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

14th February 2009

Our Planning Application Has Been Submitted!

Last week we submitted our application for detailed planning permission. I will describe the property here for you to give you an idea of what we will be building...

The property that we are looking to build is a 5,500 sq ft five bedroom property with a basement. The basement has a cinema room, gym, sauna, relation room and play room for the kids (that'll be my ‘man room' until we have some children).  

On the ground floor we have incorporated a large triple height galleried hallway so that as you walk in through the front door, you will see the stairs go all the way up to the loft space and there are no ceilings above you all the way up to the roof. The whole of the middle of the front of the property will be glazed all the way up to the roof to flood lots of light into this area.

We have also chopped out two rectangular pieces of the top of the basement either side of the hallway which in effect creates a bridge on the ground floor that you walk over to enter the main body of the house. I'm looking forward to walking over that!

Either side of you as you enter are two front rooms. One will be a formal study and the other a formal dining room. As you walk over the bridge you will walk into the open plan dining area at the back of the house and in the middle. The whole of the middle of the rear of the house is also glazed all the way up the same as the front.

To the right of the dining area is the open plan kitchen. To the left is a large living room/snug with a wood burning stove and French doors opening out onto the garden.

Upstairs we have four large bedrooms - two at the front and three at the back. The middle bedroom at the back will be used as a lounge because it will have an entire wall made of glass through which you can admire the incredible views of rolling countryside behind our plot. We cannot have anything at the middle of the front of the property because this is part of the open galleried hallway. All four bedrooms on the first floor have double height ceilings that go all the way up into the loft. I have done it this way because the space in the loft above these four bedrooms cannot be used for anything so instead of putting a ceiling over the bedrooms I will install velux windows in the roof to flood the first floor bedrooms with natural light throughout the day and to give views of the stars at night. 

In the loft space, we have created another bedroom on the right hand side, an office on the left and another lounge area at the back in the middle (not sure what to use this room for yet). This lounge area will also have an entire wall made of glass with great views over rolling countryside. The other two rooms have balconies that open out at the side of the property. These will be big enough for a table and a couple of chairs. The room on the right is east facing which means you could have breakfast here as the sun comes up and the room on the opposite side is west facing which is where you could have an evening meal with your partner and a glass of wine as you watch the sun go down over a small woodland at the west side of the plot.

The garage is separate and will be located on the east side of the plot. All in all a top quality scheme for the site that I am very pleased with. There is a parish council meeting in March that I will be attending where I expect my application will receive some attention and comments from local people.

Is It Really Cheaper To Build During A Recession?

The simple answer is YES! Now that I have my plans finalised, I took the opportunity to direct mail all the major timber frame, SIP, ICF (insulated concrete formwork), glass and basement manufacturers that operate in the UK (some are headquartered in Europe).

For example, here is the list of glass people in the UK:

Carey Glass
Domestic & commercial glass manufacturers - CET glass processors, UK
CUBE architecture I PROFILE
Eagle Structural Glass & Weathering
ECKELT GLASS - Company - Contact
Glass Technology UK Limited Home
I-D-Systems Aluminium timber folding sliding doors.
Kawneer NA -- Commercial, aluminum & energy efficient buildings, blast & hurricane resistant
Leicester Glass Home. Specialists in glass, glazing, double glazing, secondary glazing, UPVC and aluminium doors and windows
Pilkington - First in Glass
Prism Architectural Limited: Complete glazing & cladding solutions for the building and construction industry.
Solarlux
Speed Frame
Fineline Aluminium
Technal, Aluminium, glass, curtain walling, doors, windows, frames

There is a lot of other information I have collected like company name, full address, email, telephone number and so on. I have logged all the quotes in my spreadsheet so that once I have them all in I will be able to compare them against each other and decide which to progress.

Now This Is Where It Starts To Get Complicated...

Let's take timber frame manufacturers. A quote from one timber frame manufacturer may include certain things that the quote from another may not. For example, one company includes the erection and delivery of the frame and the other only delivers but does not erect. One may have quoted for a softwood panel construction (cheaper) and the other a hardwood ‘traditionally' built exposed structure (expensive).

That's timber frame. Ok, now you start to get quotes in from SIP manufacturers who might put up the main structure of the property but do not deal with the roof. Some might. ICF manufacturers quote you for the external walls but not the roof or any steels that may be required to support the property and so on. Soon it all starts to get quite complex.

How Did I Solve This Challenge?

I have calculated the cost of each construction method separately. I have created different worksheets in one main spreadsheet for each of the building methods. So, I have one main spreadsheet called 'costings'. That spreadsheet has several worksheets that contain all the expenses involved in construction - right from planning fees, architects fees, ground works etc all the way up to furniture, joinery, landscaping and so on. Most of these costs are fixed for all the different construction methods. The variable bit is the cost of the superstructure and labour.

I have also included the cost of finance and contingency. It is interesting to see how the cost of finance is lower for the faster building methods. This is something that is worth taking into account. Also think about the advantages and disadvantages of each construction method... So for example, building with ICF means the insulation is already ‘built in' when you pour the concrete into the forms (the polystyrene forms act as the insulation) which means you can render straight onto the outside and on the inside you can nail plasterboard straight on and start decorating. Obviously, this can save a lot of time and the need for people to come in and perform certain tasks. You then need to weigh up the savings against the cost of the system - here I am using the initial figures given to me by the suppliers which I will negotiate later as I start to get more competitive quotes in.

At the bottom of the spreadsheet I have created formulas that calculate the cost per square foot for the entire project which is one of the figures that I am using to compare the different methods against each other. Time to build is another factor and so is ‘hassle' - I define this as the number of different trades that will be working together to complete the build. The less people the less hassle but often more cost. More people = more disagreements and possible friction = hassle!

Long Term Vs Short Term Savings

Also don't forget to take the long term savings into account. For example, it may cost more initially to build a highly insulated eco friendly home but if you intend to live there for more than 10 years, the up front capital expenditure can in some cases be covered by the savings in energy costs.

Also, be wary if you manage to get a very low quote from a particular company for initial works. If they are good, you will likely use them for follow on work which is where they know they will make back the money they lost initially so be very careful of this. For example, they quote you for the frame only and you get a great price on that. You then have trouble finding local people to put the frame up so you go back to the manufacturer to put the frame up for you. They then charge you a lot more for their people to come and do it because they know you haven't much choice in the matter.

The only way to get around this happening is to take the time to learn everything up front that you will need to have done as construction progresses and negotiate prices for all these stages at the outset. Yes it will take you more time up front but you should save a lot more money too.

All in all, I am having lots of fun at the moment dealing with all the various aspects of construction. There is just so much to think about and lots of planning to do which should result in big savings down the road. There are also lots of cool new technologies around which if you figure them out, can generate substantial savings over the long term.

If you are thinking of doing a self build there really isn't a better time than NOW. Land is getting cheaper. Materials prices have dropped significantly. Builders and suppliers are eager for work. As self builders we have a responsibility to help - give these guys and girls some work to do and you get to build yourself a great property at low cost. What a win/win - who says the recession is bad for everybody?

I will keep you updated on the build as it progresses. The next step on site will be demolition once I have my planning permission - watch this space!