02.08
0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Feb 7, 2010 | by KAREN ROCKETT
BUILDING your own home is a dream of many but most don’t get beyond sitting on the sofa watching re-runs of “Grand Designs” on TV. And if they do, then they soon discover that building a house from scratch – without any experience – can be fraught with problems, practically, financially and emotionally… so it pays to get trained up!
So we meet two successful self-build students and see how they have put what they learned during their course into practice… ‘I took a 5-day course..now I’m helping on my own site’ LANDSCAPE gardener Jacqui Prout, 42, has dreamed of building her own home since she was a girl.
And less than a year on from taking a course in self-building, Jacqui is well on the way to completing her chalet-style bungalow complete with gallery sitting room and roof terrace.
She said: “I learned a lot on the course – not so much the practical skills which, as a landscape gardener I have, but things like budgeting and planning permission.”
Jacqui paid pounds 82,000 for the plot, then cleared the whole site herself, dug up bushes, levelled the land and has been as “hands-on” as possible.
She plans to lay all the underfloor heating herself, all the internal woodwork – such as skirting boards and door frames – and some plumbing and electrics.
“Obviously I will have to get a qualified electrician in,” she says, “but I am prepared to work alongside them and have a crack at the wiring. I also plan to do all the decorating and tiling.”
Jacqui hopes to complete her house by spring. She says: “I am really looking forward to moving in to what will be a unique property and something that I can say is truly mine.”
w w. s p r o u t g a r d e n s . c o. u k specialises in small gardens, roof terraces and courtyards. The National Self Build and Renovation Centre, near Swindon run a series of courses on the management, planning and logistics of self-build. The dates of the next course are April 26-30, 2010, with further dates in October and November.
The complete course is pounds 345 or you can take an individual module at pounds 85.75.
If you can’t spare five days for the course, visit the Self Build and Renovation Show from Friday 26th February to Sunday February 28, where all the tutors and experts will be on hand to answer your questions.
For more information visit www.buildstore.co.uk/show or telephone 01506 409616.
‘I’m no good at DIY – but I ran the building site by myself’
WHEN accountant Mike Davies decided he wanted to build a house it was a case of all or nothing.
The 35-year-old from Leeds gave up his job so that he could spend every day on site.
Mike says: “I loved every minute of building my own home, but you can’t underestimate how much time and money it takes.”
Mike went on a three-day self-building course in Cambridge. He said: “I’m not even very good at DIY, so going on a course like this was really beneficial to me.
“The most important thing I learned was that thousands of people self-build every year and there was no reason why I shouldn’t do it myself.”
After the course in April 2008, Mike bought a 900 square metre sloping infill plot of land on a street overlooking the green belt in Leeds in November 2008.
“I project managed the whole thing, which can be stressful when you’re used to being told what to do in the corporate world.
“I did muck in where I could – mixing concrete, shifting tiles, general labouring and so on.”
Mike’s build, which he has just moved in to with girlfriend Kate, 34, is an impressive, four-bedroom, two-bathroom detached house with the main living areas on the first floor. Mike paid pounds 135,000 for the land and has spent a further pounds 300,000 building his dream home which is probably worth at least pounds 500,000 due to its unusual design and high specs.
Mike attended the Developing Skills self build course. The next course on April 21-22 covers plot finding and planning on the first day, and construction methods, contracts and costs on the second – pounds 115. For more info visit www.selfbuildcourses.co.uk, or call 01480 893833. Mike Brinkley’s book “The Housebuilder’s Bible” is in its 8th edition and is published by Ovolo Books
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