Photo Lizzie Orme
Throughout the UK around 13,000 people self-build their own home every year. This might sound like a large number, but it equates to only around 7% of all homes built annually nationwide. Britain is also close to the bottom of the league table for the number of self-built homes per capita in the developed world. The United States, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia and large parts of Europe proportionally self-build far more homes than we do in the UK.
I find this slightly depressing to be honest. Building your own home can be a more affordable way of home ownership as you can reduce labour costs, spend more time finding better value materials and you don’t have the substantial overheads of a big house builder and you also aren’t necessarily looking to make a profit; you’re looking to build a good quality home. It is also common knowledge that self-builders are often looking to build something more innovative and exciting and they are thinking long term when it comes to sustainability and efficient running costs. There is no doubt that a self-built home has a lot more love in it than one that is speculatively built for profit.