If you would like to book a consultation with me you can do so here - www.reallifearchitecture.co.uk/online-services Please read the terms and conditions before you book.
I've lived 2 years in exactly this, except with a window, and triple terrace around it. I could legally build a palissade all around, have lots of kitchen plants and flowers. I could have one tarp per side. I put the washing machine outside. It was heaven.
Good vid 👍 How about a 3 bed? Slightly upgraded, so not absolute lowest. So many married couples with two kids sepperating and completely stuck. Like me.
Interesting concept Neil and a great video. Love the facial expressions 😁 I'm a big advocate of simple designs and not building it the way we've always done it. I'm a chartered building surveyor and I mainly work within building regulation as a contractor. The amount of time I end up having a conversation with the designer and builder about them using different options is amazing. The building industry needs to change and be more open to change and the perception that all houses must be bricks and motar needs to go. Also the shipping containers 🙄 the name gives it away its not a house 👍
Thank you! You are the second person to point out my facial expressions, honestly I didn’t know I was doing anything different. Now I’ve got a complex 🤣
I absolutely love this video - and I am so glad it is being made available to the wider world! How extraordinary to be looking at this end of the market, where there is so much need in the UK. I have an idea for a group to collectively buy a plot of land, pool resources and apply for planning to develop Compact Home Plots. Teignbridge Council in Devon have approved this in policy with the NDSS. There is even a dedicated register for people willing to self build and live in a radically smalller home. I am thinking of a Park Home site as a great template, with a flying factory set up on site, and allowing self builders to live on site and all pitch in to finish off the homes if produced as a shell or kit. Very excited about this! Could use reclaimed materials, windows and doors etc. Lots of local makers in the area too. Could be financed as a social enterprise group self build perhaps
A tiny conversion has just been done near me (labelled a barn conversion but really just a double garage). Passed the old building all the time and often thought it might be replaced with a house one day. It's under 6x6m, but with approx 45 degree pitch roof so single bedroom upstairs. Finished thing is looking smart and nice detached plot with no near neighbours. No idea what it cost them.
Fantastic video! It’s good to hear your views as an expert on costs and all the regulations. I have a friend overseas who has got in bother with the local authority for not checking the regulations before renovating. Im going to check out your other videos now!
This is a fantastic video. Love the comic expressions. Would love to see a video along these lines on building a new affordable (rather than cheapest possible), well insulated and fire rated extension for extra bedroom and bathroom. Lots of people have driveway space down the sides of their house, maybe with a freestanding garage, that could be used for a good extension. Keep doing videos, they are great 😊.
@@RealLifeArchitecture Ok, confession time: I actually posted my initial comment before I watched! (Great video btw) However, I've identified a narrow vacant (possibly brownfield) plot between 2 new build semis. How do I not snooker myself by applying for pre-planning BEFORE I speculatively purchase the land for my self build? Surely this will increase the land cost. Thx in advance 👍🏿
I found this video very interesting especially the point that the land values are a determinant factor over and above the lowest possible building cost. Given the lack of housing in many parts of the UK if the Government was serious about forcing an increase in supply then they need to adopt a radical approach. Perhaps by introducing Compulsory Purchase Orders for building land then introducing a series of house designs (as per the furniture utility designs after WW2). An economy of scale ought to be achievable for offsite manufacture of a reduced range of designs. The major obstacle to that being achieved, I suggest, is that it would very likely bring down the values of a large section of the existing housing and be opposed by those existing homeowners. Politicians are afraid of losing voters and would be too cowardly to implement such a scheme. So expect to carry on seeing the homeless still living in tents and shopdoorways for the foreseeable future.
I would swap the felt for grp its way easier for diy . I got my head around mixing resin and rolling glass in a day . Wouldn't even consider tar for diy . I did a pitched roof with green tin on my tiny house . Entire roof was like 500 quid and took me 3 hrs. Swap the pvc for cedrum cladding. Barley more expensive and is fire proof. Swap the inside pvc for t&g planks that stuf is literally £10a mtr . They can leave it pine or paint it . Or just use plasterboard. Tape and jointing isnt beyond a diy person they will just find themselves doing more sanding. Other than that spot on. Thats my feedback from 20 years doing carpentry, drywall and groundworks .
