You could “post” questions in the “community section” of the site to see what answers you get, or you could simply go and knock on doors of recently completed projects in your area to see if you can glean some information from the owners on their development costs. - You’ll be surprised how most people who have completed a project like to “tell their story” and pass on their knowledge and the lessons they have learned to others).

As I have said, with these projects, it’s easy to get a bit “carried away” to the point where you may find yourselves committed to something that you are “not quite ready to be”, or that you “simply “should not be committed!

Before you make any final decisions, make sure you give consideration to the “cons” as well as the “pro’s”.

This could be the biggest decision you make as a family. If you get it right, you could reap substantial rewards in many ways. If you get it wrong (which, unfortunatley a lot of people do), you could be sorry you started the whole thing, and end up paying for your mistakes in many ways, for a long time to come!

Most couples who Self Build or Renovate tend to be within either the “younger” or “older” categories. I.E. “Before they have children”, or after they have “flown the nest”. Just having 2 people to worry about can make the whole process a lot simpler and give a lot more flexibility when it comes to making the choices of: “What? Where? How big? Etc.

When there are only 2 of you, living in a caravan need not present so many problems. Location of your “work” is not as important, nor are school catchment areas (unless the plan is to finish the project, then have children). Finances are often not as strained. There are less “practical” considerations in respect of what the property has to “provide” as a completed project (family rooms, / extra bedrooms / decent sized garden / multiple parking etc). – In other words couple get more of a “blank piece of paper” when it comes to choosing the best option for them.

Financially, younger couples need to be very careful. They often have grand ideas for their dream homes, can get a bit “carried away” and sometimes don’t look closely enough at the implications of their decisions.

Most young people tend to want to “New build” rather than Renovate. – It’s an adventure, which will create something “new”, “exciting”, and fulfil a dream, which otherwise would take many years to realise. Creating something new and unique has a great attraction for young people generally. However, “Self Control” is usually needed on the financial side of things.

A young couple may still be training at their profession, with hopes of “climbing the career ladder” quickly. They may be expecting salary increases, bonuses, etc, and can often “assume” that everything “will happen as it should”. – It’s easy and exciting to just “plough ahead” without really worrying too much about the things that can go wrong, BUT: What if they “get stuck into” planning a project based on getting those salary increases, and for whatever reason they don’t appear? What if the bonuses don’t materialize?

It is important to take time to sit down and go through the same process that everyone else goes through. - Reading this guide and some of the monthly magazines. Using the networking section to learn what the pitfalls may be, and learning, BEFORE making any commitment, exactly WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW, WHAT THEY NEED TO DO, and WHAT CAN GO WRONG.

The biggest advice I would give to any younger couple contemplating a project is TAKE YOUR TIME and DON’T TRY TO FOOL YOURSELVES into believing you can “easily do it”, when in reality, that may not actually be the case!

Make sure you build in substantial “buffers” don’t that because you have been to a couple of seminars and read a couple of books, you can build cheaper, faster or better than other people can. – You probably can’t! 

Often these days, good land is very expensive and getting hold of the right plot with limited finances can be difficult. BUT: You can still pick up a property that needs work, sometimes cheaper than it would cost for the land alone.

Do you homework: If you find that a full Self Build project may be a bit risky at this time. Why not have a go at a smaller “Renovation” project now? – It will help you to learn about a good “chunk” of the “building process”, and with a bit of luck, it may make you enough profit to move onto your dream new build in a couple of years. – the experience you gain now will stand you in good stead to make THAT project far more successful than if you just plough into it without being fully prepared.

When older couple are considering whether to take on a building project, they usually have their own unique set of factors to take into account.

Money often is not “as much” of a problem. Neither is timescale, size, or being in a specific location or area.

Many older people are actually considering a project in order to downsize from a larger place (once the kids have left). There may now only be a need for 2 bedrooms instead of 4, and that garden is getting FAR to big!

Often the plan is to build or renovate somewhere to spend the “retirement years”, whilst, at the same time, freeing up some of the equity their present home, and creating a new place to live, which has low running costs and needs little maintenance (so that they can go travelling without being met by 2ft high grass when they return!)

There are still important decisions to be made, but the implications of many of them tend to be less “critical”, and can therefore be looked upon in a more relaxed manner.

In other words, older people tend to have far more “flexibility” in their options than families and younger couples.

An existing 2 bed “picture postcard” cottage which has been neglected for years with a small but low maintenance garden could be ideal for an older couple where it would NOT be a good idea for a growing family.

As long as the building is structurally sound, there will generally be far less “heavy work” to, compared with a new build. Services are all normally connected, or the ones that weren’t available when it was built may now be close at hand and easy to connect to. One or two rooms could possibly be made “habitable” for a short while whilst work is carried out on the rest of the house, or maybe a caravan could be brought onto site and connected the basic services and drainage. – Without the kids running round in the mud and demanding attention! This could actually be a very pleasant way to live while all the work is done!

It should be kept in mind that these sorts of projects can take quite a while to complete. Although the building may LOOK sound, once work starts, structural problems could be discovered. The roof may need to come off and be replaced, there may be damp, or other problems.

Also it should be remembered that with a Renovation or Conversion, you often have to “take something out, prepare for the new, and then install the new”. – Three operations, compared to a new build where there would only be one. – Again, sometimes making for a project that can take a comparatively long time to finish.

Maybe a small building plot, in a nice area? - On which you can get planning for a bungalow to your own design. You can design each room to suit your requirements, and the same with the garden.

