As the faithful readers will know, we designed and built our own house and this short blog post gives advice to those hoping to do the same.

As well as the hard work getting the money to buy the land and perseverance to see the whole thing through; the answer to the above question on ‘What is the secret of building your own house?’ is straightforward:

Don’t get too comfortable.

You will have seen it countless times on Grand Designs, the couple having to live in a caravan at the top of the site whilst the house is constructed around them.

The fact that they have stepped out of their comfortable house and are living close to the build helps incredibly in terms of getting your house built on time.

Doing it this way means that there’s no excuses in getting your house built, it’s a matter of necessity when the living conditions in your caravan are limited and fractious. There’s no lovely big, centrally heated house to return to, no lovely deep baths to relax in…

So my advice for those wanting to self-build their house is (obviously after you’ve got the land ready and you’re property is sold) is to move out straightaway, move into the caravan on the site and GET STARTED!