Why We Gave Up House Hunting and Decided to Build Our Own Home
Ever since our first child was born, Mr. Right and I had been sniffing around the housing market. We visited plenty of houses, but it was hard to find just the right one. Since we both enjoy doing things ourselves (renovating an old house didn’t seem beyond our capabilities) — and we’re not millionaires yet — we focused specifically on older homes that needed some TLC. With a couple of houses, things got pretty serious, but either someone swooped in and bought it right out from under our noses, or the bank wouldn’t give us a loan (usually because the house didn’t have an occupancy permit).
By the end of 2015, we were already very tired of browsing house listings, scouting buildings for sale, and wasting fuel. Besides, another Little Lady had joined our family, and with her around, we no longer had time for such activities.
Right at the beginning of January 2016, we had the thought: what if we actually tried to build a house? One of my dreams has been to raise my children in our own house with a big yard, just like I had throughout my entire childhood.
Choosing the Perfect Building Plot: Forest vs. Town Life
The first step was figuring out where to build the house. On one hand, we both wanted to live in the forest, a couple of miles away from neighbors. On the other hand, we also like the charms of town life (street lighting in winter and proximity to shops). When thinking longer term, it seems to me that living in the forest with school-age children would be, to put it mildly, complicated. So we decided on a plot that’s located less than a mile from the town bus stop (accessible by a pedestrian/bike path) and about the same distance from my parents’ home and my brother’s family (always good to have family nearby).
After choosing the plot, we familiarized ourselves with the Plot-Specific Planning Regulations and only then learned what kind of house could actually be built in that area. For example, the minimum roof pitch is set at 20 degrees there, which means those who like funk-style houses will be disappointed. Fortunately, I’m more of a traditional gabled roof fan, and this suited us well!
Our House Design Brief: Energy Efficiency Meets Family Living
From the beginning, Mr. Right insisted that if we were going to build, it should be well-insulated, low-maintenance, and cheap to heat — and ideally also relatively inexpensive to build. Fine by me!
We knew early on that we’d handle the house project ourselves, because that’s the cheapest option. (It helped that I’d studied it in school and felt comfortable using drafting software.) I know this isn’t an option for everyone — but where I live, it’s legal to design your own house. Eventually, of course, an engineer must approve the plans.
In our case, my architectural drawings were handed off to the prefab house building company, who created the detailed construction drawings. Our responsibility was essentially to design the whole house, including detailed architectural plans, sections, specifications, and material choices. We also handled the permits. It is a mammoth task.
So, back to planning. Mr. Right gave me the brief to design a “cube” — a full two-story house with the smallest possible foundation, exterior wall, and roof area, which would give us the most square feet of floor space. Since a complete cube seemed pretty boring to me, I stretched the south side longer, and the house ended up being 33 x 43 feet. Mr. Right also wanted no windows on the north side of the house, and as large as possible on the south side, so that the winter sun would help heat the house. In our climate, winters are long, dark, and cold, so you need to use every opportunity to reduce heating costs.
How Our House Dream Became Reality on Paper
Every house project starts with determining the wishes and primarily the needs of the family that will live there, so that afterwards there won’t be rooms or spaces in the house that nobody actually uses.
In our case, that would probably be an electric sauna. Neither of us is particularly sauna-crazy, and if the urge ever strikes, a separate wood-heated sauna house in the yard sounds much more appealing anyway. (Where I live, almost every house has a sauna — even some apartments do — so not having one is definitely a bit unusual.)
I knew I definitely wanted a large open kitchen-living room that opens onto a large terrace in summer and has a view of the entire yard (to conveniently keep an eye on the children’s activities from the room).
My other dreams were a walk-in closet, pantry, large guest room, and if possible, a laundry room (obviously you can’t have everything).
Mr. wanted an office for himself, together we wanted the children to have their own rooms, at least one WC-bathroom/shower room per floor, and a heated garage.
