Fast self-build projects - how to do it?

[RedRhino]

It was one year ago that we started our house build, and we moved in 4.5 months later on July 3rd. 

Well, that's the headline to catch attention, but there needs to be some qualification. A year ago we started building above ground. Before that, we had 3 months of asbestos removal, demolition, site clearance, excavation, concrete slab, drains and scaffold. 

But still, 19 weeks to build everything above ground is good. 

Our method:

MBC completed the timber frame in 8 working days - that was a great head start.

We had a fixed price contract with a general builder for all the external finishes. This meant we could leave him to manage that whilst we concentrated on the interior. 

We had plumbing, electrical and carpentry trades working on site in parallel.  The house was big enough to have separate working areas. We (the client) were always present to create the culture of collaboration and courtesy.

Me and the Mrs worked full time on the build without employment to distract us.

One of us would be on site before 8am to open up whilst the other was doing desk work: chasing quotes / delivery / documentation etc. We had very few times when the site was unsupervised by one or other of us. 

We were disciplined in making decisions in the right order and not changing our minds. 

We lived a 5 min cycle away in a rented house. Cycling is ideal because you don't take up parking space on site, and you can come and go without asking trade vans to move. Our builder saw the advantage and started cycling too. 

We had Travis Perkins, Screwfix and the electrical wholesaler all within a 10 minute drive. I could collect ad hoc materials before 8am with an estate car + roof rack so the trades weren't waiting for materials. 

Our builders merchants is a favoured supplier for kitchens / bathrooms etc based 100 miles away. We worked closely with them to keep their supply of materials ahead of the trades. 

I did three months of carpentry assisting the proper carpenter. If I wasn't supervising deliveries, doing a site induction for new workers, cleaning up, moving materials then I was doing carpentry. 

The site was always clean and tidy with waste promptly taken off site.

The site was working 5 days a week, every week but typically not weekends. 
And when we moved in, there was another 6 weeks to completion and then the landscaping after that. 

Photographs attached from one year ago

Build photos here: https://forum.buildhub.org.uk/topic/45435-project-finished-mbc-timber-frame-self-build-220m2-over-three-floors/#comment-634389