Mayflower Mortgage: So hello and welcome back to Self Builders Podcast brought to you by Mayfile Marketing and Finance. I'm your host again, Jack Dugan. And the reason why we've gone on this podcast is to talk through with Self Builders about real life projects, good bits, stressful bits, and everything in between. Today's episode, I'm excited to be joined by Rebecca, who has kindly agreed to come on and share their Self Build journey. how it started, how it's going and sort of where's hair up to now. So Rebecca, start at the beginning, can you introduce yourself and tell listeners a bit about sort of where you were in life when the idea of self-burden first came about and yeah, what was the original motivation really?

Rebekah James: Yep. Yeah, well, so we live on a farm and actually the council selected some of our land here to potentially do actually a big development and that land they had a few different pockets that they selected in our village and in the end they decided to develop. somewhere else in the village. However, it kind of begun this idea that actually, you know, it was land that was viable to be built on. It was very close to the development boundary. We're just adjoining the development boundary. And so we kind of started spiralling with this idea that maybe actually we could build on this land and we got a planning consultant in. Because also on our farm here we've converted a lot of the buildings here into commercial lets. So we've got a dog groomer and a cafe and a So it also made sense for us at that point to try and improve the access to the site. So that all kind of came into one in that we wanted to build on this anyway and then yeah, improve that. So that's where it started.

Mayflower Mortgage: Amazing and in terms of the sort of commercial side of things so how many residential sort of units have you got on your land now versus commercial or is it all tied in? Yep, yeah and the whole farm.

Rebekah James: On the whole farm, we've got typically the buildings, are sort of old Victorian buildings and the top has got flats in and the bottom has got commercial lets and we've got a more modern agricultural style building out the back as well. So in all we've got 12 business lets and three domestic lets and then there is also the main dwelling ⁓ sort of quite close by as well. So there's quite a bit going on here. Yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: bit going on and planning permissions often where if people get their first reality check right at the start so how did you find it? How is that? Was straightforward? Was it challenging? What you know was it what you were expecting? Probably the

Rebekah James: Yeah It's so hard. It's so hard. It's so hard because what happens is you start and then before you know it you're 10 or 20 grand in and you think I have to make this work now. I can't make this not work. they throw these other regulations and these other things at you and sometimes they haven't come down to actually see the site so they don't know what you're talking about.

Mayflower Mortgage: Hahaha

Rebekah James: and trying to get that across, but also obviously you feel that you have to be very beholden to these people because they're making a decision. And I think for them often, like this is just a small development, but for us it's like a make or break massive life-changing thing. And I think there's a gap between understanding the gravity of how this affects a small self builder like ourselves and... even though it's not a big development to them, it's so impactful to us. So the planning is, I would say, yeah, the hardest bit and to grit your teeth and keep going when they ask for another survey. And every time anybody digs up the ground, costs between 1,000 and 5,000 pounds.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah, it's a long, it can be a of a drawn out stage, especially when you've not. I think that's a good point as well to make to everyone that's sort of listening is that you do have to just sort of keep going. There is a disconnect. They sort of forget the human element, don't they? The planning side of things of it. It's very cold from, or can be very cold. And the planning consultant from your side, were they sort of instrumental in it or were you doing a lot of heavy lifting yourself?

Rebekah James: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, they were great really, but there were some things that, you know, you think you do this for a living. Why am I pointing out this? Do you know what I mean? But I think that nobody understands the land like you do. Nobody is as invested in it as you are. Therefore, they're not going to see it. Nobody understands your situation. And so they don't, like, it's really important that you ⁓ don't presume that they have considered everything and that you question everything.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah, I think that comes into us from the mortgage and the finance side as well. If something doesn't quite feel right, question it and don't sort of just go with it. We do it from the lender side separately. Yeah, or something that you're the experts, you're the land in that respect. So sort of push back for it. And when did you start the planning applications? When would that go in?

Rebekah James: Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't presume that because they're professionals. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that went in, well, with the consultant, obviously it was March 2020, but the actual application probably went in, I don't know, maybe three or four months after that. So it was obviously not long before COVID, which was another thing to throw at you along with everything else. Yeah. Yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: Another spanner in the works which caused chaos around the world and for everybody's individual developments as well.

Rebekah James: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And we actually really got so we applied for outline for new entrance coming off the existing entrance, a new road and four self built dwellings. And that took about 13, 14 months to go through. There's a lot of back and forward and a lot of, you know, environmental stuff because of the over regulation. And then we... we were allowed to build up to damp proof course but we had to obviously apply for the details etc. So yeah was a really long process to get you know.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah, it can be. ⁓ And is there anything that looking back now, would you do anything differently at that stage or do you think it went as smooth as it could be, but just with gritted teeth and determination?

