How long does a self-build take? Ron Beattie, from Beattie Passive, discusses.
The dream may have taken years to formulate, another room here, another balcony there, and readjust a hundred times to be a perfect vision. But just how long does it take to turn into reality? Planning with your architect from concept to final drawings, allowing for back and forth discussions, should be around three months. Onto planning which, when research is done beforehand so you're as prepared as possible, is likely to take around 12 weeks if planning is granted first time round. But if you have any special areas that are possible issues e.g. access, neighbour objections, unusual use of materials etc. be prepared for a longer timeframe.
Once planning is granted, it's all systems go. At Beattie Passive we can turn architectural drawings into a fully modelled Bettie Passive Build System in just six-eight weeks. Then you're ready to start building! The industry average from start of foundations to a completed build is approximately 25 weeks but a self build project can take longer especially if the client is doing some of the work themselves or cannot be on site managing the project full time.
It only takes one element to have a knock on impact to cause delays on the whole project with the biggest causes of delays being weather, labour and availability of material. However by manufacturing the main component of the house – the Structural Thermal Envelope (STE) – offsite, you can mitigate a lot of the risks. The demand for off-site construction is growing quickly and as such, Beattie Passive has recently launched a volumetric build system where modular units are manufactured in dry conditions with labour and pre-ordered materials, which greatly speeds up the entire process and reduces risk of delays. When we are supplying the volumetric STE, the units arrive onsite with all the structural elements complete, generally the windows and doors are then installed on site. The airtightness membrane is also finished onsite to ensure the rigorous airtightness requirements of Passivhaus. The complete STE is craned into place in just two days and the full STE can be completed within five days.
You can contact Ron Beattie at Beattie Passive, sponsors of this column at www.beattiepassive.com
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