Building a house

Hi ladies I suppose this should be in house and home, but I figured I would get more replies here. I'm just looking for some guidance. Myself and h2b bought a house a year ago in an estate. H2B's dad has offered us a site, so now we are hoping to build. What do we do first?!! How do we go about planning, mortgage etc? How long does the process normally take? I'm totally clueless!

The short version: Try and find a house you want from plans etc, get some kind of estimate of how much it will cost, get mortgage approval in principle and apply for planning permission.If you get planning get the land changed into your name and draw down your mortgage. I know a great mortgage broker if you want his number. He is great on new house builds and is looking after us at the moment. If you want more detail, just ask.

Hi Daisy, We are just starting to look into this too. I think that some of the first things that need to be done are to get an architect to draw up plans. Then you need to make a public notice of your intention to apply for planning permission. After the public notice you can then apply for planning permission. I think that the planning permission stage usually takes 6 weeks. While this is happening you can get quotes for the cost of building the house and when you have them you make an application to your bank for the mortgage. But as I said I am at an earlier stage than you. So my order might not be 100%. We will be doing it at some stage in the next few years but are currently thinking that it might be a bit to stressful on the mind and the bank balance until the wedding is over. Plus it gives me something to plan after the wedding Best of luck with it

Just a word of warning. Try and suss out the planning permission first. eg. if the council only grant it to locals etc etc. We have planning and got it first time but had it not come through, we would have already spent €4,000 between architects, percolation etc. Great book in Easons for €9.95 at the moment for New House Builds. Its in the magazine section and is great. I wish we had known about it in the early stages. Go to my post in the House and HOme forum for the correct name.

Its all very exciting ! ! ! ! where in the country are you. We are just about to start building so just done the first few steps. Start by finding out who in your area has a good rep at getting planning, as they know what the council allow etc. no point in putting in for a house that will be shut down, Look at the type of houses built in the area lately. ( like if they are all dormer you may not get a 2 story! you will have to follow suit and keep to the roof levels etc...there is a code that the council can go by, try and get a copy of this. it will advise all these weird things like in cork your gable end cant be any longer than 8 metres! mad, I know, but you can get around this by steping the house. This is why I say look for someone who has got lots of planning recently. they will know all the rules. They may cost a bit but worth it in the long run. We went with a builder who did everything for us. it was sooo simple! we meet up looked at house designs he though we could get in the area and he did the planning for us. we have full say on the internal layout etc if your in cork or north cork pm me and i will pass on their details. He was great. he advised on all the steps etc.

Be wary of someone who's too knowledgable about the planning process- while you obviously want planning, you don't want too conservative a house design. Or maybe you do, just think about it first, do you want someone who may challenge the planners or some bog standard box. The other thing someone else said about getting quotes during the planning stages - most builders won't even quote you until you get planning as there are too many variables. Doing the same thing myself, what fun (for now...........), but we are still very much at the beginning. Speaking of which, is there anyone out there looking at A1/A2/Passive house building? I've found suppliers are almost sniggering at me when I ask which isn't terribly nice!

Firstly your major job is to get planning permission. It took me 3 years to get it. This involved several applications, changing minor points on the applications, changing architects. It is NOT an easy process. The planning takes 3 months from the date you submit it. It will NOT be processed before then. After this they will most likely has issues with what you want to build so you'll have to agree to changes. This takes time too. All this is dependant on where you want to build. Some areas are next to impossible to get permission in and you have to get your local councillor involved to argue your case, vouch that there is a social need that you live there (eg you help on your parents farm, you work in the area etc). This is why my planning took so long. My advice is to suss out the area, the types of builds and the time it took others to get permission. If its an area where planning is granted easily you'll have a lot more leeway in what you can build.

Thanks for all the advice ladies. It looks like it will be a stressful road! But will be hopefully worth it in the end. I think me and h2b need to sit down now and draw up a plan of action re: what we want etc. H2B is local and a lot of dormer style houses have gone up lately in the area so hopefully this is a good sign as it's what we are hoping to build. I agree with the suggestion to be wary of "box" like plans. This is not something we would want.