Would you like to build your own home from scratch, but are on a tight budget? Follow these golden rules and your self-build project will get off on the right track.
Building your own house to your own specifications is likely to be the largest outlay of money of your life, but it need not be prohibitively expensive. Many self-builders have managed to build a home that meets their exact needs and lifestyle for a reasonable amount of money.
However, to build on a tight budget, you have to make sensible choices, from the design to the finishing touches. Here, we look at how to keep costs from spiralling out of control while making sure that you can build the house of your dreams.
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Opt for something simple
When it comes to designing your home, you will need to get the professionals, such as Scenario Architecture involved. Architects will be able to work with you and your budget to design something that will suit you and your families needs, both in the present time and in the future.
Building a simple house is obviously going to be less expensive than having something that is complicated – all this will do is increase your labour and material costs, as well as potentially taking a lot longer. Houses in a Georgian style are superb examples of classy but simple designs that are usually based on a really simple box shape.
Think about your specifications too. Starting off looking at the basics does not mean that you have to kiss goodbye to all of the ‘wants’ on your list, but before you commit to spending your limited funds on things that are not necessary, make sure that you have all the essentials covered first.
Minimise the groundworks
The more that needs doing to the ground to prepare it for building, the higher your build costs. When looking for a plot of land, try to find something that is flat, serviced and ready to build on. If you have planning permission in place, that will also save you some money further on down the line.
DIY as much as you can
There are some jobs that should always be left to the professionals – anything to do with plumbing, gas work and electricity, for example, should never be attempted by an amateur. However, you may find that there are lots of smaller and less important jobs that you can do yourself to minimise the costs of hiring labourers and tradesmen. For example, you might want to take over the role of the project manager, chief gardener and landscaper and decorator. You could even source all of the materials yourself, although be aware that some tradesmen are able to purchase material at a lower cost.
Building a house from scratch does not have to be prohibitively expensive. In fact, if done carefully and creatively, it can work out a lot cheaper than buying a ready-made house and has the benefit of being exactly how you want it.