Very interesting. I was looking at containers, but as you say, if they worked, everyone would be using them! I read that the cost to build in the UK is £1700 to £3000 per sq m depending on where and what level of finish. Did your costings confirm that the cost is split, more or less 50/50 materials and labour? Realistically a home of any real use is going to have to be at least 75 to 100 sq m, so not a studio/bedsit.
Very interesting watch. Definitely think alot if these elements could be incorporated into new affordable housing. Interested on how you worked out Labour costs, as a sparky myself in N. Ireland the cost of electrical work seems a little steep, considering the size of the building, short cable runs and no walls to chase. Also what would the breakdown of materials alone be for say a DIY build, and material price comparisons from now to say 5 years ago. As with the covid backlogs pushing everything up to silly prices.
Thoughts on making some spherical shape out of OSB and light framing, setting it in a pit with gravel infill and liner, and covering it with a pond liner and bags of dirt from the excavated pit?
it would be a nice starter kit home for a big development project keeps the initial costs low whilst living on site although if I were going down that road I could save on more costs by ignoring the regs altogether or living out of a car
In order to site a caravan I need planning permission to build a house I can't afford the house yet so need the very cheapest option to get around planning. Will check your other vids Thanks for the info
I converted a single skin pitched roof double garage into a one bed flat by installing (I think 100 mm of Celotex) internally, insulating to attic and so on. It met the bldg regs and the buyer got a mtge on it. So, surely a breeze block dwelling with (today) 150 mm Celotex internals would exceed current Regs and be cheap to build? Are we not over engineering this? Many thanks!
£60,000 for a starter home. I would build it myself and save lots on labour. I would 100% do this. the max a bank would lend me is £100,000 and I earn almost 30k I littaraly cant buy a single already built place. plus I have tons of construction experience (5-6 years) I just need help finding land and getting the funding
I did a similar project as part of my part 2. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to have the shower room slightly bigger so that the building has a square footprint reducing labour costs and wastages?
Possibly, yes but, after thinking about it, I decided the step in the plan illustrated what happens when a building is designed to meet the regs and nothing else.
There should be NO minimum space standards. Everyone should be free to choose what they want. There's ultra small living places in Japan, for city workers these are ideal as you only go home to effectively sleep. People wonder why there's no affordable housing in the UK well too many do-gooders imposing red tape and requirements.
I’ve been in a straw bale house once, it was very cosy. I also grew up in a farming community and I know the type of bails used in the walls are very rare now. The bailing machines used to make them have been replaced by much larger models used to produce massive bails of the type found in modern farms which require tractors to move them. The old style bail could be manually handled.
The biggest advantage of building with strawbales was how it empowered the builder through the speed and simplicity of construction, together with the ergonomics of the building process, However, it has a number of drawbacks that led me to turn away from the idea. Firstly, the depth of the wall structure increases the size of building for comparable internal space, so everything else has to be scaled up accordingly, such as roof, groundworks, internal and external finishes etc.; strawbales can be cheap, but strawbales buildings are not, as only 10% of the cost is the wall system. There's no such thing as a tiny straw bale house. Secondly, one day the house will be sold. Who is going to buy a house that is built using a concealed organic structural component built by amateurs that may have rotted owing to the unseen ingress of moisture? The structure is almost impossible to reliably survey, so any potential buyer is taking a big risk, making it less easy to sell and adversely affecting resale value. All this for the use of a material that represents less than 10% of the building cost. Thirdly, the availability of straw bales heavily constrains the building process and timetable; construction quality bales are only available in certain areas of the country at particular times of the year. Transportation of bales to other parts of the country eliminates any cost savings the construction method might bring. Why introduce these constraints into an already fraught building process?