What we decided against:
- Electric sauna
My must-haves:
- Large open kitchen-living room that opens onto a large terrace in summer
- View of the entire yard (to conveniently keep an eye on the children’s activities from the room)
- Walk-in closet
- Pantry
- Large guest room
- Laundry room
Mr. Right’s requirements:
- Home office
Shared family needs:
- Children’s own rooms
- At least one WC-bathroom/shower room per floor
- Heated garage (this became a future plan)
On January 5th, 2016, I started the design process. The first week I arranged rooms, fit in the stairs, and spent half the nights in bed tossing from one side to the other, because my brain couldn’t switch off and just kept looking for new solutions. This still happens occasionally, when some vitally “important” decisions need to be made (like door handle design :D). We managed to complete the project relatively quickly – by about March, the initial or sketch project was ready, for which we could get quotes.
Our Final Floor Plans
Why We Chose prefabricated House Construction
We’re having the house made at a prefabricated house factory. Wall panels produced under factory conditions are typically of higher quality. On-site construction, by contrast, is exposed to rain, sun, and temperature fluctuations, which can cause various issues over the course of the relatively long building process.
Key benefits of prefabricated house construction:
- Speed: A prefabricated house is built in the factory in ~2 weeks
- Efficiency: Foundation work can happen simultaneously on-site
- Quality control: Factory conditions ensure better construction quality
- Weather protection: No weather delays during wall construction
- Environmentally friendly: Less waste is produced compared to traditional building methods.
- Cost-effective: Mass production in a factory often leads to lower costs. Also lower labor costs.
The house is transported to the location as large panels (in our house’s case, 4 first-floor exterior walls and 4 second-floor exterior walls + interior wall details), lifted onto the foundation, connection points are secured, and voila! The house has exterior finishing done and gypsum walls inside. Pretty appealing, don’t you think?
Budget Reality Check: Garage Dreams Postponed
Now back to the project. After getting quotes, we quickly realized that we don’t have money for a heated garage initially. Since we both like making things with our own hands and it would be pure joy to paint cabinets, build furniture, or repair bicycles in a warm room during winter. Unfortunately this is currently too big a luxury considering the rest of the house, which we’ll hopefully postpone to the not-too-distant future.
We’ve actually already virtually placed the garage next to the house, so that building it later would seem simple and logical. We’re also putting a fire-resistant exterior door right now where the garage entrance will be later.
The Hidden Complexity of Custom Home Design
To enrich the house’s exterior appearance and for other reasons, two balconies were designed. The balcony at the back of the house also has a functional purpose. Namely, it should catch some of the sunlight shining into the room in summer, so the house doesn’t overheat too easily.
The front balcony of the house has two functions: to protect from rain and to be pleasing to the eye (and actually you can sit there and spend time too).
Actually, there are a million and one things you have to think about when designing a house (especially if you want a prefabricated house, because electrical conduits are also run inside the walls already). So I also had to make:
- Electrical schemes
- Sewage and water pipe schemes
- Possible locations for ventilation ducts
- And much more…
For example, you need to have the interior design figured out beforehand so you can plan where the lights, outlets, and switches should go. That way, you can charge your phone from bed or plug in that table lamp you’ve planned for the dresser.
Although I’m an interior designer/interior architect by education, that somehow doesn’t make this process any easier. Designing your own house is probably the hardest. Mostly, because I have to live there with my decisions, and the money also comes from my pocket.
I also have to keep in mind how much I love rearranging furniture — I do it all the time. Our new home probably won’t be spared from that either. While planning the outlets and lights, I’ve already considered at least two or three different furniture layouts for every room. And honestly, I’ll probably come up with several more once we’re actually living there.
Our home building permit saga lasted slightly under a year, which meant I had a whole year to digest all the decisions and rethink even the smallest things hundreds of times. In the end, that’s probably a good thing — it means the result should be the best it can be, right?