Rebekah James: I mean... No, I think, no, I think there's so much that I didn't know and I didn't understand and they, they have so many long words that you don't understand. It would be a lot easier with AI now. And yeah, I probably just put it on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was, I probably would have tried to be a bit, just a bit more confident in asking questions and saying, no, this doesn't look right. and

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah, it's not dig out the thesaurus and have a little flick through.

Rebekah James: you know, really standing behind what I knew in my gut. But the actual process itself, like, I don't think it could have, you could really do it much differently.

Mayflower Mortgage: So now it's. Okay, so yeah, yeah be confident rely on what you know chat GBT and rely on those with expertise

Rebekah James: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely. Just ask loads of questions and yeah, annoy people with your questions because it's better that you'll pick up things and the crazy thing is that you might pick up something or realize something and it will save you like thousands of pounds because it's such big money we're talking about with building houses. So like if you catch something small, it literally could save you like five grand.

Mayflower Mortgage: There really are no stupid questions when it comes to sort of that self-built process. Probably moving on to a little bit about money, little bit more sort of budgeting, cost and side of things. So, I mean, at the start, how confident were you that you sort of understood the true cost of the build and you had that sort of budget locked down?

Rebekah James: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. zero. One of the things that really frustrates me and it still happens out is you go and you ask professionals or builders or whatever and you're like how much is this going to cost? Nobody really wants to commit to anything and I understand because there are so many unknowns, there so many things that go wrong and it's a long process. If you look at inflation since we started it's crazy.

Mayflower Mortgage: Mm-hmm.

Rebekah James: And it's so frustrating because there's all these ⁓ men that you talk to and you try to get like a real understanding and nobody will commit to anything. And then when you do get quotes, they can be wildly different. And it's hard to not believe that somebody is trying to fleece you. But then you realize that actually this one's quoted for this, which was slightly different. And this one's quoted for this. And the hardest... Because then sometimes I'd then go on to like these Facebook groups and be like, ⁓ this is what I've been quoted for this. And every time there'll be some guy that's like, sorry, I can see I'm ranting now. There'll be some guy that's like, ⁓ yeah, he's taking you for a ride. He's completely overcharging you and then it makes me question everything. But actually, it's just some guy that probably doesn't actually do a great job. He hasn't actually seen what you're asking. And so I just ended up chasing my tail and it was, yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah. Don't read the comments. That's the negative and positive. Don't read the comments. ⁓ yes. Dead easy to do, it? I was just sort of cost that didn't make it into regional budgets. sort of, know, anything fees, surveys, groundworks, anything sort of crop up that you weren't expecting.

Rebekah James: Yeah, yeah, I know, everyone always reads the comments. Yeah. Yet. So the hardest thing is the groundworks are the worst part of the process really because there's so much unknown. You dig up the ground and like our groundwork has actually dug it up and they were like, you're, don't think you're going to need to pour too much concrete. But then the structural engineer didn't want any responsibility whatsoever and still made us pour loads and loads of concrete. And then you feel like, you know, you're questioning and then like, well, this is structural engineer being reasonable. And you get through this, this whole thing, but the, so. The budget was alright for that, but there was so much unknown with it. what we ended up having with our site is our plot basically came serviced, but I was very much involved in like separately in the arranging the services for the whole site. And that went wild, absolutely wild, because we had to dig up 150 meters worth of road. We had to completely close the highway and to put a new main in. and the council got upset when we started digging because they said we couldn't dig under these trees, even though it was kind of, and it just, it went wildly out of, so that I would say if you are building on a plot, which has already got the services in, huge amount of unknowns have been cut for you and it's a lot easier. But yeah, but then there are other things as well. So we've decided to do some big vaulted ceilings, which looks so great. But I've put like gabled ends in with lots of glass But then suddenly that means actually we have to have electric blinds and then somebody came and quoted me five grand for electric blinds and that's like not something that you thought about and I'm like, ⁓ I'm you know, I'll put a sheet up. I'm not dealing with that So yeah, and then like the plastering which we're doing at the moment at the cost of our plastering is huge because of the amount of yeah, the amount of time that they're having to spend they've got have scaffolding they've got a

Mayflower Mortgage: Mmm, it's such a big site.

Rebekah James: It's a really big job. It's not just normal ceilings that you'd normally have. There are things that you don't think about, you think, that are later in the... And then it suddenly comes and you're like, yeah, I haven't considered that.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah, it's not one big thing, we're just lots of little things adding up throughout each stage. know funding a self-build is very different to standard residential mortgage. Do you remember how you felt approaching that side of things? Sort excited, overwhelmed, confused, or was it?

