self-build. would you do it again, or was the hassle not worth the gain?

hamblettamaud

thoughts on self-build welcome.

i have the opportunity to do a self-build. it would mean contracting out to put up a small, two-bedroom chalet-style house, costing approx £70-£80K (that's a guestimate based on two quotes).

however, after my own recent experience of builders & kitchen-fitters who ignored what i asked for and went ahead with their own ideas, i am a bit hesitant to commit to it.

so generally, is all the hassle, headache & heartache actually worth it? would you do it again? was the finished result to your satisfaction? etc etc.

comments welcomed from all four corners of the globe.

hamble

ormus

havent done it myself but my cousin has done it.
mind you her OH is in the trade, (hes a QS) so he had the contacts etc... which can make a huge difference.
they said it was well worth it. a large detached home for approx half the normal building costs.

agent_orange_2

Maybe with so many builders looking for work, now is the time to take advantage of that.

jennifernil

we had our present house built some 21 years ago, and we would do it again if we could find a plot.

self build or a complete rebuild/conversion of an old property is the only way to get exactly what you want.

in our case we designed the house then employed a timber frame company to do the main stuff. they worked with their usual plumbers and electricians, so we had a total fixed price for what we wanted them to do.

over and above that we chose bathrooms which they fitted, but the actual baths etc were an extra cost. we bought the kitchen units through the builder too, but we fitted all that ourselves, their plumber connected up the water and waste.

other stuff we did ourselves were tv and telephone outlets, making and fitting bathroom cupboards, tiling, light fittings, wooden flooring, garage doors, block paving the driveway, fencing and gates, and landscaping the garden.

I would not advise anyone who knows absolutely nothing about building or DIY to have a house built, one of our neighbours did this and ended up in a real mess.

you need to know what you want, get everything on paper, get costs fixed, and then not change your mind about any of it, as that can be expensive.

and you do need to keep an eye on the project to make sure they are doing what you expected, otherwise things can go badly wrong.

we had 3 small problems........

we had 2 cupboards back to back in 2 different rooms giving an available depth of 1100mm. Instead of a 600mm deep wardrobe on one side and a 500mm deep shelved cupboard on the other, as shown on the plans, a joiner thought it was more sensible to give us 2 x 550mm deep cupboards. He had to tear the wall down and rebuild it.

pipe ducts were seemingly made just any old size, and not always square. after 2 attempts to have them do one right, my husband had to fix it himself in the end. an oversize duct in the kitchen, due to the plumber not installing the pipes neatly, meant we had to cut a chunk out of a kitchen unit.

having told the painter we wanted white ceilings and magnolia walls, we found he had decided this meant the cornices should also be magnolia. he had to redo them in white. painter was far from satisfactory and was dispensed with in the end, in return for a price reduction.

hamblettamaud

jennifernil wrote: »

we had 3 small problems........

we had 2 cupboards back to back in 2 different rooms giving an available depth of 1100mm. Instead of a 600mm deep wardrobe on one side and a 500mm deep shelved cupboard on the other, as shown on the plans, a joiner thought it was more sensible to give us 2 x 550mm deep cupboards. He had to tear the wall down and rebuild it.

pipe ducts were seemingly made just any old size, and not always square. after 2 attempts to have them do one right, my husband had to fix it himself in the end. an oversize duct in the kitchen, due to the plumber not installing the pipes neatly, meant we had to cut a chunk out of a kitchen unit.

having told the painter we wanted white ceilings and magnolia walls, we found he had decided this meant the cornices should also be magnolia. he had to redo them in white. painter was far from satisfactory and was dispensed with in the end, in return for a price reduction.

this has been my experience with builders/joiners. no matter how clearly you specify things in voice & in writing they decide that their way is better.

i had clearly asked my joiner for a solid wood staircase to be built. however, he decided that MDF would be quieter underfoot & so he made it with MDF treads. that meant that i had to pay £800 extra to have it carpeted when what i had planned was to have it beautifully stained, oiled & varnished. grrr.

27col

We have built two houses and have lived in the second for 30years. I did a lot of the work myself, and if I am honest, not as well as I should have in some cases. In the present house we lived on site in a mobile home. The discomfort of this, is a great incentive to get on with the building of the house. It is quite a cheap way of getting a house, but you have to be dedicated, especially if you are doing some or all of the work yourself. In my case I had to demolish the existing bungalow, which was entirely made of wood and asbestos sheeting. This was just before the big anti asbestos scares. Of course, if you get a builder in then you have to really be on site, managing the build most of the time. I only subbed out the bricklaying and the roof, and a small amount of the first fix plumbing. Also, the plastering( he was absolutely hopeless). I did all the rest myself with a little bit of labouring help from a workmate (who was going through a divorce and needed the money).
It is definitely a hassle, but at least you have no time to get bored.
If the builders merchants are to be believed, half of the lorries in the country are late because they have broken down with your delivery on board. I bought a lot of books about building, from the Building Centre. I think it was situated in the Tottenham Court Road. Even at my age I would still like to have go at another one. Preferably a timber frame construction. Although I would employ much more labour if I did.

jennifernil

hamblettamaud wrote: »

this has been my experience with builders/joiners. no matter how clearly you specify things in voice & in writing they decide that their way is better.

i had clearly asked my joiner for a solid wood staircase to be built. however, he decided that MDF would be quieter underfoot & so he made it with MDF treads. that meant that i had to pay £800 extra to have it carpeted when what i had planned was to have it beautifully stained, oiled & varnished. grrr.

geez! I would have made him rip it out and build it properly as per my instructions!