Building a self build wooden home on land

[David Leithead]

Hi all, can anyone help me withany info about getting a self build wooden house to build if i purchase the land?

Thanks
Dave

[omostra06]

Originally Posted by David Leithead

Hi all, can anyone help me withany info about getting a self build wooden house to build if i purchase the land?

Thanks
Dave

Hi david, self build can be a little complicated, to build any house here in portugal you require a license, part of the process to obtain a license involves registering your builder as responsible for the construction, only builders with an alvara (license to do this type of work) can register to collect the license, if you plan to build the house yourself then you would not have the license that the council require.
if you plan to build the house yourself with the help of a builder then you can register the builder using his alvara to get your license to build, you will be able then to do some of the build(technically under his name/license) and he would do some of the work too.
its a bit of a compromise but should help you move the project forward.

planning for wooden homes is pretty much the same as planning for conventional homes, it will still need all the requirments, arcitectual drawings, tech drawings, etc etc, and it will take a long time to be approved.

for more information on building a property in portugal take a look at this link
A guide on how to build a house in Portugal

[PETERFC]

As Derek says it is it's not easy to self build. Do you know just what you want as their are options that do not require foundations so it can be achieved a little easier. Below is three links that will give you an insite to Wooden houses as the Algarve link shows, Timber frame house and this link shows just how the various parts are made, the last link is to the Timber Frame association in the UK. All links give details of the different aspects to Wooden House or Timber Frame houses. I have been told of a new system being developed that has all the benefits of Timber Frame but it can just be lifted by crane onto site and as no foundations are requires then it's classed as portable so i am told no planning is required.

It's not easy just building a wooden house but i hope the links are of help

Good luck but first find out what you want and what you expect to be able to get from you new home to be.

Peter the 666 man


Timber Homes Algarve

Timber Engineering Europe

List of Members - UK Timber Frame Association

[omostra06]

Just to pick up on a point that peter has made.
Any building with or without foundations, that is situated for a certain period of time will be regarded as a permanent structure, having foundations or not is not the only this that defines the type of building, as soon as you connect to water, electricty and build a septic tank, it will be classed as a permanant building, in fact it could be very hard to get electricity connected to anything that is not registered as habitation and is a permanant building,

There is a lot of miss information out there, especialy concerning wooden buildings, if you plan on living in a wooden building on your property you will need full planning consent from your local council, they will treat it as a normal new build application, where it must meet current building regs, I see no reason why convetional build and wooden homes or timber framed buildings will be treated any different when the council concider the planning application.

In fact in some regions wooden buildings are not allowed at all, due to local planning restrictions like fire risk etc, therefore these types of buildings will be even harder than normal to get planning approval.

Anyone thinking of building anything on your land regardless of what it is made from, you should have a meeting with your local planning department to see if they will allow the type of building you want, before getting too far into it, in case you cant do what you want.