Sales Gnosis

Self-build is a term that is becoming ever-popular in the housing market. Hold on, what precisely is “self-build”? It’s a property you build yourself. Not quite literally by yourself, but you place yourself in the position as architect, planner, foreman of your property and let trained workers do the task you order them to do. More people are opting for the “self-build” route – 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 create a house to your precise specifications, not a template that the large developers work to.

Already you’re probably thinking: “I’m no developer”. The pleasant news is that getting involved with a self-build project doesn’t mean you necessarily have to dive in with the actual building (as a matter of fact, only around 5% of self-builders actually get involved with the actual development work). Even the design aspects are often finalised by a professional designer. Self-build, by and large, is about you articulating (in laymen’s terms), what you need to the property designer – who then produces a design based on your necessities. This design then becomes the blueprint the builders follow. Easy, eh? You don’t need to have any hands-on participation in self-build. Having said that, the DIY 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 up to you how much participation you want during the development.

Since you get complete control over the details of the construction, you can choose the latest in technology, while big developers lag behind because they’re constructing to set boiler-plate designs. You can install things like automated climate, lighting, underfloor heating, and entertainment facilities throughout your home.

You must ensure the group of workers you select are 100% competent and that they can develop as a team. No doubt you will need builders with experience of some rather potentially dangerous machinery used in construction, such as concrete cutting chainsaws, block and slab splitters, power / disc cutters, floor saws, and wood saws. Not only do they need to be safe with such equipment, they of course must do their job well too!

This article is only an introduction to the concept of developing a home yourself, and I trust it will encourage those of you who are intimidated by the thought of executing a project of this kind of size. It needn’t be time-intensive, and you won’t need any specific skills, cautiously, and you will need to cautiously work out the budget of the project.