Certifying the self-build

Our mortgage lender required us to have the self-build certified. This meant that every phase of the project had to be assessed by a surveyor. We initially could not understand why it was necessary to have an independent surveyor when you also have to be inspected by the local Building Inspector. It seemed to us like a complete duplication of time, effort and hassle, however it is essential to have this piece of paper when in the future you need to sell the property.

So we had to find someone to carry out this function. Initially our thoughts turned to the NHBC - after all most new houses are certified by them aren't they? This was not possible in our case - they would not certify us because our self-build was recognised as a conversion. We decided to approach a local firm - Russen & Turner (www. russenturner.com) - with a Chartered Surveyor to see if they could carry out this role - and they could. We had used them previously to carry out a survey on a house we were buying, to carry out a survey on the barn and assess the soil conditions before we started the build - so they were a natural choice. We have always been delighted with the service which we received and we would recommend them to anyone - in fact we have! In addition to this we found it invaluable to have someone knowledgeable giving us guidance and looking after our interests. The fact we dealt with one representative of the company meant that we had continuity of service and built up an excellent working relationship. We also found that the detail in which the self-build was inspected by the independent surveyor and the Building Inspector varied considerably.

Getting a mortgage for a self-build - Buildstore

Most people require a mortgage unless they are lucky enough to have the readies. We tasked an independent mortgage advisor to find us a good deal for our self-build, however while he was doing his thing I carried out a bit of surfing and found Buildstore (www.buildstore.co.uk). It is worth noting that if you are carrying out a conversion many lenders do not want to know! I telephoned many lenders and did umpteem on-line applications only to be turned down! Buildstore gave us a deal that the mortgage advisior had to admit was better than he could get for us, so it worth doing a bit of research yourself.

The self-build mortgage that was recommended to us was a tracker with Lloyds TSB which had stage payments. This meant that we could request payments in stages and therefore only paid interest on the money that we had 'drawn down'. This gave useful peace of mind because if the build was to go slower than anticipated then we would only be paying out on what had used so far, not the whole lump sum. The other useful feature of this was that we could set the size of each of our stage payments. We were also recommended to borrow as much as we were allowed to. This meant that if we had got our calculations wrong or we came across unexpected costs we knew the money was there if we needed it. This precaution could then save us money. If at a later date we needed more than we had estimated we would not have to reapply again ie. going through the whole application/ valuation progress again. This didn't cost us any extra to do and because we were lucky enough not to need it - we didn't pay interest on it!

How it all began

My husband and I bought a property in a small village in Cambridgeshire which contained a house and barn. Whilst living in the house we applied for planning permission to convert the barn (well - 2 storey coach house) into a dwelling. It was an ideal situation to be in it as it meant that we did not have to live in a caravan, which was lucky as we had a baby on the way!

We chose an architect to draw up some plans which fitted our requirements for the finished house ensuring that they were sympathetic to the original building. That sounds like a conversion rather than a new build I hear you say, well yes and no. The barn is still there however we extended it quite extensively and put up a brick outer skin around the existing walls because 1, the barn was not really big enough for a four bedroomed house and 2, the bricks weren't really that exciting to look at. I assure you that the heart of the original barn is still there though!

We were very impressed with our architect. He was based in Barnsley and has never seen the property, before or after the build. We chose him because he had drawn up plans for other family members (which included self-builds) and we had therefore seen evidence of his work. It is important that you like the architect's work and that you are confident that you are going to get what you want (outline planning permitting of course).

Since we had our plans drawn up I believe the local planners have changed and now prefer to deal with a local architect. I also understand that they like to deal with architects as opposed to the 'self-builders' directly (only heresay however as our build is now complete) . There is a great deal to be said for good working relationships between the planners, building control, contractors and architects etc. That is the advantage of using locals as they are likely to already have a working relationship established.

Once the plans (outline and building regulations) were approved we then set about finding the money, the insurance, the surveyor and the trades to carry out the work - definately not as easy as it sounds...

Tip- It is worth driving around and having a look at new builds/ conversions in progress as often there is a board displaying the trade's name outside. It also doesn't hurt to knock on a few doors and ask for recommendations - we discovered that most self-builders were more than happy to show you around their property and to recommend people. It also gives you ideas on styles for your build e.g. bricks, slates, windows etc. It is much easier to look at them in situ them on a board or photograph in a builder's merchants.