Posts

• Unlocking Potential: House Extensions and Open-Plan Living

  If you’ve ever felt squeezed for space in your home—whether you need room for a growing family, a dream home office, or a fresh, modern layout—house extensions are a...

• Laying Foundations in Bad Weather: A Guide to Building in Challenging Conditions

  As winter sets in, the idea of laying the foundations in bad weather for a self-build home, extension, or conversion can feel particularly daunting. It’s common to assum...

• NaCSBA Appoints Sarah Kempton to Executive Committee
  Sarah Kempton, Marketing Manager for Self-Build Zone, has been invited to join the NaCSBA (National Custom and Self Build Association) CIC Board as part of its Executive Committee.
• Self Build Insurance at Homebuilding & Renovating Show Farnborough
  The first Homebuilding & Revonating Show 2025 takes place in Farnborough in January. Join Self-Build Zone for more insight into our site insurance and warranties.
• Do you need to insure your house extension project?
  Carrying out a home extension can feel challenging, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the design, planning, and construction stages. There’s a lot to consider—architectural and structural ...
• Harrogate Homebuilding & Renovating Show for Self Build Insurance
  Join us this weekend at Homebuilding & Renovating Harrogate for more insight into our self-build site insurance and warranties! Doing a self build is likely to be one of the largest financial c...
• New Building Regulations Increase the need for Principal Designers on all Construction Projects
  After the Grenfell fire killed 72 people, the Government brought in new legislation designed to improve building safety.
• Self-Build Zone Sponsors 2024 Build It Awards
  The 2024 Build It Awards are now live, the judges’ shortlist of six incredible homes is in, and votes are now open for the best Self Build Home or Renovation Project 2024.
• Self Build Site Insurance and Warranties Featured at HBR London
  Join us this week at Homebuilding & Renovating London for an insightful discussion on self-build site insurance and warranties! Building your own home is likely one of the biggest financial com...
• Protecting your Self Build Project from Start to Finish and Beyond
  Building your own home comes with its share of risks and challenges. To alleviate these risks, securing appropriate site insurance to cover your project throughout your build and ensuring a...
• How Conversion Insurance Helps with Unexpected Project Delays
  Conversion site insurance is a crucial safety net that can help protect you during unexpected project delays, especially in scenarios such as self-builds, renovations, or conversions where investme...
• Self Build Project Pre-Start Checklist
  Undertaking a self build project – particularly if this is your first time – can seem overwhelming. So, before construction begins, it’s wise to take some basic preparatory steps that will sa...
• Custom and Self Build Market Report from NaCSBA 2023/2024
  NaCSBA’s 100-page Custom and Self Build Market Report is an annual resource that provides critical insights and data for the sector, making it indispensable for anyone involved in the custom ...
• Join us at Build It Live Bicester in June
  The team will be at Build It Live for all your self-build insurance and warranty requirements in June. Bringing the magazine to life, Build It Live in Bicester brings face-to-face inspiration, thou...
• Self-build Insurance and Warranties Featured at Homebuilding & Renovating Show
  Join us this week at Homebuilding & Renovating to discuss self-build insurance and warranties! A self-build is usually one of the largest financial investments you will make, so you should ensu...
• Insurance & Warranties for Timber Frame Builds
  Timber construction has surged in popularity among self-builders in recent years, offering sustainability, affordability, and aesthetic appeal. Whether it’s timber frame, structural insulated pan...
• Guide to Understanding Home Renovation Site Insurance
  Undertaking a home renovation project is an exciting journey with potential ideas to improve your home’s layout, usability, and value. Familiarise yourself with many different stages, particularl...
• Custom and Self-Build Homes Outperform Standard New Builds in Generating Local Impact

  In the newly released NaCSBA Custom and Self Build Homes Report 2023/24, groundbreaking research reveals that custom and self-build homes wield a substantially more sig...

• Self-Build Zone will see you at Build It LIVE – South East!
  Build It LIVE South East is the longest-running show in the series, taking place in the heart of Kent. Self-Build Zone, along with hundreds of other companies, will be showcasing our products and s...
• A Guide to Planning Your Dream Kitchen Extension
  A kitchen extension breathes new life into confined culinary spaces, transforming them into versatile hubs that cater to the entire family. Today’s kitchens have evolved beyond mere cooking z...
• Achieving Superior Energy Efficiency: The Advantages of Self-Builds to Passive House Standards
  Building energy-efficient homes has become a top priority in an era of increasing environmental concerns and rising energy costs.
• Laying foundations during bad weather months
  Laying foundations in bad weather. As winter is fast approaching, the prospect of laying the foundations for a self-build house, house extension, or conversion can seem particularly daunting.
• How Adding a Flat Roof Extension Can Elevate Your Home
  Adding an extension to your home, such as a flat roof extension, can be a great way to increase space and add significant value to your property.
• NaCSBA Launch Digital Right to Build Data Analysis Tool
  Self-build and specialist custom-build experts LivedIn and A Solid Foundation: Why Site Insurance is Essential for Your Self-Build House Project

