What's to stop me building my own house

Former Member

I'm 22 and am currently renting a basement flat in South west england. I plan to find land with or without planning permission and build my own house. Why shouldn't i do this. What's to stop me apart from money. what else do i lack at 22 that i would have later on in life with which to take on such a big project.

Former Member

Don't know enough about you, but experience is probably one thing, the right contacts and, although you say "apart from money", that's a pretty big "apart"...

I think you underestimate what a huge job you would be taking on.

NB Buying land without planning permission could be a nig stumbling block and you could be left with worthless land.

Former Member

i know a regional manager of a construction company that has been building his house now almost single handidly for about 3 years. unless you are loaded and so could afford the architect, all the different subcontractors (builders, plumbers, electricians etc), materials and time i don't think you have a hope in hell of building your own house.

Former Member

Skills, knowledge, planning permission, you also need to be qualified to do some electrical and gas work and the design needs to meet housing regs.

Former Member

Bearing in mind that about 30% of the cost will be wastage, which is something you need to factor in to that "apart from the cost".

Former Member

Apart from money, you will need a good grounding in building and carpentry, and also lots more money.

You should draw up a sensible budget for building a house, including allowances for wastage, and then treble it.

Former Member

You also need to factor in all the little things such as screws, wire, paint brushes etc etc as the cost of these mounts up very quickly and is something that most people forgets.

You also have to ensure that you adhere to local building regulations - you will also be required to pay for the time of someone from your local council to come out and verify that these are being met.

Also if the plot does not already have services ie water and electricity you will need to pay for these to be installed which can be very costly.

You may find this link useful

Former Member

If you do decide to go ahead, let us know how it goes , or do an online blog, I'd love to hear about it. You will need an architect - even if you do the plans, they need to produce 'proper' plans that you submit to the council or whoever it is. I know because my brother builds houses :yes: and you will get screwed over a thousand times by builders :yes:. In fact, he paid one lot of builders to do the job, they went 'bust' so he never got the money back, had to employ someone else, they kept breaking stuff but wouldn't own up to who it was (a £1000 ornate bathtub ) so he ahd to keep forking out. Then they stopped turning up, so he had to get a third set of builders.

Was worth it though, I think he spent around £300k and increased the property value substantially (it was originally £1m). Mind you, this was in spain where the labour costs are slightly cheaper. He's split his land into three now and is building another two which he plans to sell off.

Good luck

Former Member

If you don't get planning permission and go ahead and build it anyway, then you'll probably end up having to demolish it. So I'd try to avoid that scenario.

If you get permission, then if I were you, I'd hire a project manager with experience in these things to keep the project on track. He'll know when to bring in the contractors.