Which parts did you DIY?

[BadgerBadger]

I'm interested - and looking ahead to our build process - which parts of your builds did you find were most cost-effective to DIY, and which parts did you definitely leave to contractors?

 

We're pretty handy with general DIY with a good eye for detail, but no specialist building skills.  Currently on our list to have a look at ourselves are things like wood cladding, guttering, and obviously lots of internal decoration.  How about things like drainage? Beam & block flooring? Or roof tiling?

[jayc89]

So far, I've only renovated the existing house, I've;

 

- Removed downstairs floor boards and joists, dug out and poured new slab, insulated and laid UFH pipes (pro company came in and screeded)

- Replaced existing water mains with 32mm MDPE - approx 35m trench.

- Fixed drains I broke digging that trench

- Fitted beam and block over original cellar (I say cellar, it was basically a big cupboard under the stairs)

- Mostly relocated a bathroom to what was a bedroom after the bathroom fitter let us down

 

When we get rolling with the extension, I plan to;

- Dig and pour foundations

- Dig and pour floor slab

- Dig and lay drainage

 

Clearly I just like digging...

 

I have a builder lined up to build the structure (walls and roof) but I'll do most of the 1st fix, all the stuff that can be hidden by the 2nd fix, which I'll also get done by the pros.

[JohnMo]

No previous real experience except DIY

New build.

I did

Insulation in floor,

UFH pipes,

all plumbing

Install bathrooms

MVHR

Install solar panels, except electrical

built internal and external walls.

Internal sound proofing

Parge coat walls

Battened out ceiling and walls

roof vcl

Airtightness detailing

External cladding

External stone slips

Facia, soffit and gutters

gabion baskets

Levelling floor

Most the wall painting, daughter did all wood work

Built wood shed and water treatment shed (all from left over bits)

 

 

Didn't do,

roof structure or any roof covering

Roof insulation (spray foam)

Windows and doors

Plasterboard

Taping and jointing plasterboard

Second fix joinery

install kitchen

Gas connection or piping

Commission boiler

Commission PV

Any electrical work

Water borehole, and piping filters etc

External waste water piping

Laying of any flooring

Build garage, but did insulate.

 

[ProDave]

Well ours turned into a DIY max build.  So once the builders had done the foundations (I dug the trenches with my own digger) and erected the shell i took over just about everything else.

 

The only bits I got people in for after that were Fitting the windows (needed more bodies than me and SWMBO to lift them)  Plastering (I have proved I am no good at that) Some joinery that needed a bit more skill than I have. Some plumbing e.g. gas and UVC final connection and then things that needed an official test like air tightness and Final EPC.  Also some floor tiling and fitting the stone kitchen worktops.

 

There is an awful lot you can do if you have the skills or the patience to learn new skills and have a go.

[Jilly]

I've been the professional worrier.

But also decorating, labouring, cleaning up, digging

 

[nod]

Dig and pour foundations 

Set out and build foundation walls for house and garages 

Floor joists and steels 

Roof trusses 

slating and lead 

Fiberglas roof 

Fit sash windows and doors 

Floor screed and insulation 

90% of plumbing 

90% of wiring 

All plaster boarding and skimming 

340m2 of K Rend 

250 m2 of tiles 

400m2 of paving 

I’m sure I’ve missed something 

 

When you write it down 

I wonder why we are about to do it all again ?

 

[joe90]

Well as a retired builder I did virtually everything apart from the shell (foundations, brick, block, slates, plastering) but had to get sparky to do wiring as I am not part “p” and gas fir cooker. I also got a chap to decorate to speed things up towards the end (plus I hate painting). Oh, and also got the firm who made the bifolds and front door to hang them as they were very heavy and a bit specialised to adjust properly. Also I was retired and had the time.

[JamesP]

No specialist building skills but had the time. My Dad who is in his 70's did all the drawings by hand and helped erect the frame.

Everything except plastering, electrics, ASHP inc commissioning for RHI and windows ( badly installed  ) though fitted 8 Velux myself.

