House Builder's Diary

Well the title may seem lighthearted, but the reality is actually far worse. After the elation of finally getting my planning last week, I have thrown myself headlong into getting the build planned and on track. And no sooner have I started, I've been stopped in my tracks.

An inquiry to United Utilities about sewer connections has unearthed, literally a bigger problem than I could have anticipated. Apparently there is a sewer main running across my land, and the position of the sewer means that in all likely hood i will not be able to build my two houses, because the sewer needs a clear 3 m access to it. Did my solicitor bring this to my attention, NO, did the planners realize this when they gave me planning permission, NO, did I spot it when I bought the land, NO. So it seems it has properly slipped through the net. While my initial response to this terrible news was to point the finger, I realize that what I need to concentrate on is finding a solution to this problem. and it would seem solutions in this game don't come along easy.

I'm getting some great advice from people so far, and everyone bar united utilities are being very helpful. But they don't want to discuss this matter, and instead have asked me to leave it with them for 3 weeks and they'll get back to me then.

So bad news indeed, lets hope next time I update this it will be with better news.

It's funny, it has been such a long process getting planning, and I have put so much into it, now I have it I feel a little bit lost. What next? is my big question.

I think when you have such a big milestone it is easy to lose sight of the big picture, and I must admit this happens to me a lot. So what is next? well as I've done all the design work so far myself, I feel like it is getting time to hand over the reigns to someone with more experience. My brief chat with the building control guy on Tuesday left me feeling very inadequate, and I think that the project is going to run more smoothly with some expertise in the areas, which I am to all intents and purposes fairly clueless.

My other big issue is that of land contamination. It seems it a big thing these days with planning, and that it must be highly likely that this garden plot, is home to some nuclear waste or something which no-one has ever known about before. So I've commissioned the soil reports, and I only hope that they come back fine.

Then what of my foundations?, well i guess if my soil survey comes back ok, I can get some trial pits dug, and then I will have to pass this over to my new designer. It's all a bit unknown to me, lets see how it pans out.

So a decision has finally been made; I was of course supposed to be informed before Christmas about the outcome of my planning permission, to put two semi houses on the land instead of one detached house, which currently has planning. But no, there was an issue with the planning officer rather stupidly not informing one of the neighbors. Well I say one of the neighbors, I mean THE neighbor, the one next door, the one who would be effected most by the development! how stupid. so this has put me back 1 month, well I say one month, I was supposed to get planning two weeks ago, at least that was when is was signed off apparently. I didn't actually get my planning notice till 2 weeks later, i.e. last Friday, (they were too busy).

Anyway who cares now, i have it, and I'm chuffed to bits, I can't explain how exciting it is the prospect of building a house from scratch. So what next, well that is the burning question.

I've been told the service companies, gas, elec, water, are a law unto them selves, much like the planning department, and that you can't get onto them too soon. So I guess that is a major priority. Then there is building regs, and the ground survey, blimey i better get my skates on!

I'll be back soon with details of the new plans.

My other big issue is what am I going to call this start up enterprise. To me how I sell these properties is just as important as how i build them, so I gotta get it right. I'm toying with a few ideas at the moment, 'urban start' (which I think is quite young and trendy, but perhaps a bit too so), then there is 'beyond homes' which I think is quite cool also. I want to get this right so I'm not going to press the issue just yet.