Once started, do you ever stop self-building?

[Onoff]

1 hour ago, ProDave said:

So at the moment my thinking is I will leave this one on a box.

 

On a pallet would be cheaper!

[ProDave]

1 minute ago, Onoff said:

 

On a pallet would be cheaper!

DIY coffin made of old pallets. My final project?

[Roundtuit]

9 hours ago, vivienz said:

I sincerely hope so!  Once the house is done, there is a life-long garden project to tackle.

+2!  The garden was the primary driver for this build, but the house has accidentally become all-consuming.  All being well, this time next week we will be spending our first night in it, then I can concentrate on trying to get it finished!  Then it's time to slow down a bit, so the garden will keep me out of mischief for at least the next five years.

[Ferdinand]

7 hours ago, ProDave said:

DIY coffin made of old pallets. My final project?

 

The mind boggles as to what would happen with @Onoff's coffin.

 

New product: EasiOut - half finished coffins for Zombies. 

[worldwidewebs]

Every time I finish a job, 2 new ones crop up - just want to get it finished and signed-off now.

 

Would quite happily do another though... 

[lizzie]

Mine has been signed off for a month but is far from finished in my eyes.........there remains a diminishing myriad of ‘small’ finishing jobs to be done......garage is a shell, electrics not fully finished, no driveway, garden a pile of muck and rubbish, no patio, cladding still to be fully finished,  fencing and gates to be done, finishing off silicone in bathrooms and grout ln floor tiles, no lights working in some rooms......well you get the picture........is it ever ‘finished’?

 

Some of the jobs I was left with after sign off were amazing and we are getting through them slowly but what I learnt was that what constitutes Building regs sign off is not necessarily the ‘finished’ job.  For example I didnt have my proper downpipes on just had taped on corrugated plastic pipe, that apparently is suficient for building regs as its a pipe that discharges into a drain, the aesthetics are unimportant as long as the function is there.  I think that sort of thing is down to the particular inspector but I could give you other instances of things that passed the sign off that were still a work in progress to me......even after 2 years the house building world continues to confound.  btw I do now have proper downpipes.....

Edited May 28, 2018 by lizzie

[daiking]

No.

[Crofter]

One of my neighbours asked me yesterday- "When are you going to be finished?"

I replied "First guests are arriving on Saturday" (it's a holiday let).

He also has a holiday let and just smiled and knowingly said "yes, but that doesn't mean you're finished, does it?"

It's going to be a race to the finish, for sure.

 

The good thing about this build is that I cannot simply kick things into the long grass. If it was my own house, I would have moved in months ago and put up with various bodges and unfinished details. Still got some cladding details around windows to do, guttering, and a couple of ditches to fill in. Saturday is ages away... isn't it?

 

We have chosen not to build the decking yet, and I would like to do a bit more landscaping, but these things will have to wait.

 

As to serial self building- yes, I can see how you can get the bug. Right now I would run away screaming if I was told I had to start another build all over again, but in the course of this  project I have learned so much that it seems a waste to never do it again. I have also come to appreciate how terribly designed and finished my own house is. So I think selling up and building a new house for the family is very much on the cards, but not for at least a couple of years. And it would be great to be putting all of this thought, effort, time, and expense into something that my family was going to enjoy.