Designing a house for a plot above the sea

3 November 2026

The plots people dream about in this part of Scotland tend to share one thing: a view. A field edge above the sea, a ruined cottage on a hillside looking towards the Mearns, a garden plot at the end of a coastal village. The view is why the plot was bought. It is also, quite often, the direction the weather comes from.

The sea, the sun and the wind

On the east coast the sea lies to the east, while the sun spends its day in the south and sets over the hills inland. A house designed only for the view can end up with its main rooms facing the haar and the winter easterlies, while the sunny side gets the utility room. Good design finds a way to have both: living spaces that open towards the sea, with sheltered outdoor space and windows that also catch the southern light. Large panes of glass need careful thought on an exposed site, for wind loading, heat loss and the glare off the water on a bright morning.

Materials that weather well

Stone, harled walls and slate have lasted on this coast for centuries for good reason. Newer houses use them alongside timber cladding, metal roofs and modern render, all of which behave differently in salt air and driving rain. Some timber silvers gracefully, some metals corrode where they meet other metals, and render on a seaward wall needs detailing that sheds water rather than holding it. Those choices belong in the earliest drawings, not in a late change made on site.

Replacing what was there

Many individual homes in the countryside replace an older house that was too small, too damp or too far gone to save. A replacement house still has to be considered in relation to its setting, its size and where it sits on the plot. Old foundations, a buried tank or a drain to a forgotten soakaway tend to appear once demolition is under way, and they need dealing with properly.

Custom House Builders sets out what is involved in building an individually designed home around its plot and the people who will live in it, whether the project comes from land already bought, a house to be replaced or drawings already in progress.

Services off the beaten track

Rural plots seldom come with everything connected. There may be no public sewer, leaving the design to account for private drainage, and sometimes a private water supply too. Electricity may need a new line across the fields. Each of these takes time to arrange and is best settled before the design is fixed, because the position of a treatment plant or soakaway can decide where the house itself can stand.

The most satisfying houses on this coast are the ones that look as though they were always meant to be there. That usually comes from taking the plot seriously, its weather and its ground as well as its view, long before the first spade goes in.