Obtaining the right piece of land at the right price is the one of the hardest hurdles in doing a self build.

We are endeavoring to lobby local authorities and developers to provide land at affordable rates for self build, as part of other mainstream developments.

We are also setting up a body which is able to support self build groups acquire land which normally only the large developers can afford. Either through initial purchasing support while the group organises its own finances, or purchasing larger areas of land and selling plots to sef builders, passing the cost savings of 'bulk purchase'

If you would further information please contact us.

What is a sustainable home?

Sustainability involves consideration of design and construction of your home in relation to a number of areas

Sense of place
A comfortable and enjoyable place to be. A place which can accomodate changes in life patterns and work choices. A place which can be easily modified in the future.

Minimising energy use
Through passive solar design, high levels of insulation beyond building regulations, passive ventilation. Reducing embodied energy of materials through local sourcing and material choice.

Resource Use
Consider the environmental impact of materials to be used. Recycling and reuse of materials, tools, knowledge.

Onsite harvestings of resources
Food growing, renewable energy production, rainwater harvesting, working from home.

For further information on sustainable housing assessment see the BRE website

I work five days a week, How am I going to build my own home?

Yep, thats a difficult one, but not impossible, there are still evenings and weekends.....your social life may go out the window (unless you can drag all your friends to your build, and generally their enthusiam wears off a long time before yours)

Its that three way triangle: TIME : COST : QUALITY Each factor influences the others, if time is a major constraint, then you may need to get contractors in (increased cost) and the cost of the contractor may influence the quality of the work.

You also need to put a value to your time. Can you cover your time within your budget?

There is a huge amount of information out there to help improve your knowledge.....
Maybe too much.

There are many advisory bodies which will be able to point you in the right direction, if they can not help you themselves.

The hard bit is accumulating all the information you need at the beginning to help you make decisions on the design and construction of your home. Make sure you research each area of the build, and see as many examples as you can of homes which interest you. There are some amazing examples of sustainable homes, books, magazines, advice centres.

If you spend more time planning, the less time you will be messing about on the build.

How can I build a home, I've never picked up a hammer before.

You don’t have to build the whole house yourself. Self build is more about taking control of the development of the home you want to live in. The more work you do yourself, the less you are paying on contractors and builders. However you can contract in everyone, and not get a finger dirty, which will cost more, but you will have at least been involved in the development of your home, and influenced what it is going to be like. If you are careful with who you get involved and you are considerate over the design of your building, you can end up with a home which is more sustainable and cheaper than if you were to buy a home already built.

You can still build it all yourself. Gaining skills through attending courses, helping on other builds, practising, reading books, and talking to others. There may be a sharp learning curve, but there are many examples of success.

Building a house is like putting a shelf up.

If you think things through, and take things one step at a time it is all possible. If you think about the whole thing in one go, indeed it can seem impossible or too much, but split up the build into stages with their own goal posts. The smaller the stages, the more achievements you realise throughout.

It becomes harder if you have constraints, such as finance or time, and normally the two are interlinked. However there are many stories out there of people building on a shoe string, or only on weekends. Get some self build books and see how others have done it.

Remember there are many people out there who can help, give guidance or advice at the various stages of the build.