I did more than half of the physical work on the build myself and all the management of it
Applied for planning, appointed planning consultant and aesthetic design architect, cleared planning conditions, did the technical design, supervised detailed drawings
Cleared the site, cut down trees and bushes, set out the dig, supervised boreholes, installed pipes and grouted then in, installed borehole soakaways, supervised digger and set levels and batters for basement , blinded oversite, built reinforced concrete floor, loaded out blocks for whole basement, laid land drain, build some basement blocks, did some labouring, tidied site, cleaned wheelbarrow and mixer, concreted hollow blocks, and ring-beam, fixed and welded steelwork, fitted floor planks, set out levels and square for ground floor, installed bespoke dpc trays over basement windows, ordered all materials, found brickie(s) and labourer, pointed brickwork, loaded out some bricks, laid loads of blocks, tidied up site, fixed steel. Fitted almost all the cavity wall insulation.
Fitted first floor planks (with Philip and a labourer), concrete grouted first floor, set out bathroom plumbing pipes ready to build in, took photographs and time lapse video, my daughter Eleanor edited the videos.
Ordered all materials for whole job, quantity surveyed materials, worked out programme of operations, supervised all stages of the job. Did all setting out of walls and windows, marked datums with Philips laser level.
Made a few mistakes see pages “things that went wrong”)
Built roof with Philip and David and a crane.
Set out first floor walls by laying first course.
Supervised scaffolders, demonstrated battening of ceilings to David who did most of this job.
Put on/took off hessian protection to bricks and blocks.
Showed visitors around.
Tiled some of the roof, decided verge detail and fixed first few verge tiles (I decided to use a cloaked verge made with vertical tile hanging corner tiles – these work well and will outlast any other type of verge detail), fixed mechanical holding down ties to end ridges. Fitted solar panels to roof.
Laid blocks to basement internal non load bearing walls.
Fitted ductwork for MVHR.
Fitted windows, window boards, reveal insulation and linings, tacked ceilings (with Philip) cleaned brickwork, installed air duct work, carried plaster to first floor, installed central vacuum system, installed thermocouples, built board for wiring computerised control centre.
Fitted glass to basement windows, plumbed in hot cylinder and loft tanks, ordered ironmongery, hung doors, fitted appliances, planned kitchen, …