If you have an interest in architecture and you always wanted to design something of your own, why don’t you try building your own home? I am not saying that you should lay brick by brick all by yourself. What I am suggesting here is to start a project that would be your biggest creation. In order to make your own house, you will need to possess some skills and some knowledge – if you are not one of those people then you can always seek help from some professionals in this field.

Are you able to lead this project?

Mentally prepare yourself for basically anything! A lot of documentation, permits, material, things that will slow down your project like weather conditions, possible injuries on the construction site, etc. If you are not able to go through all these obstacles and finish your work, then I suggest you don’t start this project. This is something that will require your dedication, will, time, patience. If you don’t have what it takes, you should definitely choose to simply buy a house or an apartment.

Where to build?

Finding a good spot where you are going to build your home can be an exhausting thing to do. You need to take many things into account, such as: social and environmental factors of that place, cost, size and even shape.

Firstly, decide how much you are willing to spend on your lot. Your savings will somewhat direct your decision, unfortunately. But, this doesn't mean that you are going to be dissatisfied. You can always find a decent place for building, you just need to be realistic with your demands.

Size and cost come together: so if you are planning to buy a bigger piece of land, then you must be prepare to pay more for it.

Then, you need to see what kind of surroundings you are looking for. Outskirts or downtown - which part of the city? All this depending on your wishes and needs – would you like to be near everything or would you prefer to be surrounded with nature? It is only your choice.

How long will it take?

There are a lot of thing to do here and the best way to do them is slowly, with a lot of thinking – so if you are planning to rush through this, don’t do it. Depending on the size of your house and the level of complexity, it will take more or less time, but one thing is for sure: it will last at least several months. Don’t deceive yourself, this is not something you can finish in a month or two. It will take much more than that.

It is a way better option to take your time and do things properly, then to do it swiftly, because you wouldn't need to renovate and fix things that soon, once you do everything by the book.

Work out costs?

You need to plan ahead – how much will everything cost. List all the things you will need: planning, all materials, services of other people and paying all the taxes, etc. Don’t miss a thing because this can slow or stop your project – a bad calculation means that you haven’t planned this thing carefully enough.

Design and computer skills

You will need plans that can show you how your dream house will look like. This can be achieved with the help of a computer. Computer-aided drafting or CAD is a sketch; a sort of a technical drawing on your computer that will show you how your architectural creation is going to turn out. All of your ideas are put together and what you get is a well-designed plan of your house. It can be done in two dimensions or even in 3D, presenting you with a realistic picture of that building.

If you know nothing about this industrial art, then you should consider outsourcing this part of your work to others. There are a lot of companies that can help you with this, so don’t be concerned too much about this.

Material

There is so much material that you are going to need while building something: wood, cement, bricks, nails, joinery, tile, parquet and many many other things. Consult somebody who knows how much of these things you will need for building and try to get an approximate cost of it all. This way, you will have it all in your mind and you are not going to risk ending up without money or material.

Rent tools

You will also need some tools – but the good thing is that you don’t need to buy all of that necessary equipment you need for building. You can rent it and it will considerably reduce the cost of this project.

Workers

Don’t forget that you are going to need some people to help you with various things: welding, plumbing, rendering, electrical installations, etc. Unless you have some superpowers and you know to do all of these things, these people’s presence will be necessary on your construction site. You should have in mind that you need to pay for their services, so add that to your list of potential cost as well.