That’s the price of keeping costs low. BTW timber frame is widely used and well understood where I work. My house is timber frame. It lasts indefinitely so long as the building is used. If it’s left empty and ingested for a few years mould can start
@@RealLifeArchitecture instead of using all that manufactured crap…. Make some hot mix and stack bricks like your better ancestors. Here’s the formula for the cheapest structure over time: 80,000 bricks, 30 tons quick lime, 50 tons sand. 75 Timbers. Fold wet sand into quick 2:1, put brick on top brick. When it’s tall enough to stand in put some beams across. Use the other beams to make a pointy thing on top. Deck with boards and slate. Done. Multigenerational wealth here we come! Assuming 120k materials and 80k labor for one man with hand tools. Can build in 275 days. It will provide shelter for at least 200 years before needing new investment in the envelope. So, 200k initial investment…. 200 years of service life.. that’s 83 dollars a month “rent” to provide permanent noble shelter and no barcodes or manufactured shit… just folk technology. Hell if you have the minerals and timber on your land you can just get them from the ground.
If you would like to book a consultation with me you can do so here - www.reallifearchitecture.co.uk/online-services
Please read the terms and conditions before you book.
I've lived 2 years in exactly this, except with a window, and triple terrace around it. I could legally build a palissade all around, have lots of kitchen plants and flowers. I could have one tarp per side. I put the washing machine outside. It was heaven.
Good vid 👍
How about a 3 bed?
Slightly upgraded, so not absolute lowest.
So many married couples with two kids sepperating and completely stuck. Like me.
Good idea, might take me a while to get round to making this. I have a long list of content topics to get through
Interesting concept Neil and a great video. Love the facial expressions 😁 I'm a big advocate of simple designs and not building it the way we've always done it. I'm a chartered building surveyor and I mainly work within building regulation as a contractor. The amount of time I end up having a conversation with the designer and builder about them using different options is amazing. The building industry needs to change and be more open to change and the perception that all houses must be bricks and motar needs to go. Also the shipping containers 🙄 the name gives it away its not a house 👍
Thank you!
You are the second person to point out my facial expressions, honestly I didn’t know I was doing anything different. Now I’ve got a complex 🤣
I absolutely love this video - and I am so glad it is being made available to the wider world! How extraordinary to be looking at this end of the market, where there is so much need in the UK. I have an idea for a group to collectively buy a plot of land, pool resources and apply for planning to develop Compact Home Plots. Teignbridge Council in Devon have approved this in policy with the NDSS. There is even a dedicated register for people willing to self build and live in a radically smalller home. I am thinking of a Park Home site as a great template, with a flying factory set up on site, and allowing self builders to live on site and all pitch in to finish off the homes if produced as a shell or kit. Very excited about this! Could use reclaimed materials, windows and doors etc. Lots of local makers in the area too. Could be financed as a social enterprise group self build perhaps
A tiny conversion has just been done near me (labelled a barn conversion but really just a double garage). Passed the old building all the time and often thought it might be replaced with a house one day. It's under 6x6m, but with approx 45 degree pitch roof so single bedroom upstairs. Finished thing is looking smart and nice detached plot with no near neighbours. No idea what it cost them.
Fantastic video! It’s good to hear your views as an expert on costs and all the regulations. I have a friend overseas who has got in bother with the local authority for not checking the regulations before renovating. Im going to check out your other videos now!
Glad you found it useful
This is a fantastic video. Love the comic expressions. Would love to see a video along these lines on building a new affordable (rather than cheapest possible), well insulated and fire rated extension for extra bedroom and bathroom. Lots of people have driveway space down the sides of their house, maybe with a freestanding garage, that could be used for a good extension. Keep doing videos, they are great 😊.
Thank you! I will put this on the list of future videos
If it has 4 walls, a tight roof and level access, I'll take it!
Doesn’t have level access. In fact, there are a ton of things it doesn’t have
Level access could be designed in but I put two steps leading to a platform outside the door instead
@@RealLifeArchitecture Ok, confession time: I actually posted my initial comment before I watched! (Great video btw) However, I've identified a narrow vacant (possibly brownfield) plot between 2 new build semis. How do I not snooker myself by applying for pre-planning BEFORE I speculatively purchase the land for my self build? Surely this will increase the land cost. Thx in advance 👍🏿
@@whyyoulidl no easy answer to that one. Have you seen my video on what to check before buying land ruclips.net/video/6JRB_dKDoxw/видео.html
@@RealLifeArchitecture thx again for the quick response; will go check that out now...
