Building a House on your dream plot

If you've always dreamed of building your perfect house on the perfect plot, how do you go about it?

Firstly, know your budget! There are two main components that will make up your budget - one is the price of the plot, and the other is the actual build cost. A nice 1/4 acre plot in a nice location might cost you £150,000. Obviously this entirely depends where it is, but you could search for plots in the area you are targeting, and get an idea of the price. A nice 4 bedroom house might cost £200,000 to build. Don't forget to budget for the driveway, landscaping, fencing, decorating and soft furnishings such as curtains and new furniture. People who are intersred in building houses on their dream plots have also shown interest in Putney Flats. A clear aproach to a Putney Flat is useful.

In the UK, your best plan is to identify your dream plot first, and then design a house to go on it. This might be a stone built property Newcastle Upon Tyne. You'll see many US house plans that you can lift off a web-site, but don't forget, in the US, plots tend to be "lots" of a consistent shape and size with little planning restrictions on positioning of windows and what type of room can go where. In the UK, we tend to need to design houses to fit the plot, not the other way around. Reading design books is a great place to start to gain inspiration and ideas for what you'd like, but ultimately you will need an architect / designer to translate these into plans. Make sure you manage your designer - you're the boss! Don't let them run away with Grand Designs ideas, unless you're not worried about budget. Make sure the house is how you'd like it - do you want open plan everywhere, or do you need compartments? Do you need en-suites to all the bedrooms, or just to one? Do you need a back door, a utility room, a boot room, a separate dining room, a home office? Write down your requirements first, prioritise them, and then compromise later if necessary.

Once you own the plot, and have a house design, it's time to obtain planning consent and then building regulations approval. If you live north of Newcastle, with a set of detailed drawings, you could for example start searching for a residential building contractor in Morpeth as they are known for having excellent local knowledge of stone built properties.