With more and more of us having to work from home during the crisis, it’s quickly going to be obvious to both employees and employers that there are advantages and disadvantages to this way of working. On the upside, the coffee’s always on! On the downside, now your neighbour’s teenagers are at home rather…

At Scandinavian Homes, we look at building houses in a different way. We’re not a mass market housebuilder, throwing up dozens of homes on a site with little care what happens to them once we’ve sold them. We’re not an out-of-the-catalogue wooden box builder either. We’re a small family business and friendly team, and…

So, you’re finally going to build your dream home, and you want to make sure it’s also your forever home. There’s nothing worse than the idea of having to move from a house you’ve lived in and loved for decades because your health has deteriorated and you can no longer get up and down…

When you say the words ‘log cabin’, people generally imagine something rustic, tucked away in the woods, probably off grid and no running water, or they think about Center Parcs or similar holiday destinations. And it’s true, there are plenty of log cabins around that meet those descriptions, and they’re quite lovely, but houses…

Are you thinking of creating a new living space in your garden? Somewhere to work in peace, somewhere for the kids to make a noise, or maybe a yoga space to work out and chill out in? We have lots of options available, but you’ll need to think carefully about a few things before…

Whenever we see case studies of self build projects on TV or in magazines, we’re always surprised at how long the build can take. And yes, it probably will take longer than you hope, because things always do! We are also frequently asked by clients how long they will need to wait for us…

Welsh government Ministers are to launch a scheme in 2019 to help people build their own homes, with £210m of projected funding over the programme’s lifetime. The scheme will be subject to similar rules as Help to Buy in Wales – with successful applicants only able to use the scheme once, homes must be…

Incredibly, it is almost 2 years since we published our blog Learning From Other People’s Experiences – Our Top 5 Self-build Blogs, so we thought it was time we did a bit of an update. The blogs we recommended back then are still there and still well worth a read, but we’ve found some…

According to the Local Government Association, around 321,000 new homes were given planning permission in the UK during 2016 to 2017, but only 183,000 were actually built, while some 423,000 homes with planning permission are still awaiting construction. The Government has opened a consultation into possible changes to the planning system in an attempt…

Decide on the area you want to look in, and research it. It may sound obvious, but lots of people have a vague idea of wanting to live ‘in the Lake District’, which covers quite a large area where it is difficult to get planning permission unless you’re already a local. Be prepared to…

I was reading through some articles in Scottish Construction Now (yes, I do lead an exciting life) the other day, and came across a series of pieces on how the Chinese have enacted a ban on what leader Xi Jinping has called “weird architecture”. Apparently Chinese architects have been getting a little excitable and…

If you are interested in the idea of building your own home, you may well have come across the concept of “community self build”. You might also be aware that timber buildings tend to go up faster than the brick and block style of construction that is standard in the UK. What you may…

Scottish recycling expert, Angus Carnie, has built himself a house using entirely recycled or reused materials – everything would have ended up in landfill or in an incinerator. It is built in the style of a traditional Scottish cabin, but the walls are made up of ‘logs’ of shredded plastics that have been compressed together….

Scandinavian Homes attended a breakfast briefing by the National Custom & Self Build Association at the NEC in Birmingham last week. As Association members, we were interested to hear what they had been up to, and it turns out they’ve been quite busy over the last year! Many with an interest in self-building will…

Back in November, the Scandinavian Homes team were at the Homebuilding and Renovating Show in Harrogate, when an older gentleman came to chat with us. He wasn’t in the market for a self-build house, but he was interested in our timber frame homes, as he had lived in a timber frame house as a…

It’s a well known fact that, after the lengthy process of finding the perfect plot on which to build your dream home, getting planning permission for it is the next big hurdle.  Few developments, even small ones for the solitary self-builder, go through without any objections either from neighbours, local organisations (especially environmental ones…

One of the things I am learning about self building a house is that it is in itself a learning process. Even people who’ve done it before, or professionals who’ve worked on self builds for years, can run into new challenges. This is why it’s easier and less stressful to go for a package…

A year ago, I thought a self-build was where you had to order all your materials and roll your sleeves up for the next year or more. Then I met the team from Scandinavian Homes, and a whole new world opened up. I’ve worked for construction-related businesses for large chunks of the last 20…