Big J on radio 4..

[Richard 1234]

3 minutes ago, Big J said:

Agreed.

 

I accept that I'm in a possibly unique position with my wife's profession and me being a semi retired sawmiller. That said, I'd still probably just buy a kit house as it only takes 14 weeks to build! Danwood do some really nice, and reasonably priced houses. We would probably go for their model "Point 227" with a few minor modifications.

I could get what I want now I suppose but I’m too frightened of the size of mortgage it would need so I’m saving still. If the boys go to university I guess it will be another 10 years?

[harvey b davison]

The problem with self build, is that you still can't have exactly what you want, as it's still dictated by planning / building regs etc.
My parents built their own place 30 years ago, a small bungalow on a small plot of land.
They had to buy the land at market value ( no getting around it) and then make compromises on the style etc to get permission. They then had to pay the going rate to various tradesmen to get the building completed. When they had it valued once completed it was worth more than they put into it, but this is normal with everything. But they still did not have what they first wanted Because they had to make compromises, again no getting away from it.
I myself, want to self build a proper log cabin, and unless I could build one then I wouldn't self build, because what is the point, I wouldn't be getting what I want but what someone else is wanting and allowing me to build. I eventually will probably do it on a small scale in a woodland at some point.
I can see and understand some of big j arguments but in reality there is just no getting around planning /building regs, prices etc, and in some cases these are totally understandable.
Cheers
H.

[Chalgravesteve]

But ultimately, if you got hold of the land as cheaply as you want and build your perfect home, but on the plot next door that you will look at for the rest of your life, the guy builds an absolute shite eyesore, you would want something that stopped him doing that. You cannot surely just be advocating that anyone can build anything anywhere? So you want planning laws that suit you, not the ones that don’t. 

 

And a kit home from Poland, doesn’t sound to me like a self build. That’s a self assembly of a building developers building! 

[LeeGray]

9 hours ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

 

For 2 - it’s easy to underestimate the Labour (and patience) intensity of these ventures. Customers are horrible, demanding, self opinionated twats and can very easily sap your will to live or sue the ass off you when THEY do something blatantly stupid. 

 

Ha, now that’s my life Kev!

[ESS]

12 hours ago, Big J said:

But the increase in the perceived value of land is only serving to accentuate the wealth gap and inequality in the UK. Small holdings are a long standing tradition, and economically viable when correctly managed. For instance, if I planted 10 acres of hybrid poplar, I could realise an annual return of around £9k from thinning operations every 3 years. That is more profitable than many farms operating on the same area. There is also ample potential for income diversification, in terms of forest schools/nurseries, camp sites, glamping etc. 

Since when has 10 acres of poplar been a smallholding? 

Why do you feel everything has to be dictated by profit ? a lot of the smaller farms are bought by people buying a lifestyle, is that wrong?

My parents were farmers, worked very hard all their lives, my Grandfather on my Fathers side died before they any of his children left school, consequently they had to let the family farm go, they had nothing.

I saw the hours Dad worked as a single handed manager on a hill farm , it wasn't easy.

Eventually through hard work they bought their own land , and semi retired to a small farm they bought outright from graft.

He wasn't looking for profit, just spending time on land he had bought with a small amount of stock. There are others that do the same, do we begrudge people that? I don't.

 

 

[ESS]

1 minute ago, Big J said:

I don't begrudge it either. What I begrudge is the special privileges afforded to them. 

 

In the UK it seems that the only form of land management valued is farming. That's probably why we have such low forest cover. Forestry is of equal importance, and should be equally valued. With the widespread take up of RHI accredited schemes, undertaking a planting scheme with the stated intent of providing quickly grown biomass seems very sustainable to me. Especially given that installations such as KRE are sucking up timber from all over the south of the UK, with plenty of higher grade timber ending up being chipped for lack of alternative.

 

I would personally define a small holding as a small holding of rural land. It's sustainably managed to provide an income, or at the very least doesn't cost the tax payer anything. I don't see the justification for wanting to take on a small plot of land and then exploiting grant funding to subsidise some distortion of the Good Life.

What special priveleges do you think my parents had then?

