BUILD IT MAGAZINE’S
Self Build Education House
Build It’s Education House is a project like no other – designed to give you a blueprint for the choices you’ll make on your own bespoke home. Discover some of the key choices we made on our self build journey
In 2020, to celebrate our 30th birthday, Build It took its goal to be the most practical resource for self builders and renovators to the ultimate level by opening our own real-life project to the public. Working in partnership with Graven Hill (page 64), we’ve created a unique educational hub where you can experience life in a self build house and gain the tools you need to complete your own dream home.The Education House is a real-world reference point on which you can base your decisions and budgets. Editor Chris Bates project managed our build – sharing the story of our journey in the mag and online.
A benchmark home
Designed by Lapd Architects, our project doesn’t set out to show how cheaply you can build. Instead, we wanted to demonstrate what the high-spec bits cost; and how to cherry-pick the features, design ideas and functionality you want from your new home. In that way, you can assemble a realistic budget for your scheme.
You could think of it like choosing a car at the local showroom. You need to see and try out all the bells and whistles, so you can decide exactly what you want to prioritise within your funds. A tour of the Education House is your chance to gain access to a goldmine of inspiration and practical advice through detailed infographics and cut-out sections showing key structural details, and to pick up our detailed book all about the journey... including our final build costs!
Why’s that important? Ballpark rates per m 2can be helpful at the early stages, but as soon as you’re working with a live design, there’s no substitute for calling in quotes and pricing a project from the ground up. The Education House bridges that gap – giving you a fully-costed self build which you can use as a blueprint to modelyour own specification decisions and costs. What’s more, this is a finished home that you can actually visit in the flesh and interact with.