There is no ‘correct’ way to do a self-build project. That is perhaps the most important thing to know before starting the journey to building your own home. Self-build projects take on many forms, including custom build sites, prefabricated ‘kit’ homes or, as I did, working with an architect and main contractor. There is no ‘best’ way to self-build, only the right way for you.
A key part of a self-build is how much of your ‘self’ you are willing and able to put into it. Do you have project management skills you can put to good use? If so, do you have the time and energy to employ them? Are you looking to be hands on with the building work, maybe even contributing a lot of your own labour? Answers to these questions influence the approaches you could or should consider.
I originally set myself the goal of completing a self-build project by the time of my 40th birthday. When that day arrived, I didn’t even have a plot of land, never mind a finished home! I documented what it took to find my plot on my podcast, House Planning Help.
In the rest of this page, I’ll retrace the process of designing and building a Passivhaus home, with links to relevant podcast episodes so you can learn more about the steps that I took as a self-builder.
Working with an architecture firm to develop a self-build design
Regen Media specialises in working with people involved in low energy building and sustainable construction. The day-to-day work of running my production company meant I steadily built up a professional network that would serve me well when it came to my own self-build home. For a start, it helped with choosing an architecture firm for my Passivhaus project.
Not everybody who wants to self-build their own home will be in such a lucky position. Even so, finding ways to engage with construction professionals – and taking every opportunity to do so – will stand you in good stead once you are ready to hire people.
We wanted to build a home to the Passivhaus standard, and that played a big part in our choice of architect. Once that decision was taken, my wife and I could start the process of briefing our architect and then feeding back to our architect about their initial design ideas. Good feedback is almost as important as the initial briefing.
While waiting for guidance from our local planning department, we began to discuss our preferred materials for the build. We reviewed options for a brick finish or a black timber cladding finish, and we questioned whether materials like lime render were viable.
Eventually, we combined this thinking about materials with design changes aimed at addressing height issues identified by the planning department. It led us to a final design that embraced a simpler form, it completed the journey from briefing to planning, and it helped me to understand why engaging in the planning process is so important.
Creating a detailed design and specification to tender a self-build project
With planning consent granted, attention turned to developing a detailed design and specification that would form the basis of the tender package for our project. Going down the route of using a main contractor was one of our earliest decisions: it was the most expensive choice, but also the sensible choice considering we had such a young family (and therefore very little spare capacity) at the time.
Specifying our self-build project was one of those stages during the project where we needed to give more of our time. Our architecture firm worked quickly at this point, so we had to be proactive in giving them information so the architectural technologist could work up the detailed construction drawings and create the tender documents. Tender documents need detail for them to be meaningful.
We also began to incorporate the work of other consultants during this stage. A critical aspect was designing the ventilation, heating, and hot and cold water systems for the house – especially given the intention to achieve Passivhaus certification. Another consultant we hired was an interior designer, and I spoke to her about how to design an interior for a modern home.
A mood board for our living room
Tender returns and appointing a contractor for a self-build
Following a traditional procurement route, we asked five contractors to submit a price and time estimate for the work. One withdrew and another was disqualified from the tender process due to submitting their price late. That left us with three prices to compare when we opened our tender returns.
The returned prices were significantly higher than our budget, which led us to try and bring down the cost of our self-build. Some savings were easy to identify, while others were harder to make. We had to reflect on the reasons for the higher-than-expected prices, and decide whether to scale back some of our ideas or accept higher costs for things that were important to us.
For the podcast, I spoke to one of the tendering firms about how a local building contractor approaches a competitive tender.
Seeing a self-build come to fruition on site
Finally, my dream of self-building a Passivhaus started to turn into reality, with work getting underway on site. Through my video production work I’d watched multiple houses get built, so I was fascinated to see progress on my own home.
I visited site two or three times a week, as well as being part of monthly site meetings. These were crucial for ensuring good communication between client, architect and contractor. They represented an opportunity for addressing issues, solving problems, and reducing the need for emails going back and forth.
Not every self-build project is a masonry cavity wall Passivhaus, but the build schedule for my project still gives a good insight into the stages most projects will follow during this phase. At the halfway point of the build I reflected on ten things I learned during construction – such as the fact that problems will arise, but they can generally be solved.
Even though we had taken the easiest possible route, being a client still proved exhausting. It can be easy to lose sight of what you will gain from the self-build process and so, as the project entered its final weeks, I thought about ten things I’m looking forward to about my new home.
Reflecting on the lessons learned during a self-build project
You may have noticed by now that reflecting and sharing lessons learned is a core part of who I am – and not only because I have a podcast! Taking the time to think about what you did well or what you would do better in future is vital, especially given the time and money involved with a construction project.
That starts with communication and alignment before the process even reaches the first stage. My wife always wanted to live in a period Victorian property, but she supported me in my desire to self-build a Passivhaus and talked about what to do if your partner wants to build a house.
In fact, my wife and I worked well as a team, and that was crucial to the success of our project. As I noted when assessing how well I did as a self-builder, you can’t guarantee that a house will feel like home straight away. But ours did.
There were some points for improvement, one of the most notable being that going over budget meant our landscaping plans had to be put on hold. Overall, however, and despite the inevitable self-build fatigue, we can look back on the entire six-year house build with pride.
In the years since we have moved in, I’ve had to tackle issues with the mechanical ventilation system, which led me to ask whether MVHR is just something else to go wrong. That has been the biggest problem, and I also wish we had used a renewable heating source. Nevertheless, five years on from moving in, I could say without doubt that living in a Passivhaus has delivered on its promises.