I found this video very interesting especially the point that the land values are a determinant factor over and above the lowest possible building cost. Given the lack of housing in many parts of the UK if the Government was serious about forcing an increase in supply then they need to adopt a radical approach. Perhaps by introducing Compulsory Purchase Orders for building land then introducing a series of house designs (as per the furniture utility designs after WW2). An economy of scale ought to be achievable for offsite manufacture of a reduced range of designs. The major obstacle to that being achieved, I suggest, is that it would very likely bring down the values of a large section of the existing housing and be opposed by those existing homeowners. Politicians are afraid of losing voters and would be too cowardly to implement such a scheme. So expect to carry on seeing the homeless still living in tents and shopdoorways for the foreseeable future.
I would swap the felt for grp its way easier for diy . I got my head around mixing resin and rolling glass in a day . Wouldn't even consider tar for diy . I did a pitched roof with green tin on my tiny house . Entire roof was like 500 quid and took me 3 hrs.
Swap the pvc for cedrum cladding. Barley more expensive and is fire proof. Swap the inside pvc for t&g planks that stuf is literally £10a mtr . They can leave it pine or paint it . Or just use plasterboard. Tape and jointing isnt beyond a diy person they will just find themselves doing more sanding.
Other than that spot on. Thats my feedback from 20 years doing carpentry, drywall and groundworks .
Very interesting. I was looking at containers, but as you say, if they worked, everyone would be using them! I read that the cost to build in the UK is £1700 to £3000 per sq m depending on where and what level of finish. Did your costings confirm that the cost is split, more or less 50/50 materials and labour?
Realistically a home of any real use is going to have to be at least 75 to 100 sq m, so not a studio/bedsit.
Thank you Neal. I bet more than one punter will be contacting you regarding this micro-house!
🤣 have you watched that scene in The Fountainhead, where the Architect blows up his own building…
Very interesting watch. Definitely think alot if these elements could be incorporated into new affordable housing. Interested on how you worked out Labour costs, as a sparky myself in N. Ireland the cost of electrical work seems a little steep, considering the size of the building, short cable runs and no walls to chase. Also what would the breakdown of materials alone be for say a DIY build, and material price comparisons from now to say 5 years ago. As with the covid backlogs pushing everything up to silly prices.
Extremely useful. You so straight forwars❤🎉❤
Thoughts on making some spherical shape out of OSB and light framing, setting it in a pit with gravel infill and liner, and covering it with a pond liner and bags of dirt from the excavated pit?
it would be a nice starter kit home for a big development project
keeps the initial costs low whilst living on site
although if I were going down that road I could save on more costs by ignoring the regs altogether or living out of a car
Fascinating stuff. Cheers.
No problem
Fantastic video, would you mind uploading the material cost sheet please.
In order to site a caravan I need planning permission to build a house
I can't afford the house yet so need the very cheapest option to get around planning.
Will check your other vids Thanks for the info
I converted a single skin pitched roof double garage into a one bed flat by installing (I think 100 mm of Celotex) internally, insulating to attic and so on. It met the bldg regs and the buyer got a mtge on it. So, surely a breeze block dwelling with (today) 150 mm Celotex internals would exceed current Regs and be cheap to build? Are we not over engineering this? Many thanks!
£60,000 for a starter home. I would build it myself and save lots on labour. I would 100% do this. the max a bank would lend me is £100,000 and I earn almost 30k I littaraly cant buy a single already built place. plus I have tons of construction experience (5-6 years) I just need help finding land and getting the funding
The land, and planning permission, is the major stumbling block
I did a similar project as part of my part 2. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to have the shower room slightly bigger so that the building has a square footprint reducing labour costs and wastages?
Possibly, yes but, after thinking about it, I decided the step in the plan illustrated what happens when a building is designed to meet the regs and nothing else.
Loved the video! Greetings from the US
Thank you. I would really like to do a video talking to a US architect who works on similar projects to me. Just to see the differences
What do you think Of the Walter Segal method? Isn't it meant to be extremely cost effective and do-able by someone with minimal skills? Thanks
There should be NO minimum space standards. Everyone should be free to choose what they want. There's ultra small living places in Japan, for city workers these are ideal as you only go home to effectively sleep. People wonder why there's no affordable housing in the UK well too many do-gooders imposing red tape and requirements.
