There are many benefits to building your own house. It is an opportunity to create a unique home tailored around your lifestyle. It can be a route to creating a home that will adapt as your needs change, for instance accommodating wheelchair use. It also offers scope to build a property that is low maintenance and energy efficient.
What’s more, self-builders often achieve a larger home and garden compared to buying a new home on the open market — the average self-build project is 247m²*, more than double the size of the average new-build developer home. And, as an added bonus, self-builders typically enjoy a handsome profit of 25% on their investment*.
Once you’ve decided to build your own home, there are some key questions you need to begin answering: where will you build your new home, what do you hope to build, how will you finance your project, who will build it and how will it be built, for instance. Follow our in-depth beginner’s guide to find out how to start this incredible journey…
Pre-build essentials
Here are some of the key things you need to consider before ‘going on site’ with your build
Once you have purchased your plot there are a good number of steps you need to take before you can begin building your dream home…
You’ll likely need a designer on board to help you formulate plans for your dream home. This might be an architect, an architectural technologist, an architectural designer or an in-house designer at a package company. The design process is likely to take at least a couple of months, possibly considerably longer. Then you’ll need to apply for planning permission…
The cost of submitting a planning application varies across the UK, but is currently £462 in England. However, the real cost of obtaining planning permission arguably comes from design fees to prepare plans and documents, as well as any surveys that may be required to support your application.
You should usually find out whether your local planning authority has approved your scheme after eight weeks — although more complex schemes can sometimes take longer.
News of approval doesn’t necessarily mean you can start work. The conditions attached to your planning consent might require resolution first. Make sure they are capable of being satisfied, as failure to do so could hold up your build, and in the most extreme cases, invalidate the consent altogether. You may also find that you are required to discharge certain conditions during the build, too.
All new homes need to adhere to the Building Regulations, and for this reason a building control inspector will visit at key stages of the build to inspect the work and ensure it complies. These stages include: excavation for the foundations, pouring concrete for the foundations, building the
