DIY build.

[Mike_scotland]

Hi guys!

 

During your self builds what sort of jobs did you carry out yourself?

 

Is there any jobs you think can be done by ourselfs to save money.

 

I know you have your usual painting and tiling etc that people always seem to do themself but I was thinking what about 1st fix electrics even running cables and having a qualified spark check and 2nd fix? Stuff like that I'm interested to hear about

 

thanks in advance.

[ProDave]

The builders did the ground work (after I had done the excavating with my own digger)  and built and erected the frame.

 

I then did:

 

Installed the treatment plant and landscaped the garden, so that was the digger finished with so I sold it.

The roof tiling

Insulating the frame and the wood fibre cladding

 

The builders came back and fitted the windows and a plasterer came and rendered the house.

 

I then carried on with more insulating

Joinery

floors and internal walls (oak flooring downstairs)

Plasterboarding

Wiring

Plumbing

Under floor heating

 

The plasterer came back and plastered all the rooms

I had a tiler to tile 2 floors as he could make a better job than me

and I had a joiner hang the doors onto the door frames I had made because he can do a better job than me.

 

I fitted the kitchens, bathrooms and utility rooms, both bathrooms being wet rooms.

 

Mostly SWMBO did all the painting

 

Still more finishing off to do and some of those might not be in the right order.

 

 

[Declan52]

What you can do will depend on time and money. If you have plenty of time you can learn how to lay blocks, drive a digger etc. If you have plenty of money you can pay others to do it for you. 

Be realistic though just because you changed a plug once and put a shelf up won't make you ready for a self build. Also how physicaly fit you are will dictate what you can do. 

[nod]

Myself and my wife did most things I did the groundwork’s fittings set out the out the brickwork built two double skinned garages roofed them and slated them I brought I friend for the day to help with the roof trusses 

 

Once I had done the main house footings 158n2 I brought in a gang of bricklayers Myself and my wife did the chamber joists and cabadecking Brickies built up to wall plate and helped me nan handle the 12 mtre trusses onto the wallplate 

The following day I enlisted two friends to help me get the roof trusses in place (No crane) The following day I came back on my own and Put the valleys in and gable ladders started the facias 
Couldn’t get the brickies back so spent a week on my own building the three gables 

My self and my wife felted and battened the roof in driving rain and spent two weeks doing the lead work and slating the roof 
I had a day putting studs up and first siding 

and two days fitting the Heavy sash windows 

with the help from our son myself and my wife finished the orangery roof Fitted the Latin and fibreglassed thE roof 

Something I’d no experience of Went ok though 

I put the insulation down for the ground floor Brought a company in for the UFH as buying the materials was only a few hundred quid less than they quoted 

I’d done plenty of floor screeding in my time 

I ordered a 15 ton delivery for Monday and a ten for Tuesday 

I wasn’t really fit on Tuesday At 56 I wasn’t as fit as I thought I was but struggled on till dark 

Then I needed to get on with the render 400 bags delivered Our son helped me for three days to get the larger areas out of the way Leaving the 150 bags for myself and my wife We dropped the scaffolding a week after starting the render with just the garages to render 

Then onto first fix plumbing and wiring 

I was lucky that I had to friends that would drop in and point me in the right direction with plumbing design and more important gas and wiring regs It would have been more cost effective to get the experts in But it was Something I enjoyed doing All be it at a snails pace 

Both came back for half a day to check everything before pre plaster check 

We made quick work of the plasterboards Then I spent a week skimming the house out 

The old magic still there We decided to take a week off work to spray the house out and get the skirts and arcs on upstairs 
I tiled the three bathrooms 

Then laid 158 m2 of porcelain on the ground floor 

Ready for the kitchen arriving from Germany 

Couple of days fitting the kitchen which was so easy to fit 

Used granite UK for the quarts worktops Then spent the next six weeks finishing off Internal doors etc 

We moved in and waited till summer to tackle the landscaping 

Again I unlisted my wife to help lay 450 m2 of paving 

 

It sounds a lot when you write it all down I’m sure I’ve missed some things off 

But there is so much that you can do yourself Which will bring the cost per m2 down dramatically 

[ToughButterCup]

Bloody Hell Gary. I'm tired just reading that....

[Mr Punter]

9 minutes ago, AnonymousBosch said:

Bloody Hell Gary. I'm tired just reading that....

 

He did it all in a single sentence without full stops which may be why his is finished and yours is not.

 

In addition to his full time job as well. I don't think anyone working for @nod would mess around.  I would not last a day!

[Triassic]

4 hours ago, Mike_scotland said:

During your self builds what sort of jobs did you carry out yourself?

Everything!
 

I have employed subbies for the timber frame, brickwork, plastering, electrics  and installing the windows. I’ve worked alongside them all to save money.

[Crofter]

Whether it's worth doing lots of DIY depends on how much your time is worth.

I wasn't in regular work for the duration of the build, so my time was more or less free.

Bear in mind that an experienced tradesperson will work much faster than your average DIY builder, so if you are considering taking time off work to do jobs yourself the sums might not add up. But then there's also the hassle of actually finding someone. I've hardly employed any trades on any project I've done, because it worked out quicker and easier to just get on with it myself.

 

On my wee house my build route meant I wasn't subject to building control, and was able to do almost everything myself, including:

- drawing the plans, submitting the planning application, organising all of the service connections

- surveying the site and setting out

- digging the founds (by hand!)

- doing road trips to collect materials where necessary

- stick building the frame on site, erecting it, installing the windows, membranes, cladding, entire roof structure

- interior insulation, vapour barrier, partitions, plasterbooarding, painting, doors, skirtings etc, bamboo flooring

- kitchen design and assembly, tiling, painting

 

What didn't I do?

- most of the groundworks was done by a contractor, although I did hire a mini digger at the end for tidying up

- septic tank and treatment system was installed by the supplier in combination with the groundworks guy. This was the only bit of the build that was signed off by building control and was the aspect I had the least involvement with. It was also the only bit of the project that failed- I had to dig up some pipework six months later where it had been improperly back-filled.

- I had a sparky who planned out the wiring and installed it, although I laboured alongside him to speed things up and lower the cost.

- I had a plumber to install the UVC, as that's a legal requirement. I did all of the other plumbing myself.

- I was fortunate to find a plasterer whose contract had fallen through and was looking for work. It was an extra £900 that I hadn't budgeted for but worth every penny, and he took less than a week. I would have taken much longer to tape and fill and achieved nowhere near the same standard of finish.

 

In hindsight I think it would have been worth buying a digger. It would have been incredibly useful to have one on site all of the time. If you're lucky, you sell it for the same as you paid, but of course you might get unlucky and a major component fails during your ownership.

I also wish I had sourced some or all of the electrical components myself, the 'trade' prices I was invoiced by the sparky for basic stuff like light fittings and sockets was eyewatering when compared to even readily available MK gear from Screwfix. With a bit more shopping around you can save hundreds of pounds.

[nod]

2 hours ago, AnonymousBosch said:

Bloody Hell Gary. I'm tired just reading that....

?

[Gone West]

5 hours ago, Mike_scotland said:

I was thinking what about 1st fix electrics even running cables and having a qualified spark check and 2nd fix? Stuff like that I'm interested to hear about

We did most of the build ourselves. I did the circuit design, first and second fix electrics and had it checked at each stage and finally signed off by a friend of my son in law. I also did all the design and first and second fix plumbing although we don't have central heating. I also designed and did all the fixing for the MVHR system.

Edited May 25, 2020 by PeterStarck