So, how does one go about building a house?

Usually you get an architect and a builder and then you stand at the sideline looking pretty. Or at least I imagine it would be this way because I have no clue.
So how the hell do you proceed when the only thing you have is a drawing of a house? (and a beautiful drawing it is) and you plan to build your own house?
Well I am even more at a loss on that one.

Common Sense

Using common sense we of course have talked about it a lot and decided there needs to be a planning and a budget.
We need a building manager and a budget manager and it would be best if these where separate persons.
So it was decided earlier on that Niels will be the building manager/builder and I would be the budget manager/taking care of volunteers/cook/managing supplies/translator.

Funny enough I started with the last part. Since we will be living in the French speaking part of Belgium I thought it was a good idea to go to Brussels to learn French. We have been having lessons from a private tutor at home, but you know how it goes, when you work the whole week, doing your homework is not top of your list.
So 3 weeks in Brussels was an excellent start to explore the language and I feel a bit more confident that I will be able to order supplies etc.

Budget

As for the budget, well we of course talked to people who have done similar projects and it is very very hard to get an exact estimate of how much this is going to cost. It could be between the 600 and 900 euros per m2, but every house is different.
This winter I will try and find out how much the foundations and roofing of the house will cost. The walls will be the cheapest because we will be using rammed earth and straw bales.
I want to make a budget for a watertight house, and see how much that is. It is very important to have the house watertight before the winter starts.
I also want to make sure we have enough money to build a watertight house because it would be real bad if we ran out of money with the roof not yet finished…

Then there is water storage and filtration, sun boiler, solar panels, batteries, wind energy, septic tank, floor heating, heating etc etc etc

Fulltime

Since I am in between jobs right now, I have been searching the Internet for information. I have asked for price quotes on water storage systems and roofing. For now things are not going that smoothly, companies don’t really respond to email, which I think is pretty weird. Why would you mention an email address on your website if you wont respond to it?
But I am determined to go on and if we have to, we can go to Belgium or Germany to knock on their doors.
There is one thing for sure, you can make it a fulltime job, searching the web and researching!!

Anyway, I would like to know if you are interested in following my progress in finding out more about the do’s and don’ts of building a house yourself.
If you are, then please leave a comment (if you have questions or suggestions) and I will blog when I have found out more information.