'We're building our house from polystyrene and it's saving us £100,000'

Hannah Bird, 26, and her husband Charlie, 26, a professional golfer, have been building their own house on a 0.25-acre plot of land in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, since April 2024

A couple are saving more than £100,000 by constructing their own house - using polystyrene blocks instead of bricks. Hannah Bird and her husband, Charlie, a professional golfer, both 26, purchased the quarter-acre plot of land in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, in June 2022 for £70,000.

They decided to build a home from scratch rather than purchase a new-build property, with prices in their area starting at £375,000 for a two-bed on a new estate. To dodge paying £30,000 in labour costs, the pair have done 80 per cent of the work themselves and opted for polystyrene blocks - known as ICF (insulated concrete framework) -