We are here to provide clarity and guidance throughout your Custom Home adventure. Watch our informative video for an overview or explore our carefully curated list of questions below to discover more.
Established back in 1971 by my father, we have been trading now for well over 50 years.
We are award winning specialist Property Developers and specialist Custom Build providers working throughout the South East of England.
What is really special about us is that we build homes for clients who are just not able to find the home they really want from an ‘off the peg’ developer.
So, what we do is provide them with a luxury home, using the finest materials, built to the highest standards. But what is really important to us is that relationship we build with our clients to make sure we build them the home that they want to their exact requirements.
There are many other companies offering a Custom Build solution and selling services plots.
What we do is, we do it all, and more importantly, we are not tied to any one particular construction method.
So what we offer is a flexible package, working in partnership with you to build your home to ensure we meet your exact requirements and include everything you want in your new home.
Custom Build has been commonplace in Europe for a long time, been in the UK since around 2011 and is gradually now gaining momentum in the UK as more people get to know it and understand the options that are available to them.
For me, Custom Build is a more guided and facilitated approach where you work with a Custom Build Specialist with flexible options such as a Watertight Shell, fully plastered and first fixed (plumbing and electrical) for you to finish, or a full turnkey where we do absolutely everything, leaving you to move in with your family and furniture!
With Self Build, you are responsible for sourcing the land and ensuring it is fully fit for purpose for exactly what you want to build on it.
Also from the outset, prior to purchasing the land, it is important to know all your numbers, including build costs to ensure you are paying the right price for the land.
Once purchased, it is also your responsibility to source all the trades, make sure all the materials are ordered and turn up on time, organise all the contractors/trades ensuring you have the right contract and terms in place.
Then fully managing the process on a full-time, day to day basis to ensure a smooth flow of work, which, as we know from experience, is a full time job in itself.
However, with Custom Build, you have the confidence and security of working with a professional Developer partner throughout the process. Safe in the knowledge that you are purchasing the right plot at the right price, fully fit for purpose, with the security and confidence of a Fixed Price Build Contract in place, you know that the day to day management will all be taken care of, leaving you to focus on the enjoyable elements such as the final designs and finishes. Thus, making sure your home is completed to your exact specification when you move in.
Finally, not forgetting the significant saving on Stamp Duty. With Custom and Self Build, you only pay Stamp Duty on the price of the land not the total project.
The cost of building your home is split into two clear sections:-
The fixed price element which covers the main construction and development costs, including driveway & fencing, drainage and service connections, provision of Warranty, professional fees such as Building Regs, Structural Engineer etc;
The second section is the provisional sums that we provide for the finishes such as kitchen, bathrooms/sanitaryware, flooring, tiling, internal doors, staircase, decorating, hard and soft landscaping etc;
Importantly, these are provisional sums which are formally backed up with our supplier quotations/specifications and plans so that you know exactly what has been allowed for in the initial budget.
With regard to the payments, apart from a small initial deposit, you only pay monthly in arrears for works completed in that month. This deposit contributes to pre-commencement items such as Warranty and Building Control submissions and site set up etc; and is the only payment you make up front throughout the whole process.
From the outset, we will issue you with a 12 monthly stage payment planner. This will clearly state, in simple format, which works should be completed every month and the costs needed to pay for them.
This stage planner is split into easy to understand sections and then from your weekly site visits and our Site Manager’s weekly updates and photos, you will easily be able to establish, from your invoices, exactly which works have been completed, ensuring you only pay for the elements of works completed that month.
Also, remember that there will certain stages where the works will be signed off by the Warranty and Building Control Inspector to give you that extra confidence that everything has been completed exactly as it should be.
Throughout the process, your money is fully protected. How we do this is by setting up a separate company for each development which means that the payments that you make in, and the payments we make out, are from that one company only, unaffected by any other developments we may be doing.
Your solicitor will, of course, confirm their agreement to this widely recognised industry method of protecting clients funds.
The majority of our Custom Build sites come with one of three planning permissions:-
the first is a full planning permission with conditions reserved. Conditions can be items such as external materials, choice of bricks, roof tiles, render colour, windows, guttering and downpipes etc;
the second is a full planning permission with conditions already approved. This will be in an area where the surrounding property and local area will dictate the type of external materials that you have to use.
The third type is what we call a Design Code or a Plot Passport. This is an Outline Planning permission with Reserved Matters partly approved. What this actually means is that you will be able to choose from a selection of house types, house sizes and a palette of external materials. Once these choices have been agreed by you, we then submit these to the Local Authority who give a target date of eight weeks to be approved and signed off.
In the meantime, we focus on setting up the site and doing all the pre-commencement works that we can so that once those conditions are approved, your home is ready for us to start building.
Depending on the size of your home, our fixed price build contract is usually for twelve months. Your home should take about nine months to build but we do factor in the extra few months for inclement weather when we are carrying out external works such as groundworks, brickwork and roof construction.
At Concept Two, we do it all, with a mix of in-house staff and tried and tested contractors who have worked with us for years, who fully understand the Custom Build process and are very conversant with interacting with our clients to ensure their needs are met.
Our Construction Manager and all our Site Managers are directly employed to make sure we achieve the high standards we set ourselves and ensure we deliver the home that you want.
Each site has a designated Site Manager and that Site Manager is responsible for communicating with you on a weekly basis, either through regular site meetings or with weekly progress reports, fully backed up with site photos so that you know what is happening on your build at every stage.
All our Site Managers are overseen by our Construction Manager to make sure that our tried and tested process is being properly carried out.
All our Custom Build homes come with a 10 year structural warranty and are built in accordance with the Building Regulations that are in force at the time of the build.
Our homes are then checked, inspected and signed off at regular intervals by both the Warranty provider and the Building Control Inspector to ensure they are being constructed correctly.
Once complete, Concept Two cover the first two years of your 10 year Structural Warranty.
Yes, prior to signing up, we actively encourage our clients to come and see a live build that we are currently constructing and also visit Custom Build homes that we have completed previously.
We are really proud of how and what we build. It's why we have won so many awards and it is really important to us that our clients fully understand the process and the journey we are going to undertake with them.
So don’t just take our word for it, please do speak to previous clients, now happily living in the Custom Built homes that we have built for them.
Get in touch today with one of our friendly and experienced team.
Concept Two, 100 Berkshire Place, Winnersh, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG41 5RD
Concept Two | What We Do | How We Do It | Gallery | Developments | Land | FAQ | Contact
© Concept 2 Homes Limited T/A Concept Two. Registered number: 01003361. Privacy Policy | Sitemap