In spite of the recession, “self-build” houses are still popular. Why? Because they’ve invariably provided better value for money than simply purchasing a home. So what is “self-build”? It’s a home you build yourself, as the phrase hints! Not quite literally by yourself, but you place yourself in the position as planner, foreman, architect of your home and let trained workers do the task you tell them to do. “Self-build” is pretty much recession-proof due to the relatively low costs involved (compared to buying a home) - in fact, there are more self-builders in the UK than the total amount of properties being developed by any single developer. The function of self-build is to produce a home to your precise specifications, not a boiler-plate design that commercial developers use.
Already you’re likely thinking: “I haven’t a clue about how to build a house”. The good news is that self-build doesn’t mean you inevitably have to dive in with the actual 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, generally, is about you expressing (in plain English), what you need to the property designer - who then creates a design dependent on your prerequisites. This design then becomes the draft the builders work to. See? You don’t need to have any active involvement in self-build. Even so, the Do It Yourself fantatic can use self-build as an opportunity to save some money by contributing toward the tasks of self-build they have experience in - it’s your choice how much involvement you want during the development.
Self-build sounds pricy, but in reality it’s broadly cheaper than purchasing an already built property of identical specifications (up to 30% cheaper). That’s not all, self-built houses sell very well too - as much as 25% higher than the development costs, so you can view self-build also as a means to invest your money, rather than just a place to live
You must ensure the group of workers you choose are 100% competent and that they work well together. Without doubt, you will require workers with lots of experience, particularly with specific types of construction machinery, such as concrete cutting chainsaws, Masonry saws, power / disc cutters, floor saws, and wood saws. Skills bring safety to the development too.
This article is merely an introduction to self-build, and I hope it will inspire those of you who are intimidated by the thought of running a project of this kind of size. It needn’t take up all of your time, and you won’t need any specific skills, but you will need to be cautious as to who you employ, and you will need to cautiously work out the budget of the project.