 

Unless you hand a lot of the work over to a “Main Contractor” or “Project Manager”, may find that you need to be fairly fit and healthy “generally” to be able to take on a full Self Build project. It’s not always as straightforward to take time off “halfway through” if it’s all getting a bit demanding, as it is with a renovation project. - When you “build new” you need to try to build up momentum to be able to get everything finished in a reasonable time. - If you lose that momentum, the whole thing can be hard to “get going” again, and can take far longer than it should do to complete. – If you don’t keep it “moving forward” things can quickly start to go wrong, and it can soon become a “stone around your neck”.

 

Something else to bear in mind if you think about a Self build project as an older couple, would be that “the cost versus profit figures” may not stack up. Land tends to be very expensive these days, and often the only way to make sure that the project is going to be “financially viable”, is to develop it to its full extent, so that the end value for the property is as high as it can be. This normally means building the largest structure on it that you sensibly can, or even building “multiple structures”.

For example: If you were to buy a plot of land and build a 5 bed detached property on it, it may realise an “end value” of £50,000 + more than its total cost. – That makes financial sense.

However, if you buy the same plot of land and put a small 2 bed bungalow on it, you may find that the final value is not a lot more than the total cost. – If money is not something you need to worry about, this won’t matter so much to you, especially if you intend to spend the rest of your lives there, but if you are considering selling up at any time, then the “figures” become more important.

 These “lucky folk” normally have the widest range of options of anyone! - So much so that I would say that whichever option they prefer, they could usually pretty much do! – Just read this guide, read the Self Build magazines, get on the networking section of the site, learn as much as you can. Then, sit down and think about the “next few years” in respect of whether or not you are thinking of having a family, and if so, bear that in mind, and then choose your preferred option and go for it!

As you do so, think about your finances. You are in the lucky position that you can make all the decisions without having to take anyone else’s thoughts or needs into consideration! – If possible, use that fact to be “flexible” in what you buy, to make sure you get the best possible deals.

You can “rough it”, and save money: If it’s a renovation and it’s the summer, a sleeping bag and a gas burner in one “decentish” room will save you a lot of money in renting, or getting a caravan onto site and connected up. – AND, it will be a story to tell the kids when they start to “appear” in a few years time!

If it’s a new build, you can just choose your options based on your own circumstances. Being single, I would say, offers the best opportunity for taking on a Self Build. You will usually be at least reasonably fit and capable of doing some of the physical side of the work. – You will probably also have more time. You may like the idea of making your own lasting and individual “stamp” in “one little corner” of the country, and, - as long as you have the income to justify the funding, and you do your research and planning properly, you should not hit too many obstacles.

Your other option, if money is tight, would be to do what thousands of other people do every year, and start off with a couple of small “renovation” projects, and by doing those, work your way quickly up the property ladder.

You could buy a rundown property, do it up, sell it on, and invest the profit into a bigger run down property. Within 3 or 4 years, if you are successful, you may find you are financially able to start to think about buying land and doing a full blown Self Build. - This option can be very successful in quickly increasing your property equity, - As long as you “do it right”, and are willing and able to commit your time and effort to it over an extended period of time

 

At the end of the day, for better or for worse, one factor actually often has a tendency to takes precedent over everything I have written above, when it comes to deciding what sort of project is best for us all. It’s the “what we want” factor!

Those three words actually carry more weight in most people’s decision making process than any of the other things they will take into consideration!-  It shouldn’t be that way, but, in many cases, it is!

The thought of a “dream home” in a “dream location” can create such a strong “pull” that “finances”, “logic” and “common sense” can often tend to be thrown out of the window!

The points I have made above are all “well and good”, but we are all human! – We all have dreams, and if you are the type of person who is prepared to go through the process of planning a carrying out a major project like this, the chances are that you will want to achieve something that is as near to “your dream” at the end of it, as possible.

Often “common sense” fights a bit of a losing battle with “the dream”!

 So, for families, the kids, and work and finance ARE important. BUT, being human, you will naturally tend to argue the case that your “dream option” actually does sound like the best and most sensible option! 

That’s fine in itself. The determination to succeed brought on by fighting to create a dream is very important in one of these projects, especially when its pouring down and you have to go out in it for hours on end to do something which just HAS to be done by tomorrow!   That goal of creating your dream is a major incentive for you to pull on the damp wellies and get out there!

However, before you make any final decisions, at least try your best to pull your reigns in!

Read this guide and do some homework, and make note of what you read and learn.

If you don’t, and you just blunder on with your dream idea regardless of the facts that keep “slapping you in the face”, you could end up making the wrong decisions and land yourself in trouble, one way or another.

Whichever age group, family set up, or type of person you are, try not to get bogged down in months and months of researching, looking at figures and studying, - before you actually start to move forward with any particular option. If you do, there is a good chance that you will never get round to doing anything.

There is a sliding scale, which works along the lines that the longer you plan without any action being taken, the less likely you are to ever start!

You don’t need to be a specialist in every relevant subject to do with your project to be able to start – You just need enough knowledge to be able to move forward without making any MAJOR wrong decisions. Then you need to take care at each stage along the way, and make sure you have done enough “homework” for you to know “just enough” about each area so that you won’t be “taken for a ride” by anyone and also so you can watch for the pitfalls. – This whole project will be a “learning process” for you, but if you spend all your time “planning” and not enough “doing”, it just won’t get off the ground.