How to Build a House from Scratch

How to Build a House from Scratch

Open plan living room in our Devon treehouse project, award winning Architect David Sheppard

Who hasn’t watched Grand Designs and dreamt of building their own home? If you are planning to make that dream a reality, read Pringle & Pringle’s Creative Director Sophie Pringle indispensable guide to building a home you’ll love with the minimum of stress

Building your own home is a fantasy which many of us share. You only have to look at the ongoing popularity of Grand Designs to know that the idea of creating a home specifically designed around your dreams, tastes and lifestyle represents the summit of the property ladder. I myself would love to build my own home one day, but in the meantime, I’d like to share with you what I’ve learnt from the homes I’ve built for my clients so that you can create the home you’ve always dreamt of without compromising – and actually enjoy the process. (Hint: it’s all in the planning…)

Why do you want to build your own home?

Building a house is going to involve a lot of list-making and I think this question should be at the very top of it. Building a home from scratch is a huge undertaking and so it’s incredibly important to ask yourself what building your own home will offer you over an existing property. It’s essential to go into this with your eyes wide open.

Consider your carbon footprint

I recently listened to a really interesting episode of the Modern House podcast with the architectural designer Jonathan Tuckey from last year. He said his practice never works on new builds, they only work on existing buildings and through that they’ve been looking at the carbon imprint of tearing down old buildings. If you’re taking down a perfectly usable building which you just don’t like or it’s providing too many constraints, then it’s good to have an awareness and try to offset the carbon by choosing local materials or finding ways of re-using the materials you’ve taken down. Could you use the old bricks to build the garden walls? It’s also worth remembering that sometimes the restraints of an old building can create something really beautiful.

Think about how you want to live in your home

If you’ve decided that building your own home is for you, think about how you want to live in it before you’ve even started thinking about what it’s going to look like. I think it’s really key to have a list of aspirations for what you want to be able to do in your new home so that you can be truly happy in it (read our How to Create a Feeling of Home blog). It’s very easy to think about what a home should have but also consider what it could have. Are you real fitness people who would love a dedicated gym space? Or are you an avid reader, in which case do you want to have a library? Do you have dogs? Will they need their own room? Walk yourself through every possible scenario.

Make sure you have the budget

This is non-negotiable. Make sure you’ve also budgeted for the interiors and landscaping, as well as contingencies. If you’re building a house from scratch, you are likely to be someone who is interested in design from the outset so you won’t want to move into a characterless shell set in no man’s land. On Grand Designs you see so many huge, amazing buildings which have a cheap sofa plonked in the middle of the room with no other furniture around it and no feeling of cosiness. The furniture can really make or break a space and you should work out which pieces you want before you even apply for planning permission. On our Devon project, we’d chosen all the furniture and every light fitting before the builders even broke ground. The foundations themselves took nearly a year because of the site and it was then a two-year build but very little changed in terms of the design.

 Sketches above by Architect Alistair Howe for our current Isle of Arran project

Hire your interior designer at the same time as your architect (or even before)

Speaking of planning permission, it’s essential to get your plans for both the exteriors and interiors decided before you even think about applying for planning. My mantra is ‘design from the inside out.’ My clients at our Devon project recently told me that this is the advice they always share with friends thinking of building their own home. Your interiors should be considered from the outset so I’d recommend deciding on the style of home you want to live in and choose your interior designer, and then they will help you find the right architect for you. This way, you’ll have a really cohesive, supportive team and will have interiors and exteriors which are in keeping with one another. It will also greatly reduce the risk of unexpected costs.

Think about your lighting 

Your interior designer will help you to work out a lighting plan to create an atmospheric and beautiful home. If you leave this to the last minute, you could end up with nasty grids of spotlights as well as an unexpected bill for the light fixtures. Remember to include lighting in your garden.

A mix of decorative lighting and built in step lights in our Devon project. We worked with the brilliant lighting designers from Lighthouse Designs.

Bigger isn’t necessarily better

It’s easy to get carried away thinking you need more and more space. But for every square foot that you extend your floor plan by, remember that you are also adding to your budget and it’s more to furnish. Big, cold empty rooms are not very nice to spend time in. Designing from the inside out means that you can plan for all the necessary storage to make your life easy, without any need for unnecessary extra square footage.

Be playful with your design

When the architect Heinz Richardson of Jestico + Whiles built his own award-winning home – House 19 in Buckinghamshire, he built up part of the wildflower meadow in his garden to act as a stage for children to put on plays. I love this idea, and it’s clearly a reference either to his own childhood or his children’s. I think drawing on your childhood and the things you loved to do as a child is a wonderful element to bring in to your home design.

In our New Forest project, we connected the two sons’ bedrooms, which were in two separate buildings, by building a tunnel. You’d enter via a cupboard under the bunkbeds in one room, like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and find yourself in a lovely reading nook in the eaves before coming out into the other boy’s bedroom. It was really magical and the adults loved it just as much as the children. Allow yourself to have fun with your home and use your imagination.

Be realistic about how long things take

Planning applications generally take a minimum of eight weeks to get a decision back and it may not be the decision you were hoping for, and then you’ll have to make changes. Most builders won’t quote until planning has been granted, so you have to allow time for this. Ask your builder if they will project manage the build themselves or if they will hire someone in to do it. Think very carefully before committing to taking this role on yourself.

Plans for the sitting room to decide the location of the fireplace in our New Forest new build project, we did the furniture layouts before the architects drawings were submitted for planning application.

Plan, plan, plan

I cannot emphasis this enough. Failing to plan is a sure fire way to unnecessary compromise and conflict. If you’ve caused yourself so much stress on the build because you haven’t done that planning stage then there will be a feeling of resentment towards the house, because it ended up going over budget and it’s symbolic of a really stressful time in your life. If, however, you have chosen every tile, curtain, bathroom fixture and carpet before the builders even arrive, you’ll be able to actually enjoy the excitement of the process. After all, this is the home you’ve always dreamt of.

If you’re considering building your own home, get in touch and see how we can help

Written in partnership with Studio Home Page