A couple are saving £100,000 by building their own house, but they’re using an unconventional material to do it.
Hannah Bird and her husband Charlie, both 26, purchased a quarter-acre plot of land in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, for £70,000 in June 2022.
Rather than opting for a prebuilt home, they decided to design and construct their own property, aiming to sidestep the hefty price tag of local new build estates, where comparable two-bedroom houses can start at £375,000.
They plan to do the majority of the work themselves, avoiding around £30,000 in labour costs, and utilise polystyrene blocks, known as Insulated Concrete Framework (ICF).
These blocks, which interlock like giant Lego bricks, are filled with concrete to create robust, well-insulated walls.
The progress so far
Currently, the 140-square-metre home is about halfway through construction, with the roof expected to be completed shortly and tunnelling for electricity and water almost complete.
Before construction, the couple cleared the plot, put up fencing and improved access by replacing a narrow, unsuitable driveway with a recycled tarmac surface.
They also planted trees, bushes, and flowers.
Hannah estimates they’ve saved approximately £100,000 by handling about 80% of the building work.
The finished property will feature two bedrooms, a dedicated office space, a garage, and parking for eight vehicles.
Their goal is to complete the house and move in by summer 2026.
Discovering the polystyrene blocks
Hannah, a travel blogger, explained: ‘We originally always wanted to renovate, but the renos in our area were £200k and had no roof.’
She added: ‘We did look at new builds, but they’re not for us.
‘We knew so many people with new builds whose stairs broke or pipes broke two weeks in.’
Visiting a building show in December 2023 proved pivotal, introducing them to suppliers specialising in ICF blocks.
The simplicity of the system impressed them: ‘It’s like Lego,’ Hannah said, adding, ‘It’s idiot proof.’
She explained that, ‘For what a bricklayer took a week to do, together we could do in an hour.’
In just a few days, they reached the damp-proof course (DPC) level.
Hannah says they sent their house plans off to the company that supplied the blocks to assess how many they would need, and a representative visited them on-site to run them through the process of fitting them.
She added: ‘We did scroll a lot on Instagram and TikTok because we were like, ‘are we doing this right?’
‘It seemed too easy to start with’.
Cost breakdown
Hannah estimates that the overall cost of building the home will be £190,000, broken down as follows:
- Land purchase: £70,000
- Plot preparation and groundwork: Around £18,000
- ICF structure, concrete, and steel: Around £40,000
- Roofing and windows: Around £22,000
- Plumbing, electrics, and heating: Around £18,000
- Internal finishes and fixtures: Around £22,000
This budget demonstrates a significant saving compared to buying a ready-made property, while offering the opportunity to customise it too.
The couple’s strict budgeting, funded largely by saving through their university years, allows them to keep total house costs well below the market value of comparable homes.
Hannah highlights plans for deluxe features such as heated floors and a laundry chute, amenities often found in higher-end homes.
While waiting to move into their new home in summer 2026, Hannah and Charlie are residing with parents in Burnham-on-Sea.
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