Your Building Dilemmas Solved

Looking for expert advice on your project? Our team of homebuilding experts are here to answer your need-to-know questions. This month, they advise on Passivhaus, draughtproofing and more

Our experts answer your building questions

How do we bring services to our rural plot?

Q We hope to build on the edge of a village, on a plot which is bordered by fields. There’s no mains gas and no electricity or water on site.

Who do we get in touch with and what do we need to consider? Bob Chambers

A DAVID SNELL SAYS:

You have choices here. Firstly, you need to find out who the grid suppliers are for each of the services (gas, water and electricity) and send them plans of your proposals asking for a quotation for supply.

It will all depend on how far they’ve got to come and what sort of terrain they’ve got to cross, including roads and private land. It’s possible that they simply won’t be able to get them you. It’s also possible that they will be able to give you a price for their work but that the price won’t include the cost of any wayleaves that may need negotiating over private land or land not in your ownership.

It’s also possible that the owners of that private land might either want extortionate amounts of money for the rights you are seeking or simply don’t want to play at all.

At any of those points you may decide that the whole thing is not worthwhile. Or you may decide that the costs involved are outweighed by the fact that, without these services being readily available, the land is really cheap.

You may decide to investigate being off grid for all or some of these essentials. Self generation of electricity has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, particularly with the advent of battery storage. It probably still can’t provide the same lifestyle expected in a suburban home, but it can be made to work.

Water can be obtained from a borehole in most regions across the UK. The fact that there’s no mains gas would put you in company with a great many self-builders who opt for a plethora of alternative heat or firing sources – from oil and LPG to renewables – which are consistently advertised and explained within this magazine.