Couple save £100,000 by building a home made of polystyrene instead of bricks

A couple are saving £100,000 by building their own house, but they’re using an unconventional material to do it.

Hannah Bird and her husband Charlie, both 26, purchased a quarter-acre plot of land in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset , for £70,000 in June 2022.

Rather than opting for a prebuilt home, they decided to design and construct their own property, aiming to sidestep the hefty price tag of local new build estates, where comparable two-bedroom houses can start at £375,000.

They plan to do the majority of the work themselves, avoiding around £30,000 in labour costs, and utilise polystyrene blocks, known as Insulated Concrete Framework (ICF).

These blocks, which interlock like giant Lego bricks, are filled with concrete to create robust, well-insulated walls.

The progress so far

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