There is a lack of clarity in English when talking about self-builds. This came to light while watching the various series of Grand Designs, where the “self-builds” covered the range from one man, building a timber frame with just his muscles and an old tractor, to a couple who simply sign the cheques. There’s just not enough granularity.
This comes from the way in which houses tend to be built in the UK. Large estates are built as speculative investment by construction companies and this is the principal way by which new housing is built in the UK. As a percentage of the total market, self-builds (ie. non-speculative construction) are estimated to account for 10-20% of UK construction¹. By comparison in Europe and the US, that figure is around 50%. To self-build is to deviate from the norm in building “for oneself”. And there’s the source of the phrase. Unlike the “self” in “do-it-yourself”, to self-build is to build for oneself.
What’s missing then is the construction equivalent of DIY, which in itself conjures up the image of installing shelves, or fixing a broken tap, rather than full-scale construction. Calling a house build a DIY project seems to belittle it. But the distinction should be made.
I’m aware of this, because the term does exist in French. “Auto-construction” (which quite literally translates to self-build) implies an element of involvement on the part of the future owner. It suggests that they will be carrying out some part of the work themselves, from second fix onwards once the shell is air and watertight, through to a complete build from the ground up. Despite certain legal obstacles and a difficulty in obtaining financial support, there is a wealth of self-build (DIY housing) in France. A study in 1988 found that 7.6% of homes had been built by the owners². A whole network of DIY builders exists here, a dedicated forum is vibrantly busy and a nationwide association provides logistical support for DIY builders from the obtention of quotations and organisation of the release of funds through to dedicated insurance packages to cover non-professional work on site.
So why the need for a new term? Because the old one doesn’t do justice to those people that actually get their hands dirty and build their house. Because paying other people to do everything and taking little or no responsibility for the finished product has more in common with the purchase of a rubber stamped house on a housing estate, than with the laboured carpentry of a self-erected timber frame. Because the innovation in housing is being led by the hands-on builders and not by the construction companies. And that last point most emphatically since housing is one of the largest consumers of energy both in construction and use, and the people with the most incentive to reduce energy consumption are those who have to pay both the construction costs and the heating bills.
¹. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/jan/08/self-build-dream-home