Your Dream Home. How To Build It

Building a dream home is not for everyone, but for some it is a dream that can become reality. Not to put a downer on things right at the start but when building a house there are many things that need to be thought through before you call in the builders, in my experience what is in your head and what will work practically and legally are two very different things and although you can tell your architect what your dream house looks like what he sees and what you do will be different.

Here is a checklist that will help you achieve your goals;

1. Location, location, location - your hear this all of the time but its simple, if you dont like the plot dont build on it.

2. Price. If you have a budget stick to it if you can, its a slipper slope at this early stage to be pushing yourself financially.

3. Visualise yourself in your home - feel it! What do you want your house to be? How long do you want to live in it? Will it be your workplace?

4. Keep current with building materials. New and better systems are always on the market and don’t be afraid to try something new, but do your research first.

5. Heating, lighting and water are extremely important. Look at alternative off grid and eco methods that will save you pounds long term, ground source heat pumps, solar panels and rainwater harvesting.

6. Ask around. Find out what other people have to say, what they would do better next time? What caused problems? What worked well? You could even ask for an experienced handyman London to help you.

7. Plan your space well. Incorporate plenty of storage, walk in wardrobes, larder, wine cellar. Make use of any area that you think is unusable, any nook and cranny can become a book case or recessed storage area.

8. Put the doors in the right place. Odd thing to consider but well worth some though, think about getting in and out with shopping and wet and muddy footwear, incorporate porches, hallways or lobbys, whatever you want to call them they will be useful.

9. If possible add on garages and workshops to keep the house ‘project’ free.

10. Bring the outside in. Create an outside space that you can see when you are inside, this connects to your main indoor living areas to give a feeling of space and openness.

So, building your own home - the missing manual is here, all of the above should be researched and considered very carefully before you even begin to pay for professional plans. We built our house and all of these things really do matter, we often say I wish we had done this or that, and stay on track, its easy to be talked into compromises but if you really want to build your home in your own unique style take your time, play with ideas and make things work.