Self-Build Story

I’m hoping that as you read the final instalment of this diary, Yvonne, James, Lily and I will have spent the first full week in our new home! After almost 18 of the most mentally demanding months of my life, and with a slice of overdue luck, we are now starting to enjoy the fruits of our labour. Yvonne has spent the last few weeks packing up our belongings while I have been on site alongside my dad and Jon Day (07918 736198) of Passivhaus Ltd, driving the build along to try and meet our tight deadline.

There are still dozens of jobs left to do but the sale of our current home means we are committed to moving in before they are all completed. It’s not ideal with Lily only just crawling, and four flights of unfinished stairs to contend with, but hopefully half a dozen baby gates will remedy this in the short term!

Our eye-catching walnut stair treads were due to be fitted dangerously close to our moving-in date. However, Steve McKay of AS McKay (0151 652 8082) did exactly what he promised and had the steel frame made, delivered and fitted within a week of receiving the drawings. He then returned to site to fit the chunky, bespoke stair treads, with specialist marine joinery company MPE Interiors Ltd of Birkenhead (0151 653 8331). It is unlikely our glass balconies and handrails will be ready but Jon and Steve promise me they have a ‘Plan B’ in place — just in case.

On the week before our moving-in date, almost 20 tradesmen were on site pushing to get the house finished but we’d committed ourselves to finishing just the main living areas (kitchen, day room, bedrooms and family bathroom) leaving a couple of rooms until after we move in.

ABOVE: The view from the roof.

Our boilers and underfloor heating went in a long time ago but our gas tank has only recently been filled so the heating was being commissioned just a few days before our move. As we are relying on this for heat, hot water and cooking, I just pray everything went to plan but I have learnt to trust Jon Day to deliver on time. He is enthusiastic and dedicated to getting our house looking right so I’m confident we won’t be cooking on a camp stove or boiling a kettle for the kids’ baths!

Electrician Mark Birchall (07814 704921) has his work cut out with so much specialist lighting both inside and out, but a lot of the wall lights and pendants can wait until after we’re in. The wiring for them is already in but I think it is better to live in a place so you can get a feel for exactly what you want. Once we’re in, Mark plans to return to finish off the feature stuff and give us a guided tour, as I’m not sure what a lot of the switches actually do!

We have a cleaning team booked in for the weekend prior to our move as the house is full of concrete dust from the screed and sawdust from all the sanding down of the door frames. At the same time, the electric blinds are all due to be fitted. If it all goes to plan, the carpet fitters can follow them, meaning the bedrooms will be all but finished except for the curtains.

ABOVE: With Marcus and Yvonne’s existing house sold and a completion date set, everyone is working to a strict deadline on site. With just days left, the Sliderobes built-in wardrobes get fitted and Steve McKay returns to fit the chunky walnut treads to the staircase. The external balconies have also been completed. The house will not be finished completely, but the aim is to get the key rooms habitable and useable. The project ended up costing around £2,333/m².

The touching up of the paint will have to wait until we’ve properly moved in, but all of our bedroom curtains look fantastic and are due to be fitted by the very lovely Lorraine of Butterfly Interiors (01745 591694) just a few days before our move. Having lived in a property with very little storage, Yvonne was adamant that our new house would have loads of nooks and crannies to store clothes, toys and general clutter. In our bedroom we opted for a huge built-in wardrobe and another walk-in dressing room.

After shopping around, we settled on Sliderobes in Wirral (0151 334 2121) as we felt the service they offered was very personal to us. We met up with manager Neil Paterson to discuss our storage requirements, then designer Samantha Roberts visited the property and measured up before spending almost four hours with Yvonne and I discussing the finished look and layout of our bedroom and walk-in wardrobes. We were shown computergenerated images of the finished product, which made choosing the exact system we wanted very simple without any hard sell.

The Klargester treatment plant was finally buried in the drive but as we have yet to order electric gates, the drive covering can wait until a later date. For now we will have to make do with a good layer of hardcore but the ground is pretty firm underfoot. With the costs of the build spiralling, we have also decided to wait until spring before doing the landscaping. With so many small jobs to finish inside, the outside can wait until the weather starts to improve!

So was it worth it and would we build again? I’d probably do things differently next time. I think, in hindsight, I’d have brought in a package company like Passivhaus Ltd from day one. The stress took its toll on me along the way and we smashed our budget. Running your own build – especially one on this scale – is not for the faint-hearted. But on the positive side we now own a house which has been valued by three surveyors at between £1,700,000 to £2,000,000 (the land cost £250,000 and the final build cost was £700,000 — twice the original budget). Plots like this don’t come up that often, especially in North Wales. Despite living in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, we have a view to die for, a superb location and a stunning-looking house — a very rare combination when you consider today’s stricter planning policies.

ABOVE: The finished house.

Marcus and Yvonne’s finished home will be featured in Homebuilding & Renovating magazine in a few months’ time.