Barn Conversion, East Kent

“We found the land back in June 2024 and started investigating the possibilities of converting the barn. The projects on Vernacular Homes’ website seemed very similar to what we wanted so we got in touch before we’d even put an offer in on the land.

“We spoke to Trevor and straight off, he was giving us impartial, free advice about how we could make it work under Class Q, and the chances of succeeding with planning approval.We took his advice and after having our offer accepted, we then commissioned Vernacular Homes to take care of the design and planning application. They got everything done before we even completed on the sale, so the day our purchase was all finalised, they were ready to submit the application immediately and it got approved quickly. They had given us a quote for the full build too and it was the natural choice to go with them. We didn’t feel the need to negotiate on the price because we knew it reflected the quality of their work and we wanted everything to be just right.

“The most important thing to us was that all the space would be utilised. We’re not very ‘open plan’ people so we wanted functionality with mostly separate rooms but some open plan elements.

“The Vernacular team came up with the first design and made lots of great suggestions – they’re really good with coming up with solutions to design problems. They also pre-empt issues, catching things before you’ve committed money to them. If there’s anything we’ve changed our mind about, they’re so accommodating and will always give us honest feedback and alternatives if our ideas aren’t going to work.

“Every month, our invoice from them tells us exactly what we’ve paid for and the percentage of tasks completed so far. There have been no surprises at all so far – in fact, there have been a few areas where we’ve saved money as we’ve made small changes that Oliver has been able to make savings on for us.

“My advice to anyone taking on a similar project would be to work with someone like Vernacular Homes. Talk to them first and get their opinion – they know what they’re doing and they’re so honest and passionate about what they do. They’ve made the whole process enjoyable, taken any stress away from us and importantly, they do everything they say they’re going to do.

It’s early days in the build but the thing I’m most looking forward to when it’s finished is seeing our kids grow up in the house. It’s such a big place that they can grow into, they’ll have their own bedrooms and lots of land to enjoy. It’s going to be a dream house and I can’t see us planning to move any time in the future.”