Ursula Bertrand
architect
Ambitious about design; protects the vision
Self-Build
They buy a plot with planning hopes and a budget that looks generous until the first quote.
Planned · not started yet
Home & housing Ambition Money under pressure Living with uncertainty Small town Family home Hopeful Bracing
The premise
They buy a plot with planning hopes and a budget that looks generous until the first quote. Over three years the house rises from drawings to a home, through a planning refusal, a failed contractor and hard trade-offs between energy performance and money.
The protagonist
Freya Holt-Oyinlola — Midwife building a low-energy house with her partner Nnamdi
The council
Every council member is an original fictional character. None represents, quotes or is endorsed by a real person.
Graham Pike
planning consultant
Cautious and procedural; usually right about planners
Mo Hamdan
site manager
Blunt and practical; builds what can be built
How the story moves
Three years from plot to keys; every compromise carries into the next stage, and the couple’s relationship is tested as hard as the budget.
What readers take away
- Finding and assessing a plot
- Self-build mortgages and staged finance
- Writing an architect’s brief
- Planning applications and appeals
- Building regulations and inspections
- Passive and low-energy design
- Contracts: main contractor versus self-managing
- Managing cost and programme risk
- Snagging and completion
- Read a structural engineer’s report
- Choose heating and ventilation systems
- Manage cash flow during build stages
- Commission an airtightness test
The books
- 1The plot Planned
- 2Planning Planned
- 3Foundations Planned
- 4The contractor Planned
- 5Weathertight Planned
- 6Home Planned
Book titles are working titles and may change before publication. No book is on sale until the complete series is finished, checked and released.