How To Self Build During A Recession - My Experience Of Building A Large Family Home

28th December 2008

We have arranged an initial informal meeting with the planners to take place on the 7th of January 2009. At this meeting, my architect will present our initial drawings to get a general opinion. If it's good, we shall continue with detailed drawings for planning permission. We hope to have these done for submission by late January. Here are some of the elements of the eco friendly design:

• ground source heat pump

• wind turbine for electricity generation

• eco friendly superstructure giving excellent heat retention (see below)

• huge swathes of glazing to maximise solar gain especially at the south facing end of the property

• balconies leading off the attic rooms

• a galleried hallway that allows someone entering the property to look right up into the attic space from the ground floor

• a basement that gives us 40% + more living space for half the cost per sq ft of above ground living space

• and much more!

I spent boxing day repairing some boarding at the existing property on my self build plot. Here is my quick Christmas recipe for doing it:

First of all you need to find someone to give you a hand. You can of course do it yourself but my brother is home on his half term break and it really irritates me to watch somebody wasting their time watching television all day so I dragged him along. He rode the bike and I walked the dog. We packed all our tools and some food/water into a rucksack and we were good to go. The walk took us about 45 minutes which we both enjoyed.

Here's what you need - a hammer, some long double threaded nails (so they cannot easily be pulled out), a measuring tape and a stanley knife.

First I pulled out any existing nails protruding out of the woodwork and then checked it to make sure it was solid. I found a couple of planks of wood which we cut to size and used to cover the width of the gap by nailing each end into the wooden frame. We then put a piece of board up and nailed that into the wooden batons.

I have spent the rest of my free time researching different construction methods for the basement and superstructure of the home. Each method has it's pros and cons which we have been carefully considering. There is so much great free information on the net that it blows my mind sometimes!

This week I have spent so much time researching technologies that I find myself falling asleep at my PC - a great feeling!

One of the technologies that I am considering is supplied by Polarwall Insulating Concrete Formwork.

Here are the advantages I noted for this type of construction (these notes have gone into my brief for my architect):

4. Insulating concrete formworksee The Beco WALLFORM System and Polarwall Engineering & Structural Design

The more I look into this the more it seems like a viable solution for our project. This is a popular technique for building houses in Europe and just starting to kick off in UK.

Advantages:

• Excellent acoustic performance since concrete is poured between the polystyrene which then sets and forms thick walls.
• Cheaper than other building methods I have seen and quicker too.

• If we render or use timber cladding for the outside we remove the need for almost all skilled labour on site since semi skilled labourers can put everything together.

• The basement can be built with this stuff saving the need to order that separately and its cheaper than other methods too.

• No lifting equipment or heavy plant required on site.

• We will naturally lose a lot of heat out of the north facing glazing at the back. Using a system like this, that utilizes so much highly insulating concrete will store heat and therefore cut down on energy costs.

• We can render or nail in timber cladding straight on to the ICF to save money by leaving out a brick skin.

• Open plan no problem as the ICF's can handle larger loads than traditional brick and block construction.

Disadvantages:

• I haven't any experience of this so I will be speaking to representatives of polarwall as soon as possible to obtain ballpark quotes

I have performed this analysis for many different building methods and cladding systems. It takes a lot of time but in the end it will be worth it in terms of money saved. I have also found and contacted people on the web who have built their own properties using these technologies as their guidance will save me a hell of a lot of time and frustration.

One of the reasons for considering innovative technologies, is that I want to start developing apartment blocks and commercial properties using these new eco friendly building systems in the future once I have my self build built. Buying a new property BMV (below market value) is one thing. Buying a piece of land BMV and then adding value by developing quick at low build costs means a whole lot of value (=equity) will be created in a building that I put up myself. More importantly I can use good quality materials to minimise maintenance problems down the line and vastly reduce the amount of energy the building needs by focusing on energy efficient building methods.

I have just had a call from a friend to meet up so that's about all I have to say right now.

2009-2011 will be the best years (I feel) to pick up severely undervalued investment properties that we shall see for a very long time. I sincerely hope you prosper and achieve the level of success you deserve.

You have only one life - LIVE IT!