Taking on a homebuilding project is hard enough at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic. But Covid-19 lockdown doesn’t mean you can’t make progress in planning your dream home.
If anything, spending more time at home during lockdown means you have more time to prepare to build, renovate or improve your own home. You can use this time to really consider what you want from your dream home and even book in construction works for later in the year to avoid the rush when things get back to normal.
Whether you’ve started planning your project already, or you’re still debating whether to commit, these resources are essential to help you throughout your journey.
Live Updates on Lockdown
In the current climate, understanding how the lockdown (and its aftermath) will affect your building or home improvement project.
Follow our live updates on everything from government announcements, merchant closures (and reopenings), and information on the suppliers offering specialist services at this time.
Home School
Home School by Homebuilding & Renovating is a collection of seminars, guides and ideas designed to help you plan and detail your dream home while on lockdown.
Whether you’re looking to renovate, extend or build your own home from scratch, or need advice on understanding potential build costs or adding wow factor, you’ll find a wealth of tips, insight and ideas in Home School.
Home School experts include:
- Experienced self builder and renovator Jason Orme
- Property expert Michael Holmes
- Architect Allan Corfield
- Architectural Designer Pete Tonks
- Planning expert Sally Tagg
The Housebuilder’s Bible
The Housebuilder’s Bible is an essential resource for planning your self build or renovation project.
Written by experienced housebuilder and renovator Mark Brinkley, the Housebuilder’s Bible offers detailed advice about renovating, extending and building your own home.
The 13th edition of the best-selling guide also explores project management guidance, design tips and the home build pitfalls to avoid.
For a limited time, get a free copy of the Housebuilder’s Bible when you subscribe to Homebuilding & Renovating.
The Housebuilder’s Bible is also available for £25.00 at Waterstones.
NaCSBA
The National Custom and Self Build Association (NaCSBA) provides support for self builders and custom builders and aims to represent their interests at government level.
NaCSBA also produces The Self Build Portal which contains useful information on a variety of self build topics, including registering for your Right to Build, and the routes available for building your home.
Moreover, NaCSBA has also been lobbying the government throughout the coronavirus pandemic to ensure that self builds can continue safely when the industry returns to something resembling normalcy later this year.
Build Cost Calculator
Getting an idea of how much your dream home will cost to build is an essential starting point for anyone looking to self build.
Use our Build Cost Calculator to get an accurate estimate of how much your project will cost. The calculator takes into account the kind of house you’d like to build, where you want to build it and how involved you want to be in the process.
Green Building Store Webinars
Green Building Store is offering a number of free webinars for self builders, on diverse topics such as low energy buildings and design techniques.
You can register ahead of the webinars in advance, such as their High Performance Windows & Doors CPD webinar on Monday 18 May, while the 60-minute PowerPoint presentations can also be provided at a date and time to suit.
Specialist Self Build & Renovation Insurance
When you’re planning to build, do not overlook insurance. The right kind of insurance is a must when it comes to building your own home, and to make this process easier, Homebuilding & Renovating has partnered with leading insurance specialist Self Build Zone to provide bespoke solutions at market-leading rates.
Pinterest
Use this time on lockdown to collate all your design ideas ready to show an architect or designer when you are ready to start your project. Set up a board on Pinterest to keep all your ideas in one place. You can also follow Homebuilding & Renovating on Pinterest for tonnes of inspirational ideas.