A retired couple from Cornwall announced that building their own home proved to be a great financial investment. They acquired a 1.4 acre site in Lostwithiel for £480,000 and moved into the existing bungalow, while planning their future home. The Hanse Haus kit-built eco-home is now worth £900,000, having cost a total of £750,000 for the land and the new-build.
“We’ve dreamt of building our own home since we got married 48 years ago but, being traditionalists, we’d never even considered a pre-manufactured home until we saw one. Now we know that this type of building is the future,” said Chris Marwood.
The couple then decided to go to Germany and see the show homes that Hanse Haus had on display. They picked a design and agreed on adjustments, such as lowering the roof and putting storage under the eaves and went back later on to pick their fixtures and fittings.
“If you were to do this for a conventional build, you’d be running around all over the place with samples of tiles or materials of some kind to match them up, but here we had a huge choice, all under one roof,” said Sheila Marwood. “The other great thing about it is that once you’ve made your choice the price is locked in, so you know exactly what the final cost will be.”
It took six weeks to move 50 tonnes of rock from the sloping site, to relocate the water mains and lay the concrete slab for the house and the house was ready in 12 weeks. It contains a garage, two guest rooms, bathroom and utility room in the lower ground floor, a sitting room and kitchen-diner with bi-fold doors to a balcony and views across the Fowey Estuary on the ground floor, and a large master bedroom with en suite and his and hers dressing rooms on the top floor. Being eco-built, it also has triple glazing, underfloor heating, plus insulated walls, ceilings and roof.
Their advice for people who wish to build their own home is to do plenty of research before. “There are a lot of decisions to make along the way so if you can do some research, look in magazines and visit other houses beforehand, this can really make a difference,” they said.
