Couple constructing home out of polystyrene ‘will save £100,000’

They began with a bit of land purchased for £70,000

A pair are saving greater than £100,000 by constructing their very own home – utilizing polystyrene blocks as a substitute of bricks. Hannah Chicken and her husband, Charlie, knowledgeable golfer, each 26, purchased the 0.25-acre plot of land in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, in June 2022 for £70,000.

They selected to construct a house from scratch reasonably than purchase a new-build property, with costs of their space beginning at £375,000 for a two-bed on a brand new property. To keep away from having to pay for £30,000 in labour prices, the pair have executed 80 per cent of the work themselves and opted for polystyrene blocks – known as ICF (insulated concrete framework) – which slot collectively and are stuffed with concrete.

Their 140sqm house is round midway by way of the constructing course of, with the roof as a consequence of go on shortly and tunnelling for electrical energy and water nearly full. Hannah estimates they are going to have saved £100,000 by doing the vast majority of the work themselves and will likely be left with a two-bed, one workplace, indifferent residence with a storage and eight parking areas. They count on to finish the constructing course of and be capable to transfer in in the summertime of 2026.

Hannah, a journey blogger from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, mentioned: “We initially at all times needed to renovate, however the renos in our space had been £200,000 and had no roof. We did have a look at new builds, however they are not for us.

“We knew so many individuals with new builds whose stairs broke or pipes broke two weeks in. We didn’t have many choices – we thought ‘effectively, we both reside with our mother and father till we die or we purchase someplace’.

“We accomplished on our land in Easter 2023. In December 2023 we went to a construct present. That they had actually cool stuff there, together with three totally different suppliers doing these blocks.

“For what a bricklayer took per week to do, collectively we might do in an hour. We did the as much as DPC (damp proof course) stage in a pair days.”

Hannah mentioned they despatched their home plans off to the corporate that provided the blocks to evaluate what number of they would want and a consultant visited them on-site to run them by way of the method of becoming them.

“It’s actually like Lego,” she mentioned. “It’s idiot-proof. We did scroll lots on Instagram and TikTok as a result of we had been like, ‘are we doing this proper?’ It appeared too simple to begin with.”

Hannah and Charlie’s plot already had planning for a “small two-bed property”, however the couple utilized to make it right into a two-bed, one workplace, residence in 2023 earlier than beginning the construct on the clean plot of land in April 2024 after it was efficiently granted.

Hannah mentioned: “The very first thing we did was clear the land and put up some fencing. The driveway earlier than was completely horrendous.

“It was two metres huge. I used to drive a Mini and I might nearly drive it down not to mention drive a lorry down it.

“We used recycled Tarmac, which I did not know was a factor. We simply employed a curler factor and received my sister, Lauren, 24, to drive it down. We planted plenty of good bushes and bushes, flowers, all kinds.”

The couple have a strict finances and have saved their cash by way of school and college all through their seven-year relationship.

Hannah mentioned: “£100,000 is the entire quantity we’ll spend on the home absolutely excluding the price of the plot of land. Inside we’ll have a pleasant kitchen, good bogs – Charlie’s obsessive about having a laundry chute.

“We do need heated flooring. In case you purchased a home in our space you’d pay £375,000 and that is for a garbage one.

“We will spend lower than £200,000 all in, hopefully. We’re making a variety of revenue doing it ourselves.

“I suppose it is no totally different to doing a renovation, however the reality is actually we’re making more cash doing it from scratch. We’re taking the time to avoid wasting more cash.

“I do not assume we’ll keep there ceaselessly, however we’ll keep an excellent period of time. We’re not allowed to promote for 2 years, in any other case we have got to pay a horrendous quantity of tax. I believe we have got just a little little bit of a bug doing stuff ourselves – we have already checked out renos in our space.”

The couple, who spend a variety of time travelling, are staying with their mother and father in Burnham-on-Sea till they’ll lastly transfer in the summertime of 2026.

Charlie and Hannah’s prices

Plot of land: £70,000

Plot preparation and groundwork: round £18,000

ICF construction, concrete and metal: round £40,000

Roof and home windows: round £22,000

Plumbing, electrics and heating: round £18,000

Inner works and finishes: round £22,000

Whole: £190,000