willie.macleod
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- 840
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- Western Isles, Scotland
BTW I'm thinking of adapting a new pre made steel framework of an agricultural building like small barn as the basic shell.
Don't. This won't save you money in most cases and may introduce multiple issues to the build unless you are actually going for something like this http://www.pentan.co.uk/project/barnhaus/.
Although the general consensus on the thread seems to be planning and building regs are a bit backward and are just there to cause grief for the homeowner my own experience has been quite different. I designed and built my own house - did all the drawings, planning and building regs and the actual building of it including all the stuff that naysayers said I would have to pay others for such as the electrics. I found both planning and building control to be very helpful and every regulation that is in place is there for a reason, following them means ultimately we end up with better housing stock.
Work out your design requirements/brief then find a site that has potential. Once you have a site you can think about suitable designs that fit THAT site. I tried designing a house before I got my site and what I came up with would have been a terrible design for the site I bought. Your site dictates a lot. If you have a good design that suits the site then you can move forward and get some decent plans done and sort out planning/building regs applications. Learn about local vernaculars and which styles you like. I wouldn't put much faith in architects for the whole process, especially if you already have some ideas yourself, find a decent draftsperson in the locality whose style you like - chances are they have more experience putting together drawings that will achieve both planning and building regs approval as they will do far more drawings than architects and be aware of more of the technical pitfalls (such as the cill height for egress windows).
There really isn't anything stopping you from doing it yourself if you have the time and the inclination to learn. The building regs are free to download and already linked in the thread, English ones are looser than Scottish ones so you have fewer excuses for non-compliance ;-) But building regs are down the line and with a bit of thought most designs can be made to comply without too much difficulty. Lots of good self build books out there for nighttime reading, think I bought every available book over a few years and devoured them all. Do some practice drawings, either using a drawing board or a CAD setup. Use your own house as a practice drawing - log onto your local authority website and download a pile of recent applications to get an idea of the symbols used and drawing standards expected. Ask for help if you get stuck.