The home building industry has been fairly static for a long while, but now an enterprising company wants to do for self build what IKEA has done for wardrobes. The company, Glog Homes, sells DIY blueprints and ‘house kits’ which they say anyone can use to build their own house in a matter of weeks.
The blueprints, which start at just €45.50 for a 2 bedroom bungalow which can be built in under 4 weeks, feature a number of innovative ideas. For a start the pack also includes a data sheet and budget template, which means that everything you need to buy your materials is laid out and ready for the shopping trip, with no hidden costs.
You can also upgrade the plans to a Full Set, which includes framing plans, cut lists, wiring schemes and energy consumption calculations. As you might expect from a company based in Estonia, the energy aspect is featured quite strongly. The designs make use of special compact designs which have ‘zero waste’ in terms of space. The plans also make use of eco materials where possible, although it’s not clear how much this adds to the final cost of the home.
This is of course not the first attempt to bring down the cost of home construction, and you still need to buy the land to do the final build, but it’s the first example of such a complete turnkey offering we’ve seen. For an example of the type of thing you get with your money, the company are selling their wooden Greenhouse Plans for a mere €1, which seems like a bargain.