Antony & Vicki McClafferty

Antony and Vicki McClafferty chose the self-build route after being inspired by the numerous television programmes about self-building projects. By viewing new houses available, they realised they were much smaller in size than what could be achieved if they built their home instead.

After attending exhibitions including the Homebuilding and Renovating Shows in Birmingham and Harrogate, the National Self Build & Renovation Centre, Swindon and Build It Live! in Manchester, the couple called an advisor at BuildStore.

Antony and Vicki found their perfect third of an acre plot in their town after driving to the site and booking a viewing. They decide on this plot after falling for the site immediately, even though Antony had previously dismissed it due to thinking it looked too small. The site was fairly flat at the front but tiered at the back with fruit trees and fruit and vegetable plots. It is situated at the end of a cul-de-sac and within walking distance of the children’s primary and secondary schools, so the location was great!

Although Antony and Vicki had no prior self-building experience, the couple had previously converted their integral garage into a play room and downstairs W.C. They spoke with local businesses and timber frame companies, found on the internet, who could prepare the plans but appointed a local Architectural Technologist who provided the plans for planning permission and for Building Control.

The project itself was managed by the Architectural Technologist for any technical areas, but Vicki was the main contact for any decision making on issues and changes. Although the couple didn’t do any manual work on the build, as they both work full time and have young children, they liaised with the main contractor and sub-contractors.

In terms of the highs of the project, Anthony and Vicki found joy in designing their own home and seeing the progress of the build. The couple would have liked to be on-site more than it was possible due to working full time, but were able to drive up and take lots of photos.

When it came to financing the build, the couple stated BuildStore “are specialists in self-build mortgages and we had spoken to them on the phone and at the Homebuilding and Renovating shows and were happy with the advice received”.

“We did apply for a mortgage with another lender through BuildStore first but they didn’t understand how childcare vouchers worked and double counted these when calculating our affordability and wouldn’t lend us what we needed. So BuildStore helped us to find another lender which offered a mortgage at a lower rate of interest by this time and we took out the mortgage with them”.

The couple would definitely recommend BuildStore’s services as “everyone we have dealt with has been really helpful and the communication is great”.

Hints & Tips

• Be very specific to make sure you get what you want in your build
• A self-build takes up a lot of your time even if you are not project managing it yourself so be ready for this
• Definitely recommend using someone like an Architectural Technologist to liaise between you and the contractors if you do not have building experience