Self Build Homes Club

About the club and membership

About the club - Introduction

Objective

To empower people to build their own homes individually or as a part of a consortium or group project.

Introduction

Building your own home, often does not involve you in any construction, but rather acting as decision maker, with a project manager to manage the build project or you can manage it yourself. The project manager or you  gets in quotes from tradesman, books and schedules their attendance on site, orders materials on your behalf and liaises with planning and other authorities. Specialist companies exist that provide parts for homes, designs, finance to self builders and much more. 

This is not new, between 15,000 and 20,000 new self build homes go up every year and this is now 13% more than  1 in 8 of all houses being built. Some people have managed to self build 3 or 4 or more homes and now live mortgage free in a dream home that suits every wish they had. Look around and you will I am sure see many people who  have either been a self builder or acquired a plot and instructed a builder to build a home for them to their design, which is also as you will now realize, a  form of self build.

Homes built by this method are often at a very sizable discount to homes bought by other methods, often saving between 25% and 60%. This is achieved partly by cutting out the developer/speculator, by less demands than made on larger developers, and partly through a tax advantage of this method. In many cases rather than having a cheaper home, self builders go instead for a larger or better finished home, that is eventually of even greater value. Plots of land can be of course difficult to acquire and for the self builder this can be difficult, however working with several others so that several self builds can occur on a site, makes finding plots both cheaper, easier and the whole process of finding a project manager and reducing costs by grouping together practical. The shortage of sites will not stop you, and there are always some to choose from and others we can find in any area.  Knowledge, and constant research also means that as a club we know of many sites available at any time, at the point this is being updated in November 2004, we are aware of well over 14,000 sites with planning consent.

There is sometimes a misconception that becoming involved in laboring on the site or some other activity is involved or that this can make a sizable difference to the costs. Usually the time delay, and slowing down others, just adds more to the costs, and where the self builder who wants to be more hands on can make the maximum effect is in providing good management, making sure that the site is run safely and efficiently, that materials arrive when needed, and obtained with the best trade discounts, that craftsmen know when they are needed and do what is required of them, that items are locked away when the site is not working and that the site is kept as tidy as possible. What you should avoid is constantly making design changes, and working without a budget, as its often not a single expense that can make a build expensive but a whole series of smaller purchasing decisions or changes.

In order for you to become involved in self build, you either have to gain the knowledge and skills to allow you to move to the first point, ie putting together a small group, finding a site for a group of plots and appointing a manager, or you need the assistance of someone else to make this possible. If going it alone, you are limited to a set sized project as all those who have joined needs to be involved and all have to like the same site, so this can be very difficult to achieve, while the club approach does not have this limitation, as there will be a number of projects, and one group are not held back until everyone's desires are met. Many self builders who go it alone take many years to gain the confidence and find a site, often in this time costs will have increased considerably. Some people are serial self builders, building one home, moving in and then setting about building another to move on to, selling the first at a considerable profit, so that after a small number of moves they have a mortgage free home or have a number of properties, some rented out.

The club was set up to empower people to become involved, by giving you the information to allow you to make informed decisions, identifying members needs and then looking for a site and designs that would meet these, and maybe recruiting others to join in. Beyond this we help you to acquire other skills and make the management of a site or monitoring what is happening far easier

The clubs role is initially in the first part of the process, in finding people interested in self build, who wish to become members, in finding out their requirements and wishes, helping them to acquire the knowledge that they will need to make informed decisions, in matching together potential similar people and then finding sites and putting together projects that would allow groups of these people to work together. It looks with these people at designs, helps them to set up their own self build group, and helps them to recruit a project manager and to deal with other self build companies and services. It is not a financial adviser, works just for members getting no rewards from anyone we introduce you to. 

Some like to go it more alone, and we help them find an individual site, and show them how to go about managing their own build if they wish, rather than using a projects manager.

By the discussions with a consultant looking at creating your own profile, plus working through some of our work books, you get to fully understand what it is you are looking to do and get to see how to turn your dream into a reality. By then moving forward with confidence through getting a plot, to instructing a site manager, to working out what finishing and decorating styles to suit you, this can produce the home of your dreams. 

This is not a formulaic approach, but one of sharing experience and knowledge, encouraging you to make all the decisions, and simplifying as much as we can. By using the club route you should be able to build exactly the home you want, and both cheaper and faster than you could by any other route.

This is the first of 6 pages which explains the club, click here to go to the next page in the sequence looking at club  membership.

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Self Build Homes Club is an international club and trading title of Self Build Homes Club llc. Local services
 to serve members are commissioned for the club by New Atlantis International Services Corporation.
All major commissioned companies involved, have New Atlantis trust status.