Rebekah James: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep. Yeah, I mean, so my husband and I, we both run our own businesses and our income is not just, you know, three months payslip here you go, which is really difficult. And it's really frustrating because, you know, the banks view us with more caution. And ⁓ I've spent the last few years trying to ensure and paying lots and lots of tax because you can only borrow what you pay, borrow against what you pay tax on.

Mayflower Mortgage: .

Rebekah James: trying to ensure that I could present a set of accounts which looked secure and that ticked all their boxes. And that was quite daunting for us, but I suspect that the type of people that do self-builds often are people a bit like us with our own businesses and that, because it probably attracts people who are slightly more inclined to risk. And yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yes.

Rebekah James: So that was quite stressful and I really, you know, I'm still trying to ensure that we've got really strong set of accounts to be able to present for as soon as I've got that completion certificate to just have a normal mortgage, like a normal person, which would be an absolute dream. So yeah, yeah. Just, yeah, yeah. It would just be so nice to be normal like that for once. But to be fair, Mayflower were great.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah, revert back rather than the stage payments and having to go through.

Rebekah James: really helped me do a lot of head... Yeah! No, no, honestly, no. No, honestly, honestly they were because I was at the point where I was so fed up of filling in just forms about all of this and they really helped me. I think it was, was it Lee? Was it Lee? Yeah. He really helped, because obviously they, the bank want like a forecast of how much everything is going to cost and...

Mayflower Mortgage: That's the bit with Pagy to say, that's the... That's what's getting at, that's what all these questions have been for. Yep, yeah, leave.

Rebekah James: and all that and he really helped me with the heavy lifting of that because I was so fed up that people were asking me these questions still. And yeah, he made that bit of that process so much more easy. So I am really grateful to him for that. And yeah, really responsive, always checking in. genuinely, like I haven't got anything like. I couldn't say a bad thing about you guys because you've been really helpful and I think that when we have got completion I will contact you and I also appreciate like you guys are probably used to dealing with unusual people like in terms of our income so yeah yeah yeah exactly yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah, no, we'll get back in touch and sort the other end out. So yeah, we'll leave that there. But yeah, I mean, that's what we see all the time. So even well-planned projects that have got everything there, they can feel stressful. yeah, money in versus money coming out, the stage releases. But that's what we're here for and Lee's there for, to sort of make sure it goes as smoothly as possible. ⁓

Rebekah James: Yeah, yeah, no. Yes, yeah, yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: But moving back to the of build itself, so how do you sort of approach it? Was that main contractor, self-managed, mix of both? What was your...?

Rebekah James: Yeah. Yeah, so what basically as I said it was a development with four actually four properties and a new road coming in. So we got some guys in to do the ground works and they did the ground work for my plot and my brother's actually living in one of the plots as well so they did his and they did the road and they did the pump that we needed to pump the sewage up. So I decided to get all of that done with one contractor and I felt I It was so hard getting a quote from that because it was actually quite a big job for even small, like for your normal sort of contractor to do because of the amount of road that needed digging up and all of the licenses that were needed for that. So I decided to get all that done by one person. And then ⁓ I've got a local builder to come in and basically build the shell of my house. And then once the shell was up, my husband and I have been able to do parts of it. ourselves, so you know the boarding, the insulating, some of the stud work, so but I've also had that same contractor who I really like and trust, he's doing the plastering for us and he's done the underfloor heating, so the other bits and pieces, so the further through we get it the more my husband and I have been taking over it.

Mayflower Mortgage: Oh amazing. What surprised you most once you got stuck in on your own site? Was there a particular phase that most felt the most intense or difficult or was it just the groundwork, like you said before?

Rebekah James: Yeah, the groundwork was the worst bit. It was definitely, yeah. It was in February, it rained so much that they had to pump. And also we misread one of the plans that the council wanted us to do. And we suddenly realized we had to put 20 grams worth of like tanks under the ground with hydro breaks. the trouble is the groundsmen are like, is complete over-engineering. This is absolutely ridiculous. But the council have asked for it, so you have to do it. And so you just, I just think might as well have just set fire to like 20 grand. At least then it would have kept me warm. But I just, I just, that was really tough. But it was incredibly tough for us because we have a site here, like I said, so we've got cafe people coming down and yeah, yeah. And they're all like upset because there's those building work going on. It's supposed to be a beautiful quaint farm in the summer set levels, but.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yes, it's not just one residential dwelling that you've got to worry about.

