Pick the approach that best suits you

Turnkey Elite

You are in the happy position of being able to hand over the bulk of the design and build process to the professionals. They are, in time order: estate agents to find a suitable plot, an architect (or suitably qualified designer) to create a design, obtain planning consent and Building Control approval, draw up a specification, put it out to tender, select a contractor and project manage the build, finally handing over the finished house to you, who only has to turn the key in the front door and take possession. Simples.

Pros: Most likely to get you featured on Grand Designs. This is an option if you are keen to create a highly individual home, have a particularly remote plot or are an expatriate returning from distant lands, but mainly if you are cash rich and time poor.

Cons: Because so much is delegated, it’s also the most expensive option. To ensure effective remote control of finances, employing a quantity surveyor is a wise precaution, and – as even the best-laid self-build plans can go awry – consider hiring an experienced and trusted project manager to oversee the build. Oh, and a kitchen designer and an interior designer for those memorable finishing touches.

Check out: The Royal Institute of British Architects for inspiration.

The Package Posse

You, too, would like a highly individual home, but are either wary of taking the architect-led route, prefer to work from a brochure of existing designs or would appreciate some general self-build hand holding.

Packagers typically offer a catalogue of designs, which can be adapted to meet individual requirements, or they can adapt your architect’s design to their own building system. In almost all cases this is some form of prefabrication, usually timber frame, including oak frame, though structural insulated panels (SIPs) are growing in popularity.

Generally speaking, European companies offer a full turnkey service while UK companies veer more towards a weathertight shell, which your contractor or subcontractors complete.

Pros: Huf Haus anyone? This is a tried and tested way to acquire a high-end home without the uncertainties of an entirely original design, though less ambitious designs and budgets are also available. It can provide a fixed price at an early stage. Another plus is that the VAT is reclaimable on architectural services included in the package – unlike the VAT paid on an independent architect’s fees.

Cons: Payment, or a substantial part of it, is normally required up front – a big ask for so early in your project. For non-turnkey projects, hand holding can also vary, though packagers can usually recommend contractors familiar with their construction method. But finding a plot and groundworks – creating the foundations and utility connections – are usually up to you.

Check out: Huf Haus, Baufritz, Scandia-Hus, Potton, Neatwood Homes.

The Custom-build Brigade

When you think of a new home it’s usually one built by a commercial developer – fully finished, ready to occupy, with a fixed price. If only developers could provide a home on the same basis but designed and built specifically for your needs.

This is the basis of custom build, where a developer sells a serviced plot – that is, one with highway access and the utility connections already in place. It may also come with outline or detailed planning permission for a specific house design or design parameters set by the local authority. Alternatively, the developer may help you obtain planning permission for your own design.

The developer will then help you build it – either as a turnkey project, a weathertight shell, or just a basic foundation slab. In the latter two cases, you, or a contractor you hire, complete the build.

Pros: This takes care of the trickiest aspects of self build at a stroke: plot sourcing, planning permission, utilities and, if needed, design and build. For developments of under 10 homes, expensive extra local authority charges, including Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), Section 106 Agreements and affordable housing requirements, don’t apply.

Cons: Custom build is well established elsewhere in much of the developed world, but still relatively new here so finding a plot in a chosen location is likely to be difficult.

Check out: Right to Build Register, Custom Build Homes, Potton.

The Community Cohort

If selfbuilding alone seems too challenging, what about joining, or founding, a group to do it together? Traditionally community self build has been organised through housing associations and local authorities, enabling those on low incomes to build their own small developments which they co-own with their funders or rent at low rates.

Recently, however, another variety, known as cohousing, has reached the UK. Here, like-minded individuals form a group, cooperative or company, pooling their resources to buy a plot where, typically, between 10 and 40 homes are self built. The development, which is run by the members, often includes shared facilities, such as communal heating, a meeting space, allotments or a car pool.

Pros: You choose your neighbours, who can be as diverse or as identical as you like, from young families to senior citizens or a complete mix.

Cons: Hermits and misanthropes are likely to be challenged by this form of living. Extricating yourself from a community arrangement may be difficult.

Check out: Community Self Build Agency, UK Cohousing, Custom Build Homes. Visit an existing scheme, ideally of a type that appeals to you.

February 2020