Striking Brick and Block Home Built on Greenfield Site

Deciding on the Self Build’s Structure

Despite the impact of Covid, hiring subcontractors wasn’t an issue, although material supply issues meant that keeping them on site could have been – even with Kevin’s experience as a carpenter and joiner. Work on the superstructure began in April, and they soon ran into problems securing timely deliveries from first choice suppliers to maintain progress.

The stone surrounds to the windows arrived at the eleventh-hour, which concerned Kevin as he needed to get them in quickly to enable the bricklayer to continue works. “Once the brickie’s gone, he’s gone, so I knew I had to keep the block and stone coming.” He worked in parallel with the bricklayer, fitting the wall insulation to make sure everything was tight and perfect. They agreed day rate payments rather than a fixed price because of the complexity of the house shape.

Read More: Structural Systems and Building Methods: Which is Best for Your Self Build?

The kitchen is southeast facing and catches the morning light. It has a generous provision of preparation and cooking space around a central island

“For a lump sum, a bricklayer would have added on a lot to cover himself,” explains Kevin. Conscious of getting value for money, the bricks and blocks were counted at the end of each day to monitor progress.

Kevin was at work throughout the lockdowns while Claire had just started setting up her own business. She agreed to monitor progress on site, ensuring the tradespeople turned up and were working on their house. She laughs at the suggestion of her being their site agent. “I don’t think Kev’d quite give me that,” she says. “But I was certainly his eyes and ears on site while he was at work. He’d ring me to go and check if the contractors were there yet.”

Keeping the Work Moving Forwards

With the block structure up by the end of August, including a chunky steel beam over the open-plan ground floor, Kevin could make progress on the roof structure to get the building watertight before winter. The cruciform shape ruled out a simple trussed rafter solution, dictating a cut roof with lattice trusses, glulam beams and loose rafters – probably the most difficult part of the build for Kevin.

“The attic was a real pain with all the cuts between the rafters, plus fitting the Celotex rigid insulation and 400mm of fibreglass insulation in the ceiling void, which had to be done from underneath. In addition, the roof orientation and shape made it unsuitable for solar PV. So, to improve the project’s SAP rating they opted for a ground source heat pump.

Christmas 2020 was a memorable one as the building was watertight and taking shape. Claire had taken progress photos and gave Kevin a montage, hanging on the landing, for Christmas. “It’s all about the memories we made together building this,” she says. The stone cladding was going up on the front elevation, but the shorter working days and cold weather was taking its toll.

The open-plan dining-living-kitchen area occupies over half of the ground floor area and has glazed patio doors opening onto the garden. The zones are delineated using furniture, fittings and lighting to emphasise their individual uses

Claire was carrying bricks and keeping an eye on things from a safe distance. “It does take over your life, and at that point I said never again,” she admits. To keep the bricklayer working full days they spent several nights on site until 9pm, working with head torches, pointing up the stonework as the mortar was slow going off because of the cold.

With the building watertight, progress on the internal fit-out and first fix services began, but winter had barely started. “It was hard work getting off the couch at seven o’clock,” says Kevin, “I was just worn out.” They’d worked long days through the summer, weekends included. And with Claire setting up her business, there wasn’t a free minute left in the day.

The rear elevation of the house faces southeast, with a first floor timber balcony to the master bedroom to enjoy the morning sun. The outdoor space overlooks the garden and wooded hillside beyond

Kevin got on with the internal lining during his free time, while the electrician and plumber did the first fix. For this the couple used personal contacts; people they could trust to work unsupervised. The electrical and plumbing systems are simple, with no specialist installations other than the ground source heat pump. Kevin wanted to keep it simple, opting for just radiators.

Read More: First Fix & Second Fix Building Work Stages Explained

Sticking to Budget

With the housing market rising in South Wales and overheating by summer 2021, the couple judged that the time was right to sell up to fund the rest of the build. Their home was snapped up within two days, so they had to move quickly. They moved into Claire’s mother’s for a further three months, meanwhile maintaining steady progress on the build. The house sale gave a boost to the finances, ending the juggling of the credit cards just to keep things ticking over.

The first floor sitting room is at the front of the house and has a three-panel folding patio door onto the timber balcony, with sweeping views over the valley below

Budgets are often squeezed through cost overruns in the earlier stages, resulting in poorer quality finishes later. The couple were aware of this from day one and had set a realistic £320,000 build budget for a high-quality finish, achieving this when VAT reclaim was taken into account. Even the garden had its share of budget allocation.

“We spoke to a guy at the garden centre who came and looked at it. We explained we wanted to fill it up and he came with two lorry loads worth £4,000 and laid out the plants. We just moved them around a bit. Kevin couldn’t believe spending that much on plants but was glad we did. It was like an instant garden,” says Claire.

Learn More: How Much Does it Cost to Self Build a House in 2023?

The second floor front bedroom has a glazed screen elevation with double doors opening out onto the timber-decked balcony

The couple moved into their newly self built home in time for Christmas 2021, albeit with a temporary staircase, however, most of the decoration and tiling was complete. The rest of the work was finished by March 2022. They’ve now had some time to sit back and reflect on their achievement, which Claire likens to having a baby: “Once the pain is over you think oh, I may do that again.”

But it would have to be something special; a forever plot with a big wow factor; a lakeside bungalow perhaps. “Kevin has described to me some of his ideas for another property and I wouldn’t mind doing that,” says Claire.

If you’re wondering how much it’ll cost to build a house, a great place to start is by using Build It’s Self Build Cost Calculator. Here you can estimate your project costs instantly, including total building costs and a price per square metre, and update your calculations to see live build cost estimates.