Rebekah James: And you're like, ⁓ it's just temporary, it's just temporary. And there's going to be a lovely new road for you and you're going to have a nice big car park. yeah, so dealing with, that was particularly hard that most self would have probably don't have to deal with. once you're out of the ground, it's a lot easier. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: Yeah, I guess. You can see it taking shape as well and everyone else can see it sort of taking shape as well. It can help. And was there any sort of any mistakes that were made that maybe cost a bit of time or delays or was it more just?

Rebekah James: you Yeah, I am sure there have been loads of mistakes. I mean... think of any that come to my head right now I'm really sorry but... I make mistakes all the time and I always think, God I should have done that differently but I'm sorry I can't think of any like glaring ones right now

Mayflower Mortgage: Not that you're going to admit to on a podcast, that's the paraphrase from the... That's all right. someone's sort of mid-build and feeling a bit stressed about theirs now, what would you tell them? What would be your advice?

Rebekah James: Yeah. Well, you've come this far, the only way is through. And every day you'll get a little bit closer and it will get easier. But like, this is life. You've chosen to do this, you've got to push through now. You're there, like what's your choice? Turn back? Just got to grit your teeth.

Mayflower Mortgage: Let's just keep going. Just keep going.

Rebekah James: Yeah, yeah, keep going, keep going, keep going. And everyone's telling me it will be worth it in the end. I'm not at the end yet, so I can't tell you that that's true.

Mayflower Mortgage: It will be. So your property itself, so what materials did you use? That's always one we get plus, was it sort of modern methods, construction, eco, or was it traditional? What sort of?

Rebekah James: No, no, so it's a traditional masonry build. We were given, we obviously talked about going timber or masonry. I spoke to loads of just random people and builders that I knew and they were all like, if you're going to live in that house, it's going to be your house. It should be masonry, build it masonry. And I don't know if that's just a traditional thing, but anyway, I went with that ⁓ mainly because of that. And then the place, our village has got a lot of blue lyre stone, which is absolutely beautiful stone and I love it, but it is expensive. We have done the sort of road facing elevations in Blue Liar's Stone and then we've got a mix of clad and render on the rest of it. So it's quite sort of village quaint-ish. It's a reasonably big house but it's still got that kind of quaintness and I really, yes, ⁓ yeah, yeah, I'm really proud of the, like what.

Mayflower Mortgage: within its its setting looks good within its setting it's not standing out and yeah.

Rebekah James: what some of the other houses are looking like as well. It feels like a really nice addition to the village. we've got a view out across the Somerset levels. So we've gone really big on the windows that look out that way. We've got gabled ends and they were really expensive, but you look at it now and I think, ⁓ my gosh, looks, I believe that's gonna be my house. I keep thinking it should be someone else's.

Mayflower Mortgage: worth it. And how you define source and the materials and stuff like that, was that relatively easy or?

Rebekah James: Yeah, so most of that actually has been through my builder and he's even been really helpful in that even though he's not been doing the plasterboarding, he's still bought it in for me and done that. So it's great if you can find somebody that you can build a relationship with. And to be honest with you, whenever I need anything, I just say, where would you get this from? And then he helps me out with it. So I've got a really strong relationship with him. So that's helped a lot. Yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: really helped. ⁓ And bring it all back to sort of the positive side of things. Now you're, as I say, start before we go to that. Where are you up to in your project now? So I know you're not quite finished yet, but where are you up to?

Rebekah James: Good Yes, no, So we are plastering at the moment and we've got really high-voltage ceilings upstairs which means the plastering is taking a long time, it's a lot longer than a traditional, well just a normal. So hopefully we will be able to start painting one of the rooms, I'm going to say in two weeks time, which would be really great. But we haven't ordered the kitchen yet, we've ordered all of the bathroom bits but obviously nothing's fitted yet so it's still...

Mayflower Mortgage: Yes.

Rebekah James: looks like and feels very much like an ongoing project but I hope that we will be painting quite a bit of it and fitting the kitchen sort of by the beginning of June and that would be that would be really good because I am so excited about the kitchen not that I mean my husband does most of the cooking to be honest because I can't concentrate for that long but yeah so I'm excited about that.

Mayflower Mortgage: amazing and so why have you got a deadline in sight so when have you got sort of a Christmas when's the

Rebekah James: Every time, if you ask my husband, he's like, bye Christmas. If you ask me, I'm like, ah, end of June. yeah, I mean, I would hope that we would have completion by the end of the summer, have a completion certificate.

Mayflower Mortgage: Christmas then. Okay, and is that all the whole development or just?

