Geoff & Jackie Whiteley

First time self-builders Geoff and Jackie Whiteley decided to take the plunge having lived in their detached house since 1987. The house was ‘tried’ and lacked proper insulation and having thought about extending the house, their architect suggested building two houses and selling one to help finance the build.

The process was kick-started by watching television programmes about self-building. Once the couple had the plans drawn up and applied for planning permission, the next step was to find a builder to bring their vision to life.

When they purchased the house, the couple were attracted to the large plot. However the fan shaped area dictated what could be built as the front of the site was narrow. Since the couple already owned the site, they had planned to demolish their house and start again, so Geoff and Jackie opted for semidetached houses.

For the duration of the construction process, the builder managed the project, however Geoff and Jackie were on site regularly to overlook the progress.

For Geoff and Jackie, the highlight of the process was watching the building progress as well as planning and choosing the interior fitments and finishing touches. With the couple approaching sixty when the build was finished, they described their self-build process as “a great experience at our time of life” especially as they are now living in their new house which they contributed so much to.

The pair had faced some difficulties in obtaining finance, but they didn’t give up and found BuildStore. Having originally thought a bank or a building society would lend money, and after many discussions on the high street it became obvious to Geoff and Jackie that they couldn’t get a loan. This was due to them building two houses and selling one, classing them as developers. At this point they realised a specialist lender was needed and BuildStore was the way forward to access funds to do the project.

The Whiteleys found BuildStore “extremely helpful” because we “understand the market and who would lend in specific circumstances”. They also stated it was very helpful to have someone else approach the right finance option as it saved a great deal of time.

Overall the couple are delighted with their new home and haven’t ruled out the possibility of undertaking another self-build project in the future.