How much would you spend to build your own new home? It is difficult to say when you start to calculate the cost of your dream house. There is a firm answer - as little as £4,000.
That was the price tag estimated to a cottages project which has been edited in southern Scotland over the past four years.
The walls are made of straw, the roof out of turf and much of the rest of the building from items other people threw away.
They had a warm and watertight Scottish cottages as the end product with its water supplies by gathering rainfall and its electricity from just a car battery(!!!).
The plan was activated for a water wheel to provide power for the property later this year.
The “Grand Design” belongs to 52-years old software engineer Steve James who built Galloway home.
The idea of building a home with own hands has always sounded inspiring and enjoyable to him as he has always prefer manual labour: "I have never built a house before but I have done a bit of joinery and have done a lot of practical work," he said. Most of my life I have been a hands-on worker. So, first of all there is the personal satisfaction of putting my skills to making a house."
However, the project may also help to highlight wider issues of housing space and land availability.
He really believed that 3-bedroom house he was going to build will cost no more than £10.000
"It is something that anybody could easily learn to do most of, with help," he said. "The real cost of a house is fairly small. It is always the land that makes about 85% of the cost. "Adding the compound interest to the final cost of a mortgage reduces the actual house price component of the total to as little as 2%."
It took about 10 months of actual building to finish the Galloway project. But finally it was completed. The foundations were put down and a first set of walls put up 4 years ago so that was date when they started. A second set were put up in 2005, when the roof was also added. A year later it was time to render, floor, plumb and wire the building.
They put stove and decorations there in 2007. Local forestry like larch, spruce and elm were used to construct much of the property.
According to Mr James's favorite style his projects inludes the Tudor-style panelled timber ceiling.
It was made from pine changing cubicle doors found in old Victorian public baths in Govan and traditional Belfast sink was created from the items found in a decommissioned primary school.
The storm in Glasgow felled a Cedar of Lebanon in Pollok park, so it gave Mt James material for luxury worktops and windowsills.
They stood together to create a home which would mix the both of good qualities: economically and ecologically friendly.
We have to note: the price of cottages in Scotland stands at about £158,000.
Steve James proved 40 home owners could build their homes for that amount of money! And those home would look not worse as your neighbors’ ones and maybe even more creative than hi-tech luxury projects :))
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