Overwhelmed selfbuild newbie.. hello!!

[JoanneP]

Hello all, 

 

My husband and I are just in the process of beginning our selfbuild journey (Sorry for the cliche).

 

Feeling a little overwhelmed as just trying to do the initial costings to make sure we are actually able to do it and feel my heads ready to pop. So hopefully looking for advice, reassurance from anyone who's done this recently. Thank you in advance. 

[Pocster]

I started 11 yrs ago - I class that as recent 😊

[JoanneP]

Sounds good to me! Did you find a very stressful experience and would you do it again, knowing what you know now? 😁

[JohnMo]

12 minutes ago, JoanneP said:

Hello all, 

 

My husband and I are just in the process of beginning our selfbuild journey (Sorry for the cliche).

 

Feeling a little overwhelmed as just trying to do the initial costings to make sure we are actually able to do it and feel my heads ready to pop. So hopefully looking for advice, reassurance from anyone who's done this recently. Thank you in advance. 

Best thing is take your time. Get your plans right first. Even if you need to go back to planning to make changes.

 

Step back, write down what you want and what you don't. Look at the following aspects

 

Foundation level how are you going to do it

 

Walls many different ways to build so get that sorted in your head before you go too far.

 

Roof are you having vaulted ceiling, this changes how the roof is built.

 

Insulation and airtightness, this then helps you decide on ventilation and heating system.

 

Layout of house, it's very easy to make a massive house, if you are not careful. Use you current house, what is good and bad, what are room sizes like, ok, too big or small etc. how does the layout work or not?

 

Write stuff down, revisit what you write down, is it still true.

 

Once you know what you are doing don't change.

[Spinny]

I have been overwhelmed for so long now it has become a way of life.

Even the dog passed away.

 

Welcome to the forum. You must be as mad as the rest of us.

[JoanneP]

Thank you, oh dear, haha you're probably right!

 

Sorry to hear about your dog 😌 

[JoanneP]

Thank you JohnMo, that's great advice. I'm sure we'll have lots of questions 😀 

[Roundtuit]

Once it starts, its like an expensive roller coaster ride that you can't get off until it's liveable. Pace yourself, improvise, adapt and overcome, and remember it will be worth it in the end! 

[Russdl]

@JoanneP We moved in 4 years ago. Hugely stressful. Hugely rewarding.
 

We had no prior knowledge of the building trade and no idea of what we didn’t know. Community Infrastructure Levi is probably the first ‘gotcha!’ waiting in the wings. That will suck huge amounts of cash out of the unwary so make sure you look into that as a starter for ten.
 

Find out as much as you can about every aspect. Treat the professionals with an abundance of caution until they prove beyond doubt that they are actually professional. 
 

You won’t regret self building, well, when it’s finished you won’t regret it but there may be wobbles en route. 
 

Good luck, almost unlimited knowledge and help is available from the good people on BuildHub. 

[Tony L]

Welcome to the forum, @JoanneP.

 

My advice is: spend as many hours as you can spare reading through the history on this forum.  There’s a lot to learn & I think this is the best pace to educate yourself.

 

You will come across many success stories – so there’s the reassurance you’re looking for.

 

Also, you’ll come across many stories of builds that have gone wrong – mostly because self-builders have been let down by the people they’ve employed.  For example, my builder, caried out sub-standard work then, with the help of a solicitor, tried to force me to pay over £7,000 for work he hadn’t even done. The arguments went on for weeks.  You could very easily find yourself in a similar situation.  & the builder's not the only person who’s ripped me off or let me down badly – I could give you a long list.

 

So if you’re confident you can stand up to these types of people, go ahead.  If not, think again, because there are a lot of very bad people who are very good at telling wonderful stories about what they’re going to do for you then, sometime after you’ve engaged them, you realise they’re not going to make good on the agreement that’s been made & the arguments start – intense, lengthy arguments.  Are you good at dealing with those kinds of situations?  You may need to be.

 

[Tony L]

3 hours ago, JoanneP said:

... would you do it again, knowing what you know now? 😁

 

Probably not, no, but I'm past the point of no return now, so I will keep going, with a positive attitude, & I hope I will have changed my mind on this by the time the end is in sight.

