CHOOSING A BUILDING ROUTE
Who should manage your project? Find the best path for your bespoke home build with our guide
These self builders used package home supplier MBC Timber Frame to deliver the Passivhausstandard weathertight house shell and raft foundations for their home, before selfmanaging the rest of the works to completion with the support of Klas Hyllen Architecture
The beauty of self building is that the experience is what you make of it. If you’ve got the skills and want to take a hands-on role in the works, you can. But if you’d prefer to take a back seat in delivering your finished home, you can employ people to deal with all the stressful, fiddly bits for you. In practice, many of us find a middle path between these extremes – perhaps self-managing the individual trades or working alongside a main contractor to share the load.
Whatever route you feel is the best fit for your project, you’ll want to work with experienced partners to put your build on the straight and narrow. At the head of this stands the project manager (PM). Their job is a juggling act of contracting trades; scheduling orders; taking delivery of materials on site; paying sub-contractors; hiring plant; liaising with inspectors; sorting any permissions and certifications; and making certain all aspects of the build run smoothly. So, who can take on the role?
1 SELF-MANAGE
Many self builders want to be actively involved in running their projects. It can help to have prior experience, of course, but if you’ve got the desire and inclination, you can generally pick up the skills to do a good job. There’s a broad church here. For instance, you might shop around for materials, arrange individual trades, checking quality, pay the bills and generally manage the schedule and budget. Or you may decide to split the role with a main contractor, leaning on their expertise where needed but sourcing your own materials and labour for elements such as specialist glazing, home automation etc.