It looks good enough to me to live in it on my land while I am building my house.
thank you!
Straw bale houses can be be very cost effective and exceed fire, insulation regs. etc. Thoughts?
I’ve been in a straw bale house once, it was very cosy. I also grew up in a farming community and I know the type of bails used in the walls are very rare now. The bailing machines used to make them have been replaced by much larger models used to produce massive bails of the type found in modern farms which require tractors to move them. The old style bail could be manually handled.
@@RealLifeArchitecture there are the Ecococon prefabricated panels aswell. A lot easier to attain Passive House standardsm
The biggest advantage of building with strawbales was how it empowered the builder through the speed and simplicity of construction, together with the ergonomics of the building process, However, it has a number of drawbacks that led me to turn away from the idea.
Firstly, the depth of the wall structure increases the size of building for comparable internal space, so everything else has to be scaled up accordingly, such as roof, groundworks, internal and external finishes etc.; strawbales can be cheap, but strawbales buildings are not, as only 10% of the cost is the wall system. There's no such thing as a tiny straw bale house.
Secondly, one day the house will be sold. Who is going to buy a house that is built using a concealed organic structural component built by amateurs that may have rotted owing to the unseen ingress of moisture? The structure is almost impossible to reliably survey, so any potential buyer is taking a big risk, making it less easy to sell and adversely affecting resale value. All this for the use of a material that represents less than 10% of the building cost.
Thirdly, the availability of straw bales heavily constrains the building process and timetable; construction quality bales are only available in certain areas of the country at particular times of the year. Transportation of bales to other parts of the country eliminates any cost savings the construction method might bring. Why introduce these constraints into an already fraught building process?
@@sailingoctopus1 some good points. Using ModCell or Ecococon prefabricated panels resolves most of your concerns.
I want to buy a plot&site a caravan,then build cheap&extend in future
I think your house should be built with extension in mind...call that the porch
Brilliant . But wonder of it could be cheaper self building it?
Only if you have considerable experience in construction and a network of trades people to call on.
Amateurs + Self Build = Disaster
@RealLifeArchitect infact it would be cheaper without an architect involved in any way 😉
@@poppypiesdad1 my latest video is on this exact subject, check it out. Do Not Self Build Your Home, Unless…
ruclips.net/video/mR3Aq0ELri4/видео.html
Isnt the main cost the land?
I am seeing ppl in place like California building these for garden room or home office. Is it an American concept?
There are numerous UK companies selling prefab garden offices
Interesting and funny
Thabk you !
Tbh I like the idea but don’t like the sound of timber frame and no real foundation, not built to last
That’s the price of keeping costs low.
BTW timber frame is widely used and well understood where I work. My house is timber frame. It lasts indefinitely so long as the building is used. If it’s left empty and ingested for a few years mould can start
Do we need planning for the £27k minimal house?
Planning is required for a house, regardless of the cost
It could be classed as a "cabin" and will they not allow it under permitted? @@RealLifeArchitecture
@@ExoticDoll no, the planners are not going to fall for that.
Very nice niel but you opening doors for some evil lusty real estators
Yes. Burn lime, fold into wet sand 1:3. Stack thing on top other thing. Mind the bonds. Architects are poverty.
?
@@RealLifeArchitecture instead of using all that manufactured crap…. Make some hot mix and stack bricks like your better ancestors. Here’s the formula for the cheapest structure over time: 80,000 bricks, 30 tons quick lime, 50 tons sand. 75 Timbers. Fold wet sand into quick 2:1, put brick on top brick. When it’s tall enough to stand in put some beams across. Use the other beams to make a pointy thing on top. Deck with boards and slate. Done. Multigenerational wealth here we come! Assuming 120k materials and 80k labor for one man with hand tools. Can build in 275 days.
It will provide shelter for at least 200 years before needing new investment in the envelope. So, 200k initial investment…. 200 years of service life.. that’s 83 dollars a month “rent” to provide permanent noble shelter and no barcodes or manufactured shit… just folk technology. Hell if you have the minerals and timber on your land you can just get them from the ground.
@@KurtisHord ?
@@imaresurcher all you need is timber, quicklime, and brick. None of this crap.
@@KurtisHord is that legal? how does that get past planning permission in uk?