Building A House

By Robyn Richards

If you are building a house or doing house remodeling then I urge you to pursue it, you get exactly what you want plus the sense of accomplishment is tremendous. Admittedly there's quite a bit of stress to endure with builders etc but the joy of building a house that you can call your own can never be underestimated.

Quite a few years ago, my husband and I moved to the country to build a house. Plots of land were going cheap near the East coast and we took the plunge. We had considered many possibilities of building a house or converting an old one. We did look at a number of old, run down properties which were advertised for restoration. The problem was there was so much work to do on the roof, the wiring and plumbing, that it would have been easier to knock it down and start again.

Naturally we decided to start from scratch, and be rewarded with the exact house we wanted. It had to be a house that fitted our particular needs. I wanted an office and my husband paints, so he wanted a studio with plenty of light.

My husband also wanted a room with a pool table but we never did manage that! Building a house is a lot of hard work, unless you have the money to pay contractors to do everything.

We were on a tight budget, and fortunately my husband is very handy and he can do just about everything. He is a trained electrician and has also picked up other skills having worked on lots of construction sites.

As far as we coud see the only practical way to accomplish this was to buy an old caravan, which we put on the land and we lived in for six months whilst building a house.

It was ok in summer but the winter months were tough. One morning, we woke up to find our bedding had stuck to the caravan wall and frozen. It was desperately cold and we took it in turns to be the one to jump out of bed, and put the gas heater on and fill the kettle for tea.

When you start building a house, you're exposed to the elements and it's dusty work. I remember my husband stoically laying bricks in the snow.

Work parties were frequently organized, when friends kindly volunteered to come over at weekends and lend a hand. This was in exchange for hot meals and a night down at the village pub.

Laying the foundations is the most tedious and time consuming bit of building a house.

As soon as that's achieved, you feel like you're getting somewhere. Then there's the bricklaying, plastering, putting the roof on, plumbing and painting. It all takes time and it always costs you more than you think.

Finally, and within our time limit but over budget, we got our dream home and moved in. Building a house is probably the most difficult but satisfying thing we have ever done. It was a glorious day when we saw that old, clapped out caravan rolling away.

Stepping inside that house for the first time after it was completed gave us a feeling that words cannot describe. Lets suffice to say that when you accomplish your dream house you will know exactly what I am talking about.

Resources

Planning and Designing Dream Home - Find step-by-step instructions and cost-saving advice for designing and building your dream house. These articles and resources will help you as you purchase your building lot, choose a floor plan, select architectural features, hire pros, and budget your finances .

Build Your Dream House -    Instead of step-by-step instructions,  offers an extraordinary strategy for building the house you've always wanted-whether it's a $40,000 timber-frame retreat or a $400,000 California contemporary.

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