HOME

In spite of the recession, “self-build” homes are still popular. Why? Because they’ve always provided better value for money than simply purchasing a property. So what is “self-build”? It’s a property you build yourself, as the phrase suggests! Not quite literally by yourself, but you put yourself in the position as architect, planner, foreman of your home and allow skilled workers do the job you order them to do. “Self-build” is pretty much recession-proof due to the relatively low costs involved (compared to buying a property) – in fact, the army of “self-builders” in the UK outnumbers the amount of properties being developed by any professional developer. The intention of self-build is to produce a home to your exact specifications, not a template that the large developers work to.

I know what you’re thinking: “I can’t plan, and manage a house build”. The pleasant news is that getting involved with a self-build project doesn’t have to involve you with the physical aspects of the property building (in fact, just 5% of self-builders in reality get involved with the actual development work). Even when it comes to design, quite often this is delegated to a professional designer.. Self-build, more often than not, is about you articulating (in laymen’s terms), what you want to the property designer – who then develops a plan based on your demands. This design then becomes the blueprint the builders follow. Now do you see? It’s not required to have any active participation in self-build. Even so, the Do It Yourself enthusiast can use self-build as a chance to save some cash by helping out with the aspects of self-build they have experience in – it’s your shout as to how much involvement you want during the build.

Since you get full control over the details of the construction, you can select the most up-to-date technology, while commercial developers fall behind since they’re working to strict boiler-plate designs. You can install things like underfloor heating, automated climate, lighting and entertainment facilities throughout your entire home.

You must make sure the squad of workers you choose are total professionals and that they work well together. Without doubt, you will require builders with experience of some rather potentially dangerous machinery used in construction, such as floor saws, wall saws with diamond blades, angle grinders, masonry saws and stihl saws. Skills bring safety to the development too.

This article is only an introduction to the concept of developing a property by yourself, and I trust it will encourage those of you who are put off by the thought of running a task of this kind of size. It needn’t be time-intensive, and you won’t need house building / designing skills, but employ carefully, and you will need to carefully work out the overall cost of the project.