Building your own home

Last updated: 31 July 2019

If you want a new home but don't necessarily want any that are on sale, it may be an idea to build your own home from scratch. This is called self-building.

You don't have to have any construction experience to build your own house – in most cases starting a self-build means getting experienced workers to build your house for you.

Self-building can take a lot more time and work than just buying a new home, but it has some advantages:

You get more choice over the way your home looks.
You can plan your home's features to suit your own needs.
It can cost less to buy a plot of land and build a house than to buy a similar house that already exists.

There are a number of steps you have to take to build your own home:

Before the build

Before starting your build you have to consider what type of home you want to build, including its size and the materials it'll be built from.

Once you have a rough idea of how big your house will be you need to buy a plot of land that's big enough for it.

Although you may have an idea of how your house will look in your head, always hire an architect and design your home with them.

You can't get a standard mortgage when building your own home. You need to get a special mortgage designed for self-builds.

Before you can build your home you need to get permission from the council in the form of planning permission and a building warrant.

During the build

Once you're ready to start building your home you must decide who'll build it for you. This could be a single building company or a number of different contractors, or you could choose to do some of the building yourself.

It's up to you to make sure your home is connected to the standard utility services.

It's important to make sure your build is fully insured with both site insurance and a structural warranty, in case something goes wrong.

After the build

Once your house has been built you can claim back VAT on some of the materials you bought.