There is no doubt that you will save money by self-building your new home. A figure commonly quoted is a saving of in the region of 30%. However, this will depend on the build route you choose and your personal level of involvement in the build.

If you decide to manage the build yourself, you will be the one who buys materials, runs the site, organises work schedules and finds and engages each specialist contractor. This method will bring the greatest saving, but ideally requires previous project management experience, plus a great deal of time to spare.

Or you can employ a project manager on your site full time; a skilled professional who will hire sub-contractors, purchase materials, supervise the work, approve stage payments and run the project for you. A good project manager can help you make economies, which in most cases will cover their fees.

Finally, you may decide to appoint a single contractor to build your entire house. Working with the builder will still keep you closely involved while at the same time taking a lot of worry away from you, thus making the project less of a task and more of a pleasure.

Selecting any of the above options, or a combination of all three, allows you to choose whatever degree of involvement in the day-to-day running of your site you prefer, and will obviously determine the final degree of savings you make on your self-build project. However, there will always be a saving compared to purchasing a finished house from a developer, who will obviously have included an element of profit for themself in their asking price.