Frequently Asked Questions Although Roy Homes can manage the entire build process from our first meeting with you to the day you move into your new home, we still like to work closely with our customers and like to keep you informed of what stage we are at, how long it will take, and what choices you have. To help you understand the process a bit more we have put together a list of the most commonly asked questions. If you do not find the answer to your question please do not hesitate to contact us directly. Full Build What areas do you currently build homes in? Although we would consider any build project within 125 miles of Inverness, our most common areas could be broadly summarised as follows: • Caithness & Sutherland • The Inner Moray Firth including Ross‐shire • Inverness city and all of Inverness‐shire • Lochaber, Skye and Wester Ross • Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey • Parts of Argyll and the Islands How do I find out if the planning department will allow a house on my land? Roy Homes have a planning department that work with the council planning department on a daily basis. We can contact them on your behalf to discuss the options available to you specific to your land. I’ve seen a plot for sale that I am interested in, what do I do next?
If you would like us to review the site with you, you should arrange to make an appointment to come to our offices, ideally bringing the property sales schedule with you. We can discuss the type of house you are considering, give you our opinion of that house going on your chosen site, and let you know our approximate costs to build your particular house. This will give you a better idea of the total costs involved and also let you know if the project can be completed within the budget you have set for yourself. For added comfort we can also provide you with a quotation in writing, and contact the planning department on your behalf to discuss your proposed house type on that particular site, even prior to you making an offer on the land.
I’ve read through your website and seen a house style that I like, what are the next steps?
You can either request a quotation for a particular house style via our online quotation service, or you can contact us to make an arrangement to come in to our offices and discuss your project in more detail. We would be more than happy to talk you through the build process and let you know where we can be of help to you along the way.
Can I amend the layout of one of your houses?
All of our houses can be amended in any way you choose. Although our new product range now includes many features and various layouts, it is unlikely that one particular house will be exactly as you would like it. We can simply amend any of our house styles to suit your requirements and budget, either increasing or decreasing the size, adding or removing bedrooms or even making a
bungalow into a 1 ½ storey house. Just let us know your ideas and we will incorporate them wherever possible.
Can the house be amended to take account of our site conditions and access?
We normally make suggestions for the design and layout of your house once we have visited your specific site. This includes the option of ‘flipping’ your design so that it is a mirror image of your chosen layout, which may be better to suit the site access, or to simply take advantage of views. I would like an integral garage added to one of your house styles We can redesign almost all of our current styles to include an integral garage, which can either be accessed from within the house, via a separate pedestrian external door, or both. What about a chimney and fireplace All of our houses have been designed with the option of including a chimney and fireplace, either for an open fire or a wood burning or multi fuel stove. We do not normally show these on the drawings since it can be located in many parts of the house, it is also shown separately on our proposals as an optional item. Would you design a house exclusively for my plot?
We have our own architectural department and design team that can start with a blank sheet of paper. Once you advise us of your ideas, requirements and budget we can work with you to create your ideal home from scratch. Furthermore, the cost to build a house designed this way is no more that the cost to build a house from our current product range of a similar size, specification and layout. I have drawings from my architect, would Roy Homes build the house? It is common for a client to have a house designed by a local architect and then for Roy Homes to build their house to our award winning standards. Would it cost more to build a house from my architect’s drawings? No. The cost to build a house in this way is no more that the cost to build a house from our current product range of a similar size, specification and layout. Are your prices likely to change once you start building our house? Our quotations are always supplied to you in two parts. Part one is a cost to build your house (from the ground floor level upwards) and we are proud of the fact that we offer this as a fixed price. This means that, unless you upgrade any specification or order any additional items, then the cost of the house will never change. Part two of our quotation shows you the costs that we would expect to incur in preparing your plot for the house to be built on. This obviously varies with every plot, depending on things like whether it is a serviced plot, where the services are located, what drainage solution is required and even the condition of the ground. We therefore initially supply a provisional sum for this, based on any information you have provided, as well as our experience of building on similar plots and our knowledge of the surrounding area, and then convert this to fixed costs once we have visited your site and performed further investigations. Please be assured that in most cases we have allowed more than enough in our estimate and no further sums are required.
One of the largest benefits in using Roy Homes is the flexibility we give our customers when deciding on the fixtures & finishings to be included in your new home. You will have the option of leaving everything to our design team or selecting specific items yourself. The most common items that our customers select are the layout of the kitchen and the kitchen units, the bathroom ware, internal wall colours, internal doors, skirtings & facings and external window & door styles. You can even decide on the smaller details such as the location of your radiators, power sockets, BT & TV points and light switches.
What is not included in your price?
In most cases the only items not included within our cost are carpets or other floor covering and white goods. On occasion we are also asked to exclude particular parts of the build process, for example the client may wish to do their own decoration, which we can exclude from the contract and reduce our costs accordingly. Externally, we do not include and landscaping works unless requested.
How do I arrange a mortgage for this type of project?
