How to Avoid Overspending on your Self-Build

Making the most of your budget is an important aspect of any project. Unless you are one of the vanishingly small number of self-builders for whom money is no object, you are going to have to take a canny approach to make your pot of gold stretch to meet your dreams.

It’s a delicate balancing act. You want the perfect home, which is going to cost you just about every penny you can lay your hands on. But it is so easy to get carried away and blow the budget by overspending on one particular area.

When this happens, something else has to give and your project can be compromised. This month, I’m focusing on eight areas self-builders regularly overspend, with a few tips on how to avoid doing so.

1. The land

It’s no secret that finding the perfect plot can be a challenge. A quick browse of the online land-finding resources, such as PlotSearch, shows there’s no shortage of individual sites for sale.

But finding one of the right size, with the potential to allow the sort of home you seek to build – and, crucially, at a price you can afford – is no easy task. It’s not unusual to spend upwards of 18 months finding a suitable piece of land.

Small wonder, then, that as soon as a site comes up there is a temptation to go for it and hang the expense. As a rule, the plot you purchase should account for between 30% and 40% of your total budget (land plus build costs). You might have to pay a little more in London and the south east of England, but as a rule anything over 50% is asking for trouble.

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