What do you think are the biggest barriers/issues when building your own house?

jbyrneirl

After having recently built my first house, I have a good idea of the kinds of problems that most self builders will encounter. So for example;

- trying to find a good architect/engineer/contractor
- trying to understand the numerous building systems and choosing the best one
- trying to manage the vast quantity of project information, plans, schedules, correspondence
- trying to decide on a budget and keeping within the budget

The list is endless.

So my question is; based on your own experience what do you think are the biggest barriers/issues for anyone building their own house? What causes them the most pain?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Poor Uncle Tom

Having spoken to and guided many self builders I have always found the biggest problem was getting planning permission for and keeping true to the original design during the planning process.

martinn123

Reading many live build threads, a major headache seems to be Finance.

Banks keep changing the rules, on valuations, drawdowns, etc, that's if you can get approval/finance to build in the first place.
Some posters have been close to breakdown due to last minute requests for more information, additional costings, and tardyness in releasing funds.
So maybe not the biggest headache, certainly a major issue.

stephentbb2000

Obtaining planning in the first place was a major hurdle coupled with the lack of advice from the council and the refusal for a pre planning meeting.

Secondly making changes as the build progressed with had financial implications.

Finally mother nature herself, persistent heavy rain during the summer of 2010 held up our build.