“Designing, planning and building with clients who have the vision to create something new is a wonderful prospect. Being side-by-side for the creation of a home that develops their vision and turns the first sketch they ever made of their dream home into reality, never stops being exciting.”
Oliver Burgess, Managing Director
Read about some of our new builds and hear what their owners say about their brand new house…
Building a home from the ground up is an exciting prospect – often a once in a lifetime opportunity.
We partner with our clients to take care of the planning and designing, to ensure regulations are met and the best opportunities are explored to give you all you want from your new home.
We work with self-builders, private individuals and small developers, usually building over single or double plots on green land, brownfield sites, in gardens or replacing an existing sub-standard property with a new one.
Our expertise lies in creating designs from the beginning of the planning process, but we do also work with clients to revise previous, inherited or failed planning applications too, using out knowledge, expertise and liaison with the local authority planning team to reach a successful planning outcome.
We offer complete architectural planning and design to turn the ideas in your head, first into a virtual model then into your new home, project managing every element with you.
Our advanced BIM (Building Information Modelling) software allows you to see your designs on a large screen – ‘walk through’ and ‘walk around’ your new home from all perspectives – both inside and out.
Make changes in real time to explore design options and planning solutions. Explore options and visually appreciate their effect to light, space and ultimately, to cost.
“Right from the beginning, we were always told what the plan was: there were no surprises.”
Our experience in working with local authorities means that we can navigate planning and regulations more easily, which gives a faster process; we won’t push planning applications through that need huge adjustment or compromise in order to be accepted.
Budget is important to us and our clients too – every single detail is costed and changes reflected in new plans accurately, so that at all times, you know the cost of the project; we don’t like surprises any more than you do!
For some clients who initially wanted to renovate their home, we suggest a demolition and rebuild – because it’s often more cost-effective, gives them exactly what they want and is a better use of the budget as far as VAT is concerned. (Read our blog ‘7 reasons to knock down your house and start again’).
We work with you to bring your vision to life, managing the project alongside you from the first brick to the final touches.
“We often talk about the house and how lucky we feel to live here. There’s nothing really about the house that we would change.”
Contact us to find out how we can build your new home with you…
Take a look at some of our previous new build homes and hear from their new owners…
View ProjectsYes – we encourage clients to come to us at the earliest stage, so that we can design what they want, within the local authority’s restrictions. We can create a number of designs to create some options to work with.
Yes, we will discuss the project with you and make a site visit if required. After this we will provide a fee quote for the required design work.
Yes – we will help you to submit a successful planning application that meets your design and lifestyle needs, whilst also being acceptable to the local authority.
Yes you do – we can work with you to design a planning application to suit what you want in your home, how you live, budget and local authority.
Yes, we can – and we have done before. Take a look at this previous project to find out how we did it with design and materials.
https://www.vernacularhomes.com/our-work/new-build-home-east-sussex/
We can use various technologies to offer a range of levels of sustainability required by our clients, which are carefully costed ahead of the build, in terms of upfront costs and potential savings.
Yes – we always squeeze out the maximum from a design, to meet the client brief, design to how the house will be used, satisfy the local authority and avoid compromise.
Take a look at the home we built where we changed existing designs to better match how the client wanted to live.
https://www.vernacularhomes.com/our-work/barn-conversion-west-kent/
New homes typically range from £2,800-£3,500 per square metre. Being a new build, the majority of the works would be zero rated for VAT, including detailed design under our Design and Build approach.
Take a look at some examples of our recent projects here:
https://www.vernacularhomes.com/our-works/new-home-design-build/
Vernacular Homes manages every aspect of the project, co-ordinating the site deliveries, workflow, trades and communication with everyone involved, including our clients, who hear from us regularly with updates.
Initial quote
Works are generally quoted on a fixed cost basis. Any change in cost will only be due to scope of works changing or a change in either provisional sum or prime costs sum items. We always inform our clients of any changes up or down in costs, as we’re in touch with them a lot throughout the build.
We would typically provide a fully costed specification document breaking the jobs costs down into the various sections of work. It varies for each project but is generally around 15-25 sections. In addition to this where specification is unknown, we will either exclude an item or include a provisional sum or prime cost.
Projects are typically invoiced every 2 weeks, or monthly as agreed with the client before works start. We include with every invoice, a full breakdown against our specification of what has been carried out against each item. This means that clients know exactly what has been completed and where we are with progress.
No – we provide a payment schedule and agree this before we start.
Provisional sums are used when the scope of work cannot be accurately determined due to lack of detail, uncertainties, or potential for future changes. The sum includes contractor overheads and profit.
PC Sums are used to specify the cost of items that are yet to be specified. These typically include bricks, roof tiles, internal doors/ironmongery, kitchens, sanitary ware or floor tiles – any items that a customer has yet to decide what they would like. The sum given in our estimate is the actual cost to purchase and deliver the item.
No, but we provide cash flow forecasts /payment schedule which will assist project finance planning.
All projects have changes – some can be predicted and others can’t, but every change involves a discussion to keep moving forward. Every change is discussed, to consider time and financial implications, and we work towards a solution that suits everyone – sometimes, this could include a neighbour or local authority planner.
For a number of projects where a client required advice on internal finishes, we have worked alongside interior designers to jointly achieve the clients’ desired finish.
Our website is full of our previous projects with words from our clients on why they came to us, what they briefed us with, how we worked together and how they feel about their new home.
Vernacular Homes was founded in 2000 – read about who we are and how we started on our About page.
https://www.vernacularhomes.com/meet-the-team/
Yes – Vernacular Homes was founded in 2000 and since then, we have worked on numerous projects – some complex, some fairly straightforward, within different budgets.
Take a look at our work on barns, new builds, renovations, restorations, extensions, plus how we’ve helped with securing planning permission for tricky or previously rejected designs.
https://www.vernacularhomes.com/our-work/
When required (typically by a customer’s lender) we can offer third party structural defects insurance.
JCT Design and Build 2016.
We have a number of standard terms and conditions which we send out with our quotations.
For an informal conversation about your project please call us on 01233 861177 or email us using the form. Your data is not used for marketing – only to contact you.
If you have documents - previous designs, plans or photos, please send them to us via email: enquiries@vernacularhomes.com