If you look at the history of mass planting in the UK over the past 40 years I think it would be different to what you are trying to portray. There has been planting, fencing, drainage, roadbuilding , establishment grants, there has also been tax breaks. Tens upon millions were invested in grant aid/tax relief to plant thousands of acres of peat ground to grow Sitka, tens of millions have been spent since deforesting and restoring them,the produce sold tax free,are they not priveleges?

[Chalgravesteve]

2 hours ago, Big J said:

 

Anything we built would not be an eyesore. For starters, you would be unlikely to see it as it would surrounded by woodland (that we planted). Secondly, whether it's the German in me or what, but I cannot stand mess. When I ran the sawmill, it was meticulously organised. I would completely understand anyone objecting to an eyesore, but that would not be me.

 

Self build is the administration of the build of your house, according to your specifications. Whether that is you building it yourself, with your own hands, or contracting in someone else to do it. You are still in charge of the build.

 

As regards the kit houses, check out the Danwood website. They have over a hundred different designs, which are highly customisable. You have a choice there that no mass developer here would offer, and very few if any would match the U values.

No bigj you misunderstand me. I don’t mean your house will be the eyesore. I’m sure yours will be spot on. It’s the shite mess that someone else wants to put up on an adjoining plot that everyone else has to see, even if you don’t as you have walled yourself in with trees, because if you can buy a plot of land cheaply and build what you like then so can everyone else. Who controls what can be built, where, and what it looks like. Oh. That’s planning laws. 

[ESS]

2 minutes ago, Chalgravesteve said:

No bigj you misunderstand me. I don’t mean your house will be the eyesore. I’m sure yours will be spot on. It’s the shite mess that someone else wants to put up on an adjoining plot that everyone else has to see, even if you don’t as you have walled yourself in with trees, because if you can buy a plot of land cheaply and build what you like then so can everyone else. Who controls what can be built, where, and what it looks like. Oh. That’s planning laws. 

Or a chicken farm.

[LeeGray]

19 minutes ago, Big J said:

I don't begrudge it either. What I begrudge is the special privileges afforded to them. 

 

In the UK it seems that the only form of land management valued is farming. That's probably why we have such low forest cover. Forestry is of equal importance, and should be equally valued. With the widespread take up of RHI accredited schemes, undertaking a planting scheme with the stated intent of providing quickly grown biomass seems very sustainable to me. Especially given that installations such as KRE are sucking up timber from all over the south of the UK, with plenty of higher grade timber ending up being chipped for lack of alternative.

 

I would personally define a small holding as a small holding of rural land. It's sustainably managed to provide an income, or at the very least doesn't cost the tax payer anything. I don't see the justification for wanting to take on a small plot of land and then exploiting grant funding to subsidise some distortion of the Good Life.

I can’t be arsed to back through all the posts but I’m sure you’ve said in this exact thread that you’ll go for grant funding. You want to take on a small plot of land. This will subsidise your distortion of the good life. 

 

I don't know you from adam and a lot of the stuff you put up on here is very useful and I admire what you’re doing work wise but on this subject you are being a total hypocrite.

[openspaceman]

12 hours ago, Richard 1234 said:

I could get what I want now I suppose but I’m too frightened of the size of mortgage it would need so I’m saving still. If the boys go to university I guess it will be another 10 years?

At the risk of thread drift; why should sending boys to university affect your choice of mortgage?

 

Ignoring the business of whether the economy values hordes of graduates; isn't it self funded by loans nowadays and only those who do land well paid jobs  finance the system, or picked up by tax payers for those that don't repay (the best ploy IMO)

 

I only had one daughter go to university nearly 30 years ago and it probably only cost me £10k as she received a grant but now I would let a child rack up a student loan and gift them a deposit for a house.

 

In fact we have provided or paid a substantial part of houses for both daughters.

 

As to the housing demand; it looks to me that there is a continued migration to urban areas for workers and a demand for retirement homes in desired areas like Devon, trouble is for our sort of work you really need to be within 20 miles of the bulk of your customers. The demand on property is fuelled by people having money for investment and housing is a better investment since the vast amount of council housing was sold off ( I imagine most of those houses are now owned by the buy to let people and rented out at a lot more than the original council tenants paid in real terms).. Also, as was pointed out by one of the Scottish contingent, UK is a safe haven for money and the crash of the pound since being exposed to the uncertainty of leaving the EU over the last three years makes purchase of property for renting out a steal. Try that in Thailand.