BIY Houses

Build It Yourself, or Self-build home projects are proving increasingly popular in the UK, which may be due to people beginning to integrate environmentally-friendly technology into their houses.

Raymond Connor, chief executive of BuildStore, believes that increased land availability and cheaper building materials and labour have resulted in a high level of interest in DIY home building.

"With a low supply of quality homes and such good savings to be made right now in terms of land, labour rates and materials prices, there has never been a better time [to self-build],"Mr Connor said.

One advantage to building a house may be that developers can incorporate renewable or microgeneration technologies in line with current global demands to reduce carbon emissions and save energy.

Solar panels, small turbines or an energy-efficient biomass boiler may be worthwhile investments if people choose to protect the environment and generate their own electricity.

Got a house you want building? We'll be happy to muck in!