[Gus Potter]

3 hours ago, JoanneP said:

My husband and I are just in the process of beginning our selfbuild journey

Welcome to BH. It's a long journey but if you put in the effort the rewards are massive. 

 

12 minutes ago, Tony L said:

My advice is: spend as many hours as you can spare reading through the history on this forum.

This is great advise. You'll find BH a huge resource, this is probably your life saver!

 

Main thing is that if you want to really benefit from BH you need to give a bit.. so others that come after you can learn from your experience. If you share stuff then you'll get much more help from experienced self build folk and professionals on BH that chip in as a hobby. 

[saveasteading]

@JoanneP Welcome. We are here to reduce overwhelmed to whelmed.

  I do this because I hate to see people having unnecessary problems, but only on a few subjects.  I follow some of the regulars because they know other stuff I can learn from.

IT IS NOT EASY.

My head is going round in circles on just one design decision at the moment...  an element looks like  costing more than we had anticipated but can I find a perfect solution???

That's what I've been doing for decades so don't assume it ever just drops into position, but do remember that most of it has been done before.

 

Tell us more.

4 hours ago, JoanneP said:

just trying to do the initial costings

That is a special job in itself. I was an Estimator for several years. Specialist contractors submitting formal quotations for the same project, and the quotes can be 10% apart for exactly the same thing.

Bring in a choice of design and that becomes 100%.

 

[Pocster]

12 hours ago, JoanneP said:

Sounds good to me! Did you find a very stressful experience and would you do it again, knowing what you know now? 😁

😂

I realised before I began some of the issues I would face . So I made it - it takes as long as it takes and costs as much as it costs . So by not setting hard limits I could just potter along . Would I do it again ? . Yes and no . I’d gladly get another house built but I wouldn’t build it . More than capable of being a project manager and shouting at everyone now .

So my advice would be remove stress points . If budgets tight it will be an issue . If you have a self build mortgage it will be an issue . If you have to employ trades it will be an issue . Anything you can mitigate now is one less problem later . Clearly depends on individual circumstances. But assume the worst and hope for the best !

[Big Jimbo]

And, don't ask @Pocster to do any of your solweld.... Have you thought about incorporating some walk on glazing ? (Apols in advance to the One, the only, Pocster)

[JohnMo]

13 hours ago, JoanneP said:

would you do it again, knowing what you know now?

For me I would do another house tomorrow, not sure the wife would let me. I really enjoyed the whole process. But I compartmentalise stuff and once it's done, I just move on the next thing.

[Adrian Walker]

A visit to the National Self Build and Renovation Centre (NSRBC) in Swindon is a good place to start. 

[Gone West]

14 hours ago, JoanneP said:

Did you find a very stressful experience and would you do it again, knowing what you know now?

Yes and then no.

I designed and built my own PH but it wasn't recent, it was fifteen years ago, when the regulations were less onerous and costs much less. It took us eight years, doing a lot of the work ourselves. I would do a new self build now, but it would be a turnkey build.

[saveasteading]

1 hour ago, Gone West said:

would do a new self build now, but it would be a turnkey build.

For which add  to cost but have more certainty. Total diy to turnkey must be 40% or so dearer. At that cost level it may not be worth any more than it cost, so needs some other benefit.

That is therefore your biggest decision.

[Pocster]

2 hours ago, Adrian Walker said:

A visit to the National Self Build and Renovation Centre (NSRBC) in Swindon is a good place to start. 

Or visit my house to really put you off !

[Kelvin]

I applied for the final building sign off yesterday so we’re done as per the building warrant. Consequently I’ve given the question of would I do it again a bit of thought. Despite all the issues and stress I’ve changed my mind and would do it again. We love our house and it’s just about perfect for us. There’s one design flaw with it that we always knew was there (no muddy boot room) but other than that the house is working as we hoped and better in some ways. I would do it very differently next time though. We thought the approach we took would reduce the risk and stress but it was the complete opposite. 
 

My other half wouldn’t let me though so this is it until an kark it.