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Original poster

Has anyone built their own house?

17 replies

SpoonAndString · 24/12/2019 14:10

DP and I really want to. We’re hoping to start in the next 3-4 years in Somerset and will have a budget of around 600k for land/build/other costs and could borrow more if necessary. Just wondering if anyone has any advice/warnings please? Or would just be great to hear your experiences. It’s a pretty daunting prospect and all of our money so am trying to gather as much info as possible and plan as best we can. We have no previous experience at all!

OP posts:
JoJoSM2 · 24/12/2019 17:52

My sister did. It went on for almost 2 years and was very stressful. I’d say make sure you have a good design in place and don’t get carried away to avoid over stretching yourselves financially.

Laiste · 24/12/2019 17:56

We're in the middle of building a house around a house IYSWIM and it's been the most stressful and awful thing. If i could go back in time i'd not do it. Mind you we're living in it while it's being done ... I suppose if you're living off site it's a whole different and much easier kettle of rubble :)

Happygirl79 · 24/12/2019 18:01

Yes
Built 2 of my own.
And 4 to sell
Doubled up the trades people needed to get it done quickly
One took 5.5 months start to finish
Was years ago now and content in my own home today
Very rewarding both personally and financially

reetgood · 24/12/2019 18:50

I grew up on a self build, eco housing project.

Talk to people in real life if you can. There’s lots of different ways to self build, but if you don’t have experience in construction I would get a great project manager - be that a builder, an actual project manager or an architect.

My parents say their biggest achievement is still being together and being friends with the people they built the houses with. A sense of mission is really helpful. Take the time to have those ‘what if’ and ‘if, then’ conversations at planning stage.

Be prepared to not notice stuff you can’t do anything about. If you’ve ever done any major renovations, it’s a bit like that. There is disruption and delays. Being able to not see the unfinished bits is really helpful!

Put contingency in your budget rather than relying on borrowing more.

All of my knowledge is a bit out of date re sources but I would get acquainted with planning too :)

Hundredacrewoods · 26/12/2019 02:18

Everyone I’ve ever met who has built a house advises against it. Why do you want to? Are you confident that your reasons for wanting to are strong enough to outweigh all the negatives?

DramaAlpaca · 26/12/2019 02:32

We did it. Bought a site, designed the house, got an architectural technician to draw up the plans then applied for planning permission. That took a couple of months, then once it was granted it took about nine months from starting the build to moving in. From buying the site to moving in it was just over a year.

I wouldn't advise against it, it's worth doing as you can get a bigger house for your money than you could if you bought an existing house. We saved about one third of the cost, I think. Still here, in a house we love. No regrets at all.

However, we live in Ireland and self-build is quite normal here in rural areas.

StopMakingATitOfUrselfNPissOff · 26/12/2019 08:38

If your budget is £600k I'd advise aiming to do it for £500k so you've got loads of contingency

GrouchyKiwi · 26/12/2019 08:47

We're thinking about doing it, but have put plans on hold till we know how Brexit/Scotland shake out.

There are Homebuilding shows that go around the country and they are fantastic. We went to one and learned so much. It made the idea of self-build both more possible and more daunting for us.

This is the show series I'm talking about. It's associated with a magazine (of the same name) which I find quite interesting to read.

Plantmoretrees · 26/12/2019 09:14

We built our own house. It was fine. We built a timber frame house, where the timber people come and do the frame etc and insulation on the external walls, we then got people to put on cladding, roof, internal walls and all the insides.

It was pretty simple if you break everything down and do it step by step, accept there will be delays due to things out of your control etc.
Id definitely do it again if I had the chance, but we really love our house and I can't see us ever moving.

Dowser · 26/12/2019 09:36

I was going to suggest one of these homes that arrive on containers. Someone I know did it after her husband suffered a bad accident which left him in a chair.
House arrived in two container lorries and took three months to erect.
No idea of cost though.
You could always get Kevin from grand designs to help you out

Other friends, dh an electrician , bought a plot and built a fab 4 bed bungalow on it.
They did a lot of the back breaking work themselves. I bet it was two years before it was fully finished including garden but it was lovely and nothing was scimped.
They both worked full time so lots of work at weekends holidays etc

DramaAlpaca · 26/12/2019 14:04

Plantmoretrees ours is timber frame too, much quicker to build and so well-insulated and warm.

Arnoldthecat · 26/12/2019 14:25

When i saw this thread i thought it meant build your own house as in YOU actually engage in construction rather than getting people in.

Khione · 26/12/2019 14:28

Join Buildhub

A really friendly forum full of people who have built their own, are in the process of building their own and want to build their own.

The forum is excellent, there are tradespeople on there, very patient and with loads and loads of experience that they are more than happy to share.

Kind of a 'Mumsnet' for self builders without the AIBU section

Illstartexercisingtomorrow · 26/12/2019 16:09

Yes in the middle of doing so.

20% of total cost aside for unforeseen circumstances.

Excellent architect.

Competent project manager.

Builders with excellent references.

Budget to live elsewhere.

The last one is key to making it worthwhile vs hating it. Still only part way through but the above is what I’ve learned so far.

DramaAlpaca · 26/12/2019 16:32

Budget to live elsewhere yes, essential. We rented while the build was ongoing. With three small DC it would've been intolerable otherwise. We moved in as soon as we could & did all the floors, tiling and decorating ourselves, learning skills as we went.

Plantmoretrees · 26/12/2019 18:33

Also allow forever for planning permission. We went back and forth a bit for reasons that seemed ridiculous at the time. Eg making the driveway more curvy so it looked nice from the road. Originally we thought it would be 6 weeks but with all the messing around I reckon it was about 15 weeks.

Original poster
SpoonAndString · 27/12/2019 09:28

Thank you everyone, sorry only just come back to this thread. Have noted all your advice and will join the forum that pp mentioned. Yes we planned to keep 20% of the budget as contingency, have seen enough grand designs to know how wildly over budget things can get! We see Kevin about a fair bit actually as we live nearby but not sure how keen he would be to offer advice Grin

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