Owning your own home

As Hefty said, you won't get a standard mortgage on that. It needs to be livable in (including Kitchen and Bathroom) before they'll cough up. You used to be able to get staged release mortgages for development - not sure if they still offer them these days - where you got an initial release then more when the place becomes habitable. Never as cheap as a standard one though.
Dependent on how happy you are with debt, you could also get a bridging loan to get it bought / done up enough then pay that back when you mortgage. Need to factor in all those costs in your planning as it's not cheap - we did it when we bought a shell flat to convert.

wow thats 2 mins away from where i live and i had a loft extension. seems like i managed to get off lightly. good to hear no injuries etc.

hey mate
what did you do in the end? did your lawyer sort you out with a rider to the contract?

Me too. The flat-roof dormer hangs off a joist that runs the length of the ridge. My builder let me and my mate hammer the girder into place, then everything hangs off it. Looks like this herbert thought he'd take the roof off and do the joist later.

some bod in the comments reckons it's an existing loft conversion on Google satellite. There is that shelf on the wall I spose.

some bod in the comments reckons it's an existing loft conversion on Google satellite

CSI:E17

There is that shelf on the wall I spose.

Looks like a gallows bracket picking up the chimney breast to me.

Sadly my brother in law may have something to say to that...

Thanks, lots of things to consider, went over today, and although there isn't much of either there is essentially a bathroom (working toilet and sink, no bath or shower), and kitchen, which is a few cupboards, sink, electric points for cooker and fridge, so hoping I might just sneak in as habitable. Interestingly Halifax who have my current mortgage do self build mortgages, so may be an option...

That PVC conservatory thing replacing the bay window is horrid.

How quick is the process from receiving the official mortgage offer to releasing the £?
Is it unfeasible to exchange and complete within a week?

It is possible to exchange and complete on the same day.

Strong progress is being made on our office:

Plaster has now dried so I've given it a full Base coat (floor and ceiling) this morning. Will do the top coat this afternoon / evening, ready for the electrician this week. He's fitting the heated floor, ethernet and sockets before they do the flooring then it's done.

Fingers crossed we'll be able to use it within 10 days!

Love that Tim, thinking of doing something very very similar this summer - lots of glass on the front to make the most of the view across the south downs. How secure are you thinking that is? Would you leave anything in it? Our garden backs onto an allotment but I'd still want to set up a pair of iMacs in the office if we go ahead with it and don't really want to cart them back in the house each night.

The doors are standard French doors. They have a pretty solid locking mechanism but someone could get in if they really wanted to I guess...

We'll be leaving a running machine and a sofa in there permanently so neither are likely to get nicked. When working from home, I just use a laptop so I'll keep that in the house.

In time, I might decide to put a small desk with a monitor in there but not 100% certain just yet...

Really looking forward to the first sunny, warm day I can sit out there with both doors wide open.

Just shown mrs cyoa and she's well into it. Is it a prefab type thing or did you have it designed to spec?

http://www.thegardenoffice.co.uk

Can't recommend them enough; really efficient and friendly.

There's a configurator on their site etc. Extras add up quite quickly... We added underfloor heating, plaster finish and a few other bits which quickly added ~£3.5k

Excellent, thank you. Will take a look now. That's a similar budget to what we had in mind though in honesty my first thought was to learn how to lay bricks and do it myself. A time and a place and all that.

*added* £3.5k...

Yep, I figured.

Sorry... Yes; they're not cheap!

I think we were just shy of £17k all in. That includes; ground clearance, foundations, installation, the actual building, fixtures and fittings and the cost of finishing the surrounding area (currently mud) w/ green granite and a raised vegetable garden.

Also @CYOA, you're more than welcome to come and take a look...

Cheers, yeah, had in mind about 15k for a thing with lots of glass from a company like that. Though mrs cyoas mum lives in Cornwall and has a fantastic one that a local contractor did bespoke for 8k. Still quite fancy trying my hand at laying bricks though...

Laying bricks is pretty straightforward, doing it quickly is the challenge.