The Secret to Building The Dream

MBC Timber Frame

NEVER GIVE UP ON THE PLOT OF YOUR DREAMS

For Business Consultant Kaye Edwards and her Physiotherapist daughter Sarah, their stunning new MBC home called “Bryer”, set in an AONB and enjoying incredible views overlooking the Llangollen Valley, is the realisation of a process which began over thirty years ago.

Like many of us, Kaye has spent much of her adult life thinking that one day she’d build her own home. An ambitious plan, way back in 1989, when Kaye tried to buy the bungalow called “Bryer”, was foiled by an inability, at that time, to sell her own home.

However, by keeping an eye on “Bryer”, Kaye’s dream finally began to turn to reality when, three decades later, Kaye was able to seal the purchase, in April 2019 on what by then, had become an uninhabitable sad and sorry bungalow suitable only for demolition.

Finally, proving the point that your plot and its location means so much in the self build world, Kaye had the chance to self build the new “Bryer”.

Always wanting to start a self build from scratch, as opposed to an ambitious conversion or renovation, the dilapidated “Bryer” gave Kaye both the chance at a demolition and ground up self build, as well as the realisation of a long held dream to buy the property which she had held dear for many years.

Completing the purchase in April 2019, it took Kaye’s appointed architect until October of that year to pull together the necessary planning application – timed nicely to ensure that she received her consent to demolish and build in January 2020 – a month that we will all remember as the calm before the storm of “pandemic lockdown”.

“Covid 19 was devastating and tragic for so many families and their loved ones, we just wanted to build a house – it hardly seemed important in the context of national events, but we pressed on with our research during the lockdown weeks,” says Kaye.

The quite weeks of lockdown gave Kaye a real chance to investigate a plethora of build solutions. Timber frame as a way forward, in particular the slab construction and Passiv timber frame solution from MBC, caught Kaye’s eye early in the research process.

When Kaye started to look at the many and varied timber frame options available from a range of suppliers, it was the fact that MBC would supply both the entire slab construction and frame supply and erection that swayed her.

Kaye adds: “I saw the build as rather similar to a piece of Project Management that I might do at work and a key element of any project management is “risk reduction” – to my mind contracting to do all of the slab and frame works with MBC Timberframe was a relatively easy decision to make.”

Another easy decision that Kaye took early on was to upgrade to a full Passive frame solution from MBC Timberframe. At the outset of her planning she hadn’t really given “passive” much thought but the more she researched and understood the relative benefits when compared to the increased cost, she made the decision in favour of the upgrade.

“Asking questions and sharing experiences with others is key”

Kaye left few stones unturned when her MBC Sales Consultant, Lee Broomhall, presented her with the opportunity to visit and see other MBC projects in her area and talk not only with individual MBC self builders but also an MBC client who had constructed 12 new homes on a site not too far away.

“I asked endless questions. Not only when I visited, but long after, I’d return to the same very helpful faces and ask again or ask different questions. I can’t over emphasize the importance of talking about your thoughts and ideas with those who’ve ‘been there and done that’. Not only is their knowledge 1^st hand, it was given with such enthusiasm and care,“ says Kaye.

Kaye also found those she “met” online on the BuildHub Self Build Forum (https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/) to be hugely supportive and helpful in offering advice based on real experience. But not just advice. It was through conversations with self builders on BuildHub, and former MBC clients, that Kaye met and retained the services of one Terry McCann, a very experienced joiner but general all round “mine of building competence” who subsequently became Kaye’s Building Contractor in Chief.

“It was because current and former MBC clients and the Build Hub Forum introduced me to local people who had achieved what I wanted to that I had the confidence to keep moving forward, and as all self builders know, there are times when you need that confidence and re-assuring voice at the end of the phone.”

“Never underestimate the grey areas that fall between the building trades”

When asked what, amongst many lessons she had learned from her self build experience, Kaye is quick to point out that individual building trades can be guilty of making decisions about where their work finishes and another starts. Of course, surrounding yourself with the best tradesmen you can is important. But equally worthy of note is understanding where they believe their particular piece of work starts and finishes. Often the natural “dovetail” that you’d think exists, simply doesn’t.

Recommendations for trades that can help with your project are key. There is no better way to find a good tradesperson than to have him or her recommended to you by a fully satisfied customer. Kaye tried to stick to this whenever she could and the sheer quality of the finished “Bryer” bears out her determination to do so.

As a Business Consultant Kaye is used to summarising her thoughts in a succinct and straightforward way. Does she have any advice for those just beginning the self build journey? She says:

Build Relationships. From the moment I started looking at timber frame suppliers the relationship you build with your chosen supplier is absolutely key.
Talk to as many people as you can and get recommendations from them.
Ask you builders questions. Understand why they are doing what they are doing.
Challenge people. Check, double check and double check again dimensions. Delays due to supplies being made, with inaccurate dimensions, can run roughshod over all sorts of timelines and deadlines.
Get site visits done – you learn as much about the build process as well as the actual specifics of timber frame construction.
Ask for recommendations for trades from people you trust.
Assume nobody will do what they are supposed to do when they are supposed to do it
Farmers are very useful – 3 local farmers have appeared and pulled various bits of plant and trucks out of the mud.
Check, check and check again window dimensions
Find a good builders merchant
If you build a passive house you become obsessed with avoiding drilling holes in the structure, be sure that your trades understand this point.
You can do lots of the easy stuff yourself EG: The tree survey, Building Regs liaison, CDM, Landscape – these things eat up money
The things that ensure your money evaporates are not the things you expect, watch out for aggregates, welfare hire, scaffolding and ……various pieces of timber needed for all sorts of mysterious things!