Welcome to The Self Build Guide

Approximately 14,000 people self build their own homes in the UK every year and despite what you might think, it's not just for those with grand designs and a budget to match.

There are some key benefits that motivate many of us to take the plunge:

• A home tailored to the tastes and needs of you and your family

  Whether you want to push the boundaires of architectural design, create the most sustainable home possible, build a new community or have an unusual layout in mind, you are really only limited by your imagination. (Oh...and your budget....and the planners... etc etc.)

• The possibility of significant cost savings

  Remove the developer from the equation and you remove their profit margin. You can save even more by taking on some of the labour yourself and by hunting down the best deals on materials.

• An exciting journey resulting in a huge sense of satisfaction and achievement

  The vast majority of self builders get just as much enjoyment from the achievement of building their own home as anything else. There is a great sense of pride and satifaction, living in a home that you have conceived and nutured to completion.

There are numerous approaches to self build from designing and building the whole thing with your own hands to commissioning a package company to take your ideas and hand you the keys when it's finished, it can even be an option if you are in genuine housing need.

Whatever your budget and whichever route you decide to take, the process isn't for the faint hearted. It is time consuming and complex and getting it wrong can be costly and stressful.

"Thorough research and planning will give your project the best chance of success."

This is where The Self Build Guide wants to help.

Our website is a free and independent source of information which we hope will help with every aspect of your project from developing your initial ideas to buying land, house design, sustainability, build methods, money matters and managing your project to completion.

As keen self builders and renovators ourselves and with a background in the construction industry, we wanted to create this site to help other people realise their dream of building their own home. Our information is supplemented with stories and photographs from people who've been there and done it and we draw your attention to other resources we think you might find useful. We hope you find our site interesting and helpful and one which you can use as a useful reference point throughout your project.

If you decide to go ahead and build your own home, we wish you the very best of luck!

Enjoy the ride and please let us know how you get on.

If you have any suggestions for the site or if you have already built your own home (or are doing so right now!) we would love to hear from you.

Just fill in the contact-us form and drop us a line.