[25] Beating NIMBYism With Lime Render, Reclaimed Brick, and a Modern Cottage Plan
At 25, Ben and Merry dropped a brand new cottage into an ancient Herefordshire village, right under the glare of watchful neighbours. They built fast using an oak frame and SIPs, then softened the whole thing with lime render, reclaimed brick, and small local details so it felt like it had always belonged. It’s a rare low drama self build where the real challenge wasn’t the structure, it was winning the neighbours over.
[24] An Underground Eco House in Cumbria
In Cumbria’s Eden Valley, Helen and Phil took a disused sandstone quarry and did something you don’t often see in self build. They put the house into the ground instead of on top of it. The result is an earth sheltered eco home designed to vanish into the landscape, with the ground itself acting as part of the thermal strategy.
The plot was cheap in today’s money, but the build was anything but. This place had to be built like a concrete basement, waterproofed like a swimming pool, then buried under tonnes of earth. And all the way through there was one fear that kept coming back. Would it be too dark to live in?
By the end, the design intent holds up. Sunpipes and borrowed light do more work than you expect, and the finished house feels dry, warm, and calm, not gloomy. It’s a proper long game project, high embodied carbon up front, paid back over time, and proof that “eco” is as much about committing to the performance as it is about the idea.
[23] A Hackney Victorian Shell Rebuilt as a Light Filled Open Plan Home
John and Eleni Flood took a tired Hackney Victorian terrace and treated it like a shell. The front and back stayed, but almost everything inside was stripped out and rebuilt around light, openness, and a clean contemporary layout. Big structural moves, lots of glazing, and a roofline rethink turned a cramped footprint into an open plan home that feels calm and modern, even in a dense city setting.
It was not straightforward. Hidden defects surfaced fast, the roof became a recurring headache, and coordinating specialist glazing alongside the main contractor created friction and finger pointing. Still, the finances stayed surprisingly controlled, and the finished result proves a point that comes up again and again. Renovating can be harder than a new build, but if the location matters enough, the shell can be worth saving.
[22] A £925k Plot, Piled Foundations, and an Inverted Roof No One Wanted to Build
Tom and Judy set out to build Cloud 8, a steel and glass statement house on an expensive Buckinghamshire plot. The vision was bold, but the ground was worse than expected, the foundations escalated, and the project quickly behaved like a prototype instead of a home. Tom chose to self-manage despite limited experience, negotiated every detail to the bone, and stacked risk on risk, complex geometry, specialist steelwork, and a roof concept so unusual most firms would not touch it. The result is a striking shell, but the route there is a masterclass in how ambition, pressure, and a knowledge gap can turn a self build into a long, expensive lesson.
[21] Grade II Listed Surrey Barn Conversion With a 7.5m Atrium Walkway and Interior Pods
Philip and Angela swap London for a Surrey village and a barn owned by family, then rebuild it from the inside out after a major health scare resets their priorities. The exterior stays largely historic, but the interior becomes a series of pod like rooms linked by a dramatic suspended walkway. It’s bold, expensive for what began as a free plot, and full of lessons about listed constraints, steel that will not forgive, and clients who are always on site.
[20] A Free Plot, a Seven Month Build, and a House He Cannot Sell
Ben Law spent ten years living in canvas and caravans while he fought for the right to stay in the woods. When permission finally landed, he built a 149m² woodland home in about seven months using his own timber, volunteer labour, and a design process worked backwards from whatever materials he had to hand. The catch is brutal. The house is tied to his woodland business, he cannot sell it like a normal home, and if he leaves, it has to come down.
[19] How Two First Timers Converted a 1938 Waterworks
Two complete first-timers spot a disused 1938 waterworks, decide it is the one, and then spend roughly three years forcing it through ownership and planning hurdles just to earn the right to begin. What follows is a conversion defined by scale, twenty eight steel framed windows, a huge internal volume, and a deliberate choice to keep the industrial soul visible rather than paying to hide it. With mortgage stage releases controlling cashflow and momentum, they lean on business discipline, family building advice, and carefully chosen trades to turn an old utility shell into a liveable home without losing what made it special.
[18] A Woodland Self Build With Big Views and a £65,000 Correction
A woodland “wooden box” with a steel frame, big glazing, and big views, started around 2001. On paper it looks clean. In reality, finance is the centre of gravity, bespoke glazing becomes a critical-path trap, and an early sizing doubt turns into a £65,000 extension later. This review breaks down the numbers, the dependency chain that caused the drift, and the self-builder lessons the case study glosses over.
[17] Salvaging a Georgian Town House on a Council Lease: 270m², Tiny Plot, 100% Overspend
Tony and Sharon Relf take on a dilapidated 1820s Georgian townhouse on a council lease in London, restoring it under conservation oversight with no savings and an unpredictable income. It’s a high-risk, high-reward kind of refurb where progress comes in bursts, surprises keep appearing, and the temptation to chase beautiful details can derail the critical path. Their approach is simple and repeatable: get a small “habitable package” finished early, use salvage to turn demolition into design, lean on specialists when it matters, and accept that old buildings reward patience far more than deadlines.
[16] The 20 Year Self-Build and 50% Overspend
Sue and Martin stitched together a 1600s cob-and-stone barn and an 1850s stone barn into a low-energy family home, but the real story is the timeline. They moved in during 2001 and kept iterating for two decades, finally reaching sign-off in 2021. The cost of that patience was a 50% overspend, yet it also bought them something most fast builds never deliver: a home refined by lived experience, where compromises were made consciously, priorities sharpened over time, and the finished result actually matches the life they wanted to build.