  Embarking on a self-build house project is an exciting and rewarding journey. The opportunity to create your dream home, tailored to your unique requirements, is something many of us aspire to achi...
• Extending Your Home: A Short Guide to House Extensions, Average Costs, and Open Plan Living
  If you’ve ever felt cramped in your home and often think about extending your living space to accommodate new family members, or you finally want to create the home office of your dreams, whateve...
• The Ultimate Guide to Understanding Home Renovation Site Insurance
  Renovation site insurance: Undertaking a home renovation project is an exciting journey filled with potential ideas to improve your home’s layout, usability, and value.
• Planning a Loft Conversion: Tips and Tricks
  Are you considering a loft extension to add value to your home? If so, you’re not alone. Loft extensions are becoming increasingly popular among homeowners who want to make the most of their ...
• Considerations for laying the foundations of a house extension
  Investing in well-designed foundations is vital. The foundations of any house extension are essential for ensuring your extension stays solid and stable for years.
• Renovation insurance is different to home insurance
  Renovation Insurance: A home renovation project can improve your quality of life, increase the value of your property and turn a basic house into a dream home that fits your style and aspirations. ...
• Weighing up the Cost Benefits of Modular vs Traditional Construction Methods for Housing
  When deciding what type of house build to undertake, modular and traditional construction methods offer different advantages.
• How to fund your self-build dream house
  For most people getting their finances in order is the natural starting point when embarking on a self build project.
• Finding the perfect self build plot
  Every year there are approximately 13,000 self build housing projects completed, and each one of those would have had to go through some form of plot-finding process.
• Does the future of housing sit with custom-build developments?
  Custom-build housing is where an individual builds their own home or contracts a builder or developer to create a ‘custom built’ home for them.
• The importance of site insurance for home extensions
  Embarking on a home extension can be the start of a very daunting journey, especially if you’re not familiar with the design, planning, and build stages.
• Levelling up and Regeneration Bill update for custom and self build housing
  The government has set out the next steps for the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) as it progresses through Parliament, with amendments tabled for custom and self build.
• We’ll be in by Christmas!
  That old chestnut? With just six weeks until the big ho ho ho, there will be lots of self builds and home extensions hanging precariously in the balance as the infamous Christmas deadline looms.
• Soaring prices and labour shortages could affect your self-build project
  The ongoing construction materials shortage is starting to recover but continues to be hampered by price hikes, in the year to July 2022, material prices for all work have increased by nearly 25%.
• Building or extending your home in winter
  Starting a build or extension during the winter months is perceived by many to be a ‘no-go’, with many worrying about how bad weather can impact build schedules.
• Cost of building new homes in UK accelerating significantly
  Research, undertaken by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) for the housing association trade body National Housing Federation (NHF), has revealed that the cost of building new ho...
• New homes built from 2025 to produce 75-80% less carbon emissions
  The Future Homes Standard is a set of rules that will come into effect from 2025 to ensure all new homes produce fewer carbon emissions.
• Managing your self-build during a heatwave
  In the UK, we simply love to talk about the weather! Usually, we write articles to advise on laying foundations in bad weather, whether to pour concrete in the rain, managing flood risks on site etc.
• A guide to self build insurance
  Site Insurance is necessary to protect your investment when you’re carrying out a renovation, conversion, extension, or self build.
• Insuring my self build: what you really need to know
  Purchased your plot? The moment you purchase a plot you are responsible for it and more importantly if anyone gets hurt on your plot whether invited or trespassing.
• Do I still need site insurance if I’m using a main contractor?
  When you’re in the planning stages of a house extension, conversion or self-build, your to-do list from the start is already quite lengthy, with broken down elements from the design, planning, an...
• I’m doing work to my own home – does my existing home insurance cover me?
  When you embark on a home extension or renovation project, insurance is probably the last thing on your mind.
• Help to Build Scheme officially launches
  Help to Build is now open to applications today Monday 27th June to help people with the cost of building their own homes.
• Bought your self-build plot? You need to insure it straight away
  Once you’ve completed the conveyancing and bought a plot of land, no matter whether you’re ready to build now or at some stage in the future, you become immediately responsible for the land.
• What’s the difference between an Architect Certificate and a Structural Warranty?
  No, this isn’t a lead-in to a silly joke! It’s a question we get asked all the time. There is currently no legislation in place that requires you to have any particular cover for your new home ...
• Do I need structural warranty for my new home?
  You will need a structural warranty insurance policy to gain protection against any fundamental structural problems with a new building, typically for up to 10 years after completion.
• What is site insurance?
  Whether you are doing a self build, renovation, or extension, don’t forget about the importance of specialist site insurance, it will save you money and time if things take a turn for the worse o...
• Self-Build Zone is recommended provider of self build insurance for Scandia-Hus
  Self-Build Zone is a recommended provider of self-build insurance and structural warranties for Swedish-heritage, timber-framed house builders, Scandia-Hus.
• Self Build Site Insurance – Top Myths & Misconceptions

  A Guide to Structural Warranties for Self-Build Homes

  New homes present some significant risks which usually appear in the first two years after completion, and a warranty is a normal method of covering these risks.
• Achieving the gold standard in energy-efficient self-build homes
  Soaring energy prices have been making headlines daily, but for some households, heating bills aren’t much of a worry.
• Your self-build and extension insurance questions answered
  If you’re in the planning stages of a self-build housing project or a home extension, insurance considerations need to be made to ensure you have the right cover in place before work sta...
• Is my self-build or extension covered for storm damage and flooding?
  The weather in the UK has been very stormy in the last couple of weeks, resulting in prolonged rainfall across the country.
• Self and custom-build sector fund: Round two
  Building on the first round of self and custom build funding, the LGA is now seeking further projects to come forward. The fund targets small sites facing viability issues that have prevented the r...
• Bacon Review submission marks 10 years of NACSBA
  The submission on 23rd July of Richard Bacon’s Review of the Custom and Self Build Sector marks 10 years since the publication of NaCSBA’s paper.
• Protecting your self build investment
  You’d be surprised how many people don’t have adequate self build insurance or knowledge around it, especially when a new home is likely to be the single biggest purchase in a self-builder’s ...