Timber frame, 11m steel ridge beam, heaps of insulation, Air tight, MVHR, UFH, Seamed metal roof., Cedar cladding, Concrete work tops and on it goes.

 

[Bitpipe]

As a soft handed non builder and crap DIYr, I fitted the EPS insulation to the exterior of the basement walls before backfill, installed the GRP basement light wells (both of these were then backfilled by the Groundworker). Inside I did the MVHR install over a few weeks, again all hidden by the plastering.

 

Aside from that I kept the site tidy which is not to be underestimated.

[jack]

I'm a vaguely competent DIYer, but didn't have any building experience.

 

The things I did myself (or with help from my wife and others)

• Installed the MVHR unit and ductwork (electrician wired up).
• Installed the UFH manifold (I'd have happily laid out the pipework too, but this was done by the timber frame company).
• Built up and fibreglassed two small balconies.
• Installed frameless glass rails and glass on the balconies. 
• Installed eaves.
• Helped electrician with a lot of basic stuff like installing backboxes and conduit, and pulling through wires.
• A small section of larch cladding that wasn't finished for various reasons.
• Epoxied garage floor.
• Plasterboarded some of the garage.
• Put up some light fittings (especially exterior).
• Installed stairs.

[SimonD]

I had no specialist building experience but had done some renovation projects. In this project it's easier to list what I have not done:

 

Infill extention blockwork wall (at the beginning just before I decided to do the rest of it myself)
Steel frame erection

 

Is this the most efficient way? Definitely not. From a cost perspective it turned out to be the only way we could get anything close to what we wanted - we're not that far off and are so far at about 1/3 of the price we'd had indicated by builders. Round here, builders just seemed to want to fleece us. I reckon that by the time we finish we'll be at about 1/4 of builders cost.

[James94]

We’ve been doing ours over three years now and have done quite a lot ourselves with some great advice from the very friendly and experienced people on here.

I think a lot of it will depend on your circumstances, what sort of time you can put in and do you have somewhere cheap to stay as it’s going to take you a lot longer to build. But when you do finally move in the satisfaction and money you will of saved will be priceless.

regards. James

[Russell griffiths]

Only 3 things I have not done. 

Piling. 

Floor screed

electrics. 

 

Apart from that ive done the lot. 

[joe90]

1 hour ago, Russell griffiths said:

Only 3 things I have not done. 

Piling. 

Floor screed

electrics. 

 

Apart from that ive done the lot. 

I think you are top of the class mate, good bragging rites.

[Tennentslager]

I built ma hut off grid and did everything...from planning permission to interior design...wall of maps and wood burner.

But there's a sting in the tale...tail?

[Pocster]

With zero knowledge and zero skill I have almost single handily built an entire mainly underground house .

 

So that tells you everything. You can do it all . I estimate in Labour savings ; I’ve saved maybe 500k  ( if I had to employ to build today ) . Taken 7 years - not finished it …

 

You have money then get it built .

 

You have time and tenacity- then you build it .

 

You have no money and no time , you sell the plot .

[Pocster]

23 hours ago, ProDave said:

There is an awful lot you can do if you have the skills or the patience to learn new skills and have a go.

There’s an awful lot you can do when you have none of the above ?

[Pocster]

And of course you NEED this forum !

[Jilly]

1 hour ago, Tennentslager said:

But there's a sting in the tale...tail?

Do tell.

[Tennentslager]

1 hour ago, Jilly said:

Do tell.

Ach, it burnt down uninsured.

But I had 5 great years and sold the plot so now moving on old bean.

No point looking back and ruminating ??

[TerryE]

@pocster, I like your summary, but there is also an element of QA and also ensuring the design and build is actually what you want.  I was involved career-wise in the project management and technical assurance of a lot of large IT projects, and I learnt a lot of rules of thumb here, which we applied well on our build.

