Building a House from Scratch Yourself

Some years ago, my husband and I moved to the country to build a house. Plots of land were going cheap near the East coast of England, and we took the plunge. We had considered many possibilities of building a house or converting an old one. We did look at a number of old, run down properties that were advertised for restoration.

The problem was there was so much work to do on the roof, the wiring, and plumbing that it would have been easier to knock it down and start again. We decided to start from scratch, and be rewarded with the exact house we wanted. It had to be a house that fitted our particular needs. I wanted an office and my husband paints, so he wanted a studio with plenty of light.

He also wanted a room with a pool table but we never did manage that! Building a house is a lot of hard work, unless you have the money to pay contractors to do everything. We were on a tight budget, and fortunately, my husband is very handy and he can do just about everything. He is a trained electrician and has picked up other skills having worked on lots of construction sites. The only practical way to accomplish this was to buy an old caravan, which we put on the land and we lived in for six months whilst building a house.

It was ok in summer but the winter months were tough. One morning, we woke up to find our bedding had stuck to the caravan wall and frozen. It was desperately cold and we took it in turns to be the one to jump out of bed, and put the gas heater on and fill the kettle for tea.

When you start building a house, you are exposed to the elements and its dusty work. I remember my husband stoically laying bricks in the snow. Work parties were frequently organized, when friends kindly volunteered to come over at weekends and lend a hand.

This was in exchange for hot meals and a night down at the village pub. Laying the foundations is the most tedious and time-consuming bit of building a house. Once that has achieved, you feel like you are getting somewhere. Then there is the bricklaying, plastering, putting the roof on, plumbing and painting.

It all takes time and it always costs you more than you think. At last, and within our time limit but over budget, we got our dream home and moved in. Building a house is probably the most difficult but satisfying thing we have ever done. It was a glorious day when we saw that old, clapped out caravan rolling away.

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