Most banks offer mortgages for self build projects and it is likely that your current bank will be happy to provide this service to you. We also have a working relationship with a local independent mortgage provider. We can arrange for you to meet with him in our office to discuss your situation in confidence and he will provide you with all options available to you from all lenders. This service is provided free of charge. What are your payment terms? If Roy Homes are managing the planning and building warrant applications then a deposit payment would be required prior to commencement. This amount will depend on the amount of pre planning application work involved, up to a maximum of 5% of the Contract Sum. Please note that this will be refunded, less costs incurred, should planning permission not be granted. Although we have a standard stage payment profile for most build contracts, this can be amended to suit the customer’s requirements or to suit the staged payment terms of your mortgage provider if required. Please note however that this must be agreed in writing by us prior to the start date. Standard Staged Payment Profile A payment of 10% of Contract sum (less deposit already paid if applicable) is payable when a start date is scheduled. A further 30% of Contract sum is payable on completion of foundations. A further 40% of Contract sum is payable when roof is tiled. Balance of Contract sum payable on completion/handover, whichever is sooner. What about stamp duty and VAT? Under current legislation neither stamp duty nor VAT is payable on new build properties. The only instance where you pay stamp duty on a new build is if you purchase the house and the land at the same time from the same person. All of the plots we have for sale on this website are advertised on behalf of the landowners and therefore stamp duty would still not apply to the build cost, only on the land purchase if the amount paid for the plot is above zero stamp duty limits. How much will my home be worth when you have finished
In most cases, our customers make an average profit of 20% from building their home using Roy Homes. As an example, if you purchased a plot of land for £100,000, and the cost to build your house is £150,000, the value of your property when complete should be in the region of £300,000.
This would mean that you had equity of £50,000 in your house from the day you move in. In our opinion, this method of purchasing a house is the only way to get ahead of the current property market.
It should be noted that this level of profit is not always the case. Some of our customers take a more long term view of their investment and spend a bit more on their house than normal, upgrading things like the fixtures and fittings and installing items such as ground source heat pumps and solar panels. Would I save money if I tried to project manage the build myself? This is very unlikely. We have been building homes for over 30 years, and the amount of individual houses we have built in the Highlands is now reaching one thousand. This gives us an unparalleled level of expertise and experience when it comes to building your home, and it would be very difficult for anyone who has never built a house before to match the standards we can achieve. We also have a great deal of buying power when it comes to the purchase of materials and the hire of machinery, and on top of that we offer a fixed price for your project, meaning you will not go over budget if any unforeseen circumstances should arise during the build. If all of our customers could build a house cheaper than we could, we would not be in business very long! I am a plumbing & heating engineer, can I do this work myself?
We are happy to work with clients, where possible, who are either a tradesperson themselves or have a friend/family member who they would like to carry out a specific trade. We can simply exclude that service from our contract and reduce our cost accordingly. Please discuss this option with us as early as possible in the build process since there are other factors to take into account when considering this, such as timescales, suitable insurance etc. How long will it take to build my house? If we are processing your planning permission and building warrant applications they can take anything from 6 to 8 weeks in normal circumstances. Once we receive these, or if you already have them in place, we can usually start building your house within two weeks, regardless of how many other houses we are building at that time. When we start building your house we normally take from 12 to 18 weeks to complete the project, depending on the size of the house, the time of year etc.
Based on this, we can normally complete a full build project within 6 months, including planning permission and building warrant, or within 4 months if you already have these in place. Who deals with the planning and building warrant applications? We have a planning and building warrant department that can manage the entire process on your behalf. Who organizes the services required for my house, such as the water, electricity and drainage? We contact Scottish Water and your electricity supplier to arrange for connections to their services. For remote areas, we can organise drainage assessments, co‐ordinate with SEPA regarding your drainage solution, and arrange for a bore hole installation for private water if required. We provide these services as part of our overall service to you. Who is responsible for the project while the house is being built?
Roy Homes take full responsibility for your house until the official handover when the house is complete. We also have suitable insurance in place should your house be damaged during the build process. What guarantees do you offer with your homes?
All of our houses come with a full 10 year structural guarantee, backed by NHBC, which is also transferrable if you choose to sell your property within that time. We also offer a 2 year warranty on all fixtures and fittings. Kit Supply Who is likely to purchase a kit home from Roy Homes ? Generally we supply our kit homes to two types of clients. The first is to customers who are looking to have a house built out with the area that we build, and the second is to customers who are usually employed in the building sector and are looking to project manage their own home.
Where can you deliver your kit homes to?
We have delivered our kit homes all over the UK, Europe and even the Falkland Islands. Closer to home, the most common requests we receive are from the islands surrounding the Highlands, including the Western Isles, Outer Hebrides and the Orkney and Shetland Islands (N.B. we currently offer a full build service in Skye). For overseas houses we can arrange to have a full kit delivered to the port nearest your location, all contained in one container. Can I change the specification? All of our houses can be amended in any way you choose. We can also start with a blank sheet of paper and design a completely new house to suit your requirements, layout and budget. Would you supply a kit for a house that my architect has designed? Yes, we can provide you with a quotation to supply a kit for any style of home, from 2 bedroom bungalows to stately homes. Do you still offer the planning and building warrant services for a kit supply? Yes, we can still deal with the planning and building warrant applications for you. Can I still upgrade the windows, doors and internal finishings? Yes. All items can be upgraded and amended just the same way as it can when we are building the house ourselves. We can also exclude particular items, for example you may choose to source the windows yourself. What are your timescales for delivery? We normally ask for a 6 to 8 week lead time from receipt of order to the delivery of the 1st load. What about delivery of the internal items?
We normally deliver your house in 2 loads, the first being the external components, then we can deliver the second load containing the internal materials when you are ready for them and when the house is wind and water tight.
Do you also erect the kit if required? If you are building your home in the area that we cover, we would be happy to supply the kit and erect it to wind and water tight. We can also assist with other aspects of the build, such as ground preparation and foundations. What is the difference between a basic kit and a full kit? A full kit contains everything supplied with a basic kit, as well as the kitchen units (or an allowance) bathroom ware, all plumbing materials, rainwater guttering, and all electrical materials including cabling, sockets and switches.
