Craig and I have rented since our relationship began. I’ve always been pretty insistent we do given that right now, I’m not convinced that now is the time to buy. Recently however, I’ve become seriously fascinated by my friends and just how they’ve reached ‘Homeowner Status’ at my age (I’m in my early 30′s… push me to be more precise and I’ll have to de-friend you!). Okay, I live in Reading and we’ve got some of the highest house prices outside of London, but if they’ve managed it, why haven’t I? I’ve earned good money in previous roles, and Craig has worked long and hard to get where he has. Yet somehow, if we apply the magical ’4-and-a-half’ times formula to our pay packets, the best we can come up with is a dingy one-bed maisonette on Rightmove.

But it doesn’t stop us dreaming…

Craig and I watched a program recently called The House That 100k Built, and have been pretty much obsessing over the idea ever since. It’s a fascinating docu-series about how cash-strapped people have flexed their depositless muscles, begged and borrowed off friends and the bank manager, and adopted the strategy that ‘currency is king’ in the most risky way possible - they’ve scraped that 100k together and it either works or their address will henceforth read as their local park bench.

The results were surprisingly impressive. As you might expect, some ‘expert’ was on hand to help Mr and Mrs X root through their local salvage yard, and of course there always happened to be a scrap metal dealer five miles down the road from the build, but they never failed to clobber something vaguely home-like together. Given we have double that budget, I’m pretty sure we could build something epic if we came across a patch of land for sale.

There’s something incredibly romantic about designing your own house. You can steal precious metres off your child to create the ultimate master bedroom, finally decide for yourself where those pesky plug sockets will go, and ensure the fixtures and fittings meet the standard you’ve been lusting after.

The problem for me, that is kind of insurmountable, is that we’d be homeless for the duration of the build. The series certainly suggested that this is more of a project for a young couple or single man. They’ll buy a lonely looking caravan and live in the perimeter of the build until it’s over, or camp within the leaking house shell as it’s built around them. With children this isn’t practical at all - and let’s face it, the closest I’ve come to ‘roughing it’ is staying in a university halls of residence for 8 months. Add to this the fact that the pair of us utterly useless at DIY (Craig’s brother is due round ours in an hour to fit a child lock on our cleaning cupboard) and you could say it’s a recipe for disaster.

The rewards however, can be huge. With a smaller mortgage, that elusive homeowner status, and a house that you’ve built to satisfy your unique needs, you can live in it for a few years until you’ve outgrown it, then realise its value and sell. With most of the builds on the series showing a minimum ROI of 100%, it’s an investor yield that Ms Beeney herself would be proud of. Given the ultimate goal is to move my family to Australia, having a home to sell here would certainly give us more security when we make that move.

Certainly makes you think…

So can it be done? With a young family and some pretty lofty requirements for a new home? Have any of you looked into it?

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