Building on Success: a Look at Self-Building
Self-build is a term that is getting ever-popular in the housing market. Wait up a minute, what exactly is “self-build”? It’s a property you build yourself. It doesn’t have to mean LITERALLY by yourself, but you set yourself in the position as architect, planner, foreman of your home and allow professional 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 function of self-build is to make a house to your precise specifications, not a template that the large developers work to.
Already you’re likely thinking: “I’m no developer”. The good news is that getting involved with a self-build project doesn’t mean you necessarily have to dive in with the actual building (in point of fact, just 5% of self-builders actually get involved with the actual building work). Even the design aspects are often finalised by a professional designer. Self-build, generally, is about you expressing (in plain English), what you need to the house designer – who then develops a plan dependent on your demands. This plan then becomes the blueprint the builders follow. Now do you see? It’s not required to have any proactive participation in self-build. Having said that, the Do It Yourself enthusiast can use self-build as an opportunity to save some notes by helping out with the aspects of self-build they have experience in – it’s your choice how much involvement you want during the build.
Self-build sounds pricy, but in reality it’s in the main cheaper than purchasing an already developed home of the same specifications (up to 30% cheaper). Not only that, self-built homes 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 home to live in
You must make sure the team of workers you choose are total professionals and that they can work as a squad. No doubt you will need workers with experience of some rather potentially dangerous machinery used in building, such as floor saws, wall saws with diamond blades, angle grinders, masonry saws and stihl saws. With a skillful crew, you are also maximizing the safety levels of the build.
This article is simply an introduction to self-build, and I trust it will inspire those of you who are intimidated by the thought of running a project of this kind of scale. It needn’t be time-intensive, and you won’t need any specific skills, cautiously, and you will need to cautiously work out the overall cost of the project.
