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If you’ve ever thought about building your own home, you’ll probably have your own clear ideas about what you want from the property.
You might have the skills to be able to design the house yourself. Failing this, you might feel that you can communicate what you’re looking for to an architect and they can turn your concepts into blueprints.
But you’ll want to make sure that your ideas turn into a reality.
You may not be able to build your home on your own. It may take several different teams of contractors to build the house, add the roof, add the water mains, the electrics, and finally to decorate.
One way to make sure that everything goes to plan is to take on the role of a project manager. But how do you do that?
Here’s how you can project manage your self-build.
Get Organized
Before you start, get the right tools to keep yourself organized. Use a cloud-based app to make notes. Google Sheets and Docs is a great way of accessing your planning notes across any device.
Hire A Builder
Recruit a builder. Make sure that they understand the project and you’re happy that you can communicate with them.
You may want to look at examples of their previous builds, in particular homes that have a similar structure to yours.
Set timeframes, and make sure that you agree on the pricing and have everything in writing before work commences.
Building Materials And Equipment
Work with your builder and work out what materials will need to be bought. You’ll need concrete, sand, bricks, wood, and much more. You may need to think about hiring cranes or tippers for carrying out certain aspects of the work too.
Create A Budget And Visit It Daily
Create a realistic and honest budget. Things often cost more than you’d expect, so allow for this fact.
Everything turns out more expensive than planned. For this reason, your budget should have a contingency of around 15% to help you to continue the project if you go over budget.
Many of the things that take you over budget will be outside of your control. Without a contingency, when you run out of money, you’ll be left with a partially built home that will quickly fall into ruin.
Get Your Planning Permission In Place
Before you get started on your build, you’ll need to get approval on your planning permission. Make sure that you allow plenty of time for the process to happen. Don’t engage your builders until you know you can definitely proceed as planning permission is not always granted.
Take Out Insurance
Things go wrong that are out of your control. The weather might cause delays, contractors or suppliers may let you down. But you don’t want these problems to jeopardize the entire build.
By taking out insurance, you’ll get protection from the financial setbacks that you might encounter as you start to build your dream home.