Rebekah James: No, no, so my brother's house, he's pretty much got completion. Another house is already done and completely finished. And then obviously ours is part way through. And then the fourth one ⁓ is still in the planning stages. It's quite a long way behind. Yeah. Yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: So on the project itself then, so what was the biggest win from the project now that you're nearly there? Is there any sort of big wins that you thought, you said about the windows, but something that you thought, that is amazing. I've done, we've done well there.

Rebekah James: Yeah, I mean...

Mayflower Mortgage: This is where we did it moment.

Rebekah James: It has to be at the moment when we walked in and we put the, in the kitchen, it's got a vaulted ceiling with a curtain wall window at the end. And it's just, and there's also windows in the vaulted ceiling. And it's just stunning that bit. And it's got this views across the levels. that is like, whenever I walk in there, think, wow. And also upstairs we've done it. So there's Juliet balcony and it's got the same view with a vaulted. ceiling and a gabled end and yeah that that bit's gonna be and I've decided I'm gonna put a bath in the bedroom which is a little bit rogue but I just figure like why not yeah

Mayflower Mortgage: your house. It's gonna be your forever home is it this one? Right then yeah so yeah do what you want.

Rebekah James: Yeah, yeah, hopefully. Yeah, so that bit, when you walk into those two parts of the house, they're very like, as soon as the windows went in, the doors went in and I started showing people, you could see them go, ⁓ yeah, I see this now. Yeah, yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: sounds amazing. Is there anything you'd still like to improve or change or because you're not there yet you just want to get done and worry about that afterwards.

Rebekah James: Um, yeah, no, I, it's so hard until you've lived in somewhere to know the things that you've done wrong, which is obviously a shame. But yeah, so I, and I know there's things like at the moment you're trying to think, oh, well, do I want this switch here? I don't know. And then I turned to my electrician and I'm like, well, what would you do? know, and so my electrician's like actually making choices like that because I'm just like, I don't know. Yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: That's a minor, it's not like you'd change the whole ⁓ structure or construction type so as long as it's just a light switch in the wrong place or you get frustrated when you have to charge your phone from across the room but apart from that sounds like it's gone pretty well to me. Right what I'll do is I'll finish with a few sort of quickfire questions-ish and that's all right with you. So first answers that come to mind, what was the best money you spent on the project?

Rebekah James: No, no, I'm really pleased with the layout. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I don't want that. Yeah. Okay. Yep. I think it's gonna be those windows.

Mayflower Mortgage: Windows, worst money spent.

Rebekah James: We're just pouring it into the ground. ⁓

Mayflower Mortgage: Groundworks, just the trauma of the groundworks keep coming, keep coming back.

Rebekah James: I don't think I'll ever forget that. You know when you look back on things and you think, ⁓ it wasn't that bad, that's not happened.

Mayflower Mortgage: Is there anything you would skip next time? So any part of the process or anything that you think you've done that's a little bit a waste of time or?

Rebekah James: don't think so yet. I think everything has been really necessary.

Mayflower Mortgage: Brilliant. Best advice for someone still at planning stage? Any nuggets of advice?

Rebekah James: Do you really want to do it? No. Life's really short and if this is something you really want to do, lots of people are going to tell you that you shouldn't try and that you shouldn't do it and they're just going to present a lot of issues as to why you shouldn't do it, even people that don't know. But if this is something you really want to do, then make it happen because you're only going to regret not trying it and don't listen to all these people who probably are essentially just jealous that you're trying to do something different.

Mayflower Mortgage: Hahaha amazing and best advice for someone who's halfway through a build. I think you might have already touched on where to keep going.

Rebekah James: Which is... You're already up, like the only way is through, so keep going.

Mayflower Mortgage: Keep going. See, you don't get that sort of thing from Instagram or TV shows, do you? You need a bit more, a bit more honest. Amazing. And then the question always, would you do it again?

Rebekah James: No! Yeah. Yeah. I don't know that I would actually. Well, the thing is you're asking me when I'm still not in there. Yeah, yeah. I certainly wouldn't do four with a new roadway to an existing site that's got lots of clients and ⁓ businesses that get upset with you. But maybe if it was just an individual plot like that, I might consider it, yeah.

Mayflower Mortgage: We'll ask you again when it's, yeah, we'll ask you again once you've moved in, once we'll get you back on. I go again. That's amazing. Now, Reckett, thank you so much for coming on and being so open. yeah, hopefully this will help other people either in the middle of or starting their own self-build journey. So yeah, thank you very much. I'll speak to you soon. Cheers.

Rebekah James: That's okay? Yep. Yeah, definitely. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you. Bye.