What it is: A double garage of sturdy construction that it being sold with planning permission to create a single-storey bungalow. The main appeal of the building is its location: in the city’s west end, opposite the Botanical Gardens and handy for the universities and Ninewells hospital. The building will have an internal area of just under 1,000 sq ft and will comprise two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a linked living room and kitchen, a study and a utility room.

The problems: This is a tight plot. The design very cleverly makes the most of what there is, but there will be precious little room to do anything but the design as it stands. Dundee airport is very close by, little more than a walk away. This might be an advantage if you have regular use for its services, but were the airport to expand, you might rue your proximity. You will need to obtain a quantity surveyor’s opinion on the likely build cost. It should be something between £50,000 and £100,000, giving you a total cost that could buy a perfectly reasonable family home in a fancied neighbourhood elsewhere in the city.

The advantages: There is something magical about building your own home and specifying it exactly as you please. Houses that make clever use of limited plots are also appealing in a way that a typical home on a speculatively-built estate will never equal. The location puts it in the city’s premier league of addresses. Even if you choose not to live there, there would be no difficulty in letting such an apartment — higher education at the local hospital ensure that there is always a well remunerated population looking for short-term lets. The doom and gloom in the property market might make one worry about the resale value of a property such as this, but it will make builder’s quotes a good deal keener than would have been the case a year or two ago.

Blackadders, 01382 342 222, www.blackadders.co.uk

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