• Anyone who leaves a bespoke build to a bunch of subs is foolish.  You must have independent design and project management from someone that you truly trust, and comes with an excellent track record. This is not cheap -- maybe a 15% overhead on build costs -- and this is a fair reflection of the skill and time involved.  TBH, most of the successful self-builders here have taken on these roles themselves. In our case, I got a TA to do the outline plans for planning consent, but worked closely with the TF companies TA to develop the detailed TF, slab, UFH plans, etc.  I think we went through 10 design revisions.  We were also onsite daily during the build, especially during critical phases.
• You must be willing to invest in quality subcontractors with a clear track record and establish a well defined scope.  In our case we had two main subs and a couple of minors:
  • The slab, TF, and airtightness was a fixed price on stage payment contract with MBC.  IMO one of the best decisions we made, and I would unreservedly recommended them as a supplier.
  • The groundworks, slate roof and stone skin was done by a local builder with an excellent reputation, all on time and materials. He normally only does complete developments to his own design, then sells them as-built.  However, we were lucky to catch him between jobs as he'd run out of plots that had cleared planning.  Again, this proved an excellent choice.
  • Internorm for fenestration.
  • Two internal custom made wood staircases by a good supplier.
  • We used some of our builder's tradesman subbies at his recommendation, but we contracted them directly.  However, his recommendation had major advantages in that (i) they were good and (ii) they weren't willing to cross him (iii) we could see the standard of their work on some of his builds: electrician, plasterboard fit and plastering out, tiling.
• Things typically go wrong at the interface between 2 subs; they always go wrong if it's a 3-way interface, so these need to be monitored in absolute detail.
• We didn't split the scope of any one trade: either subcontract or DIY.  I did the entire rewiring of my old house, but that was pre the Part P certification requirement, so this got subbed out. In terms of what we did, it was everything else: design and oversight, project management, all submissions for Planning and Building Control, financial control including VAT claim; a lot of the procurement, all of the internal joinery and woodwork, CH design and all plumbing, MVHR design and implementation, all other second fit, including staircases, kitchen, utility, en-suites and bathroom.
• Neither of us like P&D, but that's my nephew's trade and he's good, so we had him to stay for ~3 weeks to do this.
• After we moved in, we subcontracted the drive way, electric gate installation and rear garden landscaping again to local specialist contractors.

My wife and I are delighted with how the build turned out, both in terms of quality and fitness for purpose.  We have a passive-class, low maintenance house built exactly to our spec. Because we had a large plot in our previous house and could split it, the plot only cost us maybe £50K off the sale value of our old house, so this saving plus the value of our own labour meant that we realised quite a lot of capital in the move into a house that was perhaps 20% smaller than our previous pretty large farmhouse, but extremely well suited to our retirement.  So we are very glad we took this on.

 

It was also extremely hard work and at times extremely stressful, so we would never do it again.  Once in your life is enough, IMO.

Edited February 10, 2022 by TerryE

[Radian]

On 09/02/2022 at 17:52, BadgerBadger said:

We're pretty handy with general DIY with a good eye for detail, but no specialist building skills.  Currently on our list to have a look at ourselves are things like wood cladding, guttering, and obviously lots of internal decoration.  How about things like drainage? Beam & block flooring? Or roof tiling?

You should have no problem with the things already on your list. I would add drainage as it's mostly common sense + digging. There's also plenty that can be done with a DIY grade cement mixer and a few cheap masonry tools. I got a real taste for laying patio slabs and low stone walls. If you're not already accomplished, just take your time and don't hesitate to knock down and rebuild. Be critical - mortar is still quite soft the following day so if you see something that bothers you, redo it. The trick seems to be in just having the confidence and not over-thinking what your limitations might be.

 

Roofing was out of my scope though as I'd had a stroke the previous year and while I credit doing all the grunt work at ground level as being instrumental in my physical recovery, my balance was still a bit too shaky. Your mileage may differ and I was itching to get on the battens as hanging slates is one of those simple, repetitive but time consuming tasks that can otherwise soak up expensive man-hours.