Welcome to Our Ecohouse Build

Join us as we embark on an exciting journey to construct an environmentally friendly house. Together, we will explore sustainable practices and innovations.

Grand Designs Risk Score

Several friends and colleagues have asked us whether our build will be on Grand Designs, our answer is no, there’s not going to be enough jeopardy! However, we thought it might be worth tracking how subjectively risky the build feels.

Progress

Below is a summary view of how our timeline is progressing

Latest News

Here you will find news on what has changed on the site and our latest blog.

29 Jan 2026 - we have the plasters in boarding out the rooms, a big transformation :-)

27 Jan 2026 - Lots of work on plumbing, electrics, including connection of our mains water and electricity feed

12 Jan 2026 - After a two week Christmas break it feels like we are starting to accelerate to completion. Electric first fix has seen a lot of cabling going in. See the Progress section.

26 Dec 2025 - see Tech section for an update on the importance of airtightness and the value we achieved for our first (of two) air tightness test

10 Dec 2025 - lots of progress in the last four weeks: cladding 90% complete, windows and doors in, solar roof installed, flooring insulation and base level chipboard, first fix plumbing and electrics starts

13 Nov 2025 - Progress has been a bit slow for a few weeks but the timber cladding progresses well and we had our 72 solar panels delivered today and fitting has started

22 Oct 2025 - We have increased our Grand Designs Risk Score from 2 to 3 (see above) - see our brief blog for an explanation

3 Oct 2025 - The Devil is in the Detail blog published

25 Sep 2025 - The house is airtight and watertight (apart from a small matter of windows and doors) thanks to being wrapped in a bright red, Wraptite membrane layer

9 Sep 2025 - Another milestone today, with the help of a crane, we started to install the SIPs which are the structure for our roof.

20 Aug 2025 - A handful of slow days but progress really ramped up today with the steel posts which hold our ridge beam erected, more wall panels being erected and first floor metal web joists installed.

12 Aug 2025 - A week on and we nearly all the external walls up (see Progress for photos). More deliveries due in the next few days so we can keep up the rapid progress.

7 Aug 2025 - Another big step forward: our SIP panels arrived on site on Tuesday and after 2 days we have 22 panels (approximately half of the structural walls) in position. See our blog "Building a SIP wall for Dummies"

29 Jul 2025 - Our design stage predicted energy efficiency grading (aka EPC) has been calculated by consultants and its a massive 127!!

16 Jul 2025 - We now have foundations! It's been too hot to pour concrete for a few days and yesterday was too wet but today thanks to a lot of man power, a concrete pump and 6 truck loads of concrete we got the raft foundations in.

16 Jun 2025 - Woo hoo we break ground and now have three to four weeks of constructing the foundations before the SIP frame arrives. See our Week One blog.
30 May 2025 - Read our latest blog about our "Inside the Factory" trip to see our SIP panels being fabricated

10 May 2025 - The clever Wunderhaus people have come with a cool animation of how the house is built from Day 1 to Day 120 -

https://vimeo.com/1071739911?share=copy#t=0

We think our Day 1 will be around 23 June, after the foundations are complete.

1 May 2025 - We are both keen gardeners but not sure where to start with a blank canvas and so we opted to bring in the professionals. Very excited to get the final landscaping plan and visuals from Dru Allan - see them in the gallery There's even a video fly through (NB of an earlier version of the design).

6 Apr 2025 - Our SIP panels have a 12 week lead time and we ordered them around three weeks ago so, fingers crossed, they will be delivered to site before the end of June

28 Mar 2025 - We have updated the risk level to 2 - it's all feeling a bit real now!!

17 Mar 2025 - Our planning permission has been granted and along with the completion of the sale of our house we are now in a position to go ahead with the build 😊

13 Jan 2025 - Our planning application is out for comments, see 24/03146/REM

9 Jan 2025 - Geotechnical company were on site to drill 4 soil cores to inform the depth of the foundations we will need.

Latest Blog

Increasing risk? ... time for a call to Kevin

22 Oct 2025 16:42

Compared to a traditionally built houses we have made great progress over the last 4+ months but over the last couple of weeks we have experienced a few hic-cups. The most testing issue (in true Grand Designs style 🙂) is the installation of the windows. The bespoke, triple-glazed windows for our rear glazed gable end are lovely, and just what we wanted, but are very heavy. Even manually off-loading the glass takes a five man team. The next step is to find a way of lifting the glass into position 3+m above the ground (NB the frames are already). The most likely solution is to use a spider crane - unfortunately this wasn't budgeted for, nor were the costs of operators (apparently you need three people to guard against the risk of something going wrong).

The devil is in the detail

3 Oct 2025 13:46

One thing we have come to learn during our build is that the level of detail contained in architectural plans is not the same as what is needed to construct a house. A set of detailed drawings are needed to precisely communicate how the "lego kit" fits together. The key areas to get right are the interfaces eg where the roof meets the guttering, which in turn meets the top of the timber cladding.

Building a SIP Wall for Dummies

8 Aug 2025 14:42

Caveat: Blog written by a construction novice for dummies! The designers, fabricators and craftsmen who all play a hand in the processor building a SIP wall are NOT dummies 😊

Foundations - Stone + Steel + Concrete

24 Jul 2025 13:26

Wednesday 16th July was a big day for us - after a lot of hard work and six truck loads of eco-cement (more on that below) we are now officially "out of the ground". The day started well, no rain forecast and the temperature was ideal - around 18C at 8am. The pump lorry arrived on time and was in position to pump the cement across our foundation footprint BUT where were the trucks which were promised to arrive from 8:45?!

Week One

22 Jun 2025 11:04

We finally broke ground on Monday 16th June and a hot dry week has allowed progress to be rapid (at least through the eyes of novices who have never seen a house being built before!) We have a great team on the groundworks, skilful and hard working. It’s amazing what Graham our digger driver can do with his multi-tonne digger - sprinkling a one stone layer of chippings to raise the sub-base level by 25mm is a sight to behold.

Inside the Factory - seeing our SIP being fabricated

30 May 2025 11:47

As a child growing up in the sixties we didn't watch much TV but there was BBC's Play School (look it up if you're under 45!) and a part of each programme was to "go through" one of the three windows (arch, circle and square) and hear a story or watch a short film about the "real world". My favourite episodes were when the film was about visiting a factory and earlier this week I recaptured that excited childhood feeling when we visited the factory in Merseyside where our SIPs (Structural Integrated Panels) are being manufactured.

Designing a house - where do you start?

19 Jan 2025 20:30

I imagine most people who have decided to undertake a self-build will have some concept of what house they want to build but are likely to be scant on a lot of the detail. For us, the main driver for the design of our house is its eco-credentials - we firmly believe that all new houses should aim to be carbon neutral if not carbon negative. Our other main design goal is to have a modern space to live in, scaling down from our current five bedroom 17th century home.

About us

Ecohouse Build is a personal blog dedicated to sharing our experience of constructing an eco-friendly home. Our goal is to inspire others to consider sustainable living and make conscious choices that benefit our planet. On this blog, you'll find informative posts about eco-friendly building materials, energy-efficient designs, and tips to reduce your carbon footprint while creating a beautiful and functional living space. Each step of our build will be documented, showcasing the challenges and triumphs of building a home that aligns with our values. We believe that sharing knowledge and experiences can empower others to take action towards a more sustainable future. Join us on this journey to create an Ecohouse that respects the environment and provides us with a beautiful contemporary home in which to live.