Self-Build to save Money during the Recession
Self-build is a phrase that is becoming ever-popular in the housing market. Wait up a minute, what exactly is “self-build”? It’s a property you build yourself. Not quite literally by yourself, but you put yourself in the position as architect, planner, foreman of your home and allow trained workers do the task you order them to do. More and more individuals are doing just that - in fact, the army of “self-builders” in the UK outnumbers the amount of properties being developed by any professional developer. The intention of self-build is to make a home to your precise specifications, not a template that the large developers work to.
Already you’re likely thinking: “But I’m not a builder”. The pleasant news is that self-build doesn’t mean you inevitably have to dive in with the actual building (in point of fact, just 5% of self-builders actually get involved with the actual construction work). Even when it comes to design, quite often this is delegated to a professional designer.. Self-build, mostly, is about you expressing (in laymen’s terms), what you need to the property designer - who then produces a design based on your prerequisites. This plan then becomes the draft the builders work to. See? You don’t need to have any proactive participation in self-build. Even so, the Do It Yourself enthusiast can use self-build as an opportunity to save some cash by helping out with the aspects of self-build they have experience in - it’s your choice how much engagement you want during the development.
Self-build sounds expensive, but actually it’s more often than not cheaper than buying an already built home of the same specifications (roughly a third cheaper). Not only that, self-built homes fetch a good price too - as much as 25% higher than the development costs, so self-build can be simply an investment, rather than a house to live in.
You must ensure the team of workers you select are 100% competent and that they work well together. No doubt you will want builders with experience of some rather potentially dangerous machinery used in building, such as concrete cutting chainsaws, block and slab splitters, power / disc cutters, floor saws, and Masonry saws. Professionalism brings safety to the build too.
This article is merely an introduction to self-build, and I trust it will inspire those of you who are disheartened by the thought of executing a task of this kind of scale. It needn’t take up all of your time, and you won’t need any specific skills, but hire carefully, and you will need to cautiously work out the budget of the project.
