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 a quarter-acre plot in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, in June 2022 for £70,000.

They decided to build a home from the ground up rather than purchase a new-build property, with prices in their area starting at £375,000 for a two-bedroom on a new estate. To avoid shelling out £30,000 in labour costs, the duo have completed 80 per cent of the work themselves and chosen polystyrene blocks - known as ICF (insulated concrete framework) - which slot together and are filled with concrete.

Their 140sqm home is approximately halfway through the construction process, with the roof set to be installed soon and the tunnelling for electricity and water nearly finished. Hannah estimates they will have saved £100,000 by doing most of the work themselves and will end up with a two-bedroom, one office, detached home with a garage and eight parking spaces. They anticipate completing the building process and moving in by the summer of 2026.

Hannah, a travel blogger from Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, said: "We originally always wanted to renovate, but the renos in our area were £200,000 and had no roof. We did look at new builds, but they're not for us.

"We knew so many people with new builds whose stairs broke or pipes broke two weeks in. We didn't have many options - we thought 'well, we either live with our parents until we die or we buy somewhere'.

"We completed on our land in Easter 2023. In December 2023 we went to a build show. They had really cool stuff there, including three different suppliers doing these blocks.

"For what a bricklayer took a week to do, together we could do in an hour. We did the up to DPC (damp proof course) level in a couple days."

Hannah revealed they forwarded their house blueprints to the firm supplying the blocks to calculate the required quantity, with a representative visiting their site to guide them through the installation procedure.

"It's literally like Lego," she said. "It's idiot-proof. We did scroll a lot on Instagram and TikTok because we were like, 'are we doing this right?' It seemed too easy to start with."

Hannah and Charlie's plot already had planning for a "small two-bed property", but the couple applied to make it into a two-bed, one office, home in 2023 before starting the build on the blank plot of land in April 2024 after it was successfully granted.

Hannah said: "The first thing we did was clear the land and put up some fencing. The driveway before was absolutely horrendous.

"It was two metres wide. I used to drive a Mini and I could just about drive it down let alone drive a lorry down it.

"We used recycled Tarmac, which I didn't know was a thing. We just hired a roller thing and got my sister, Lauren, 24, to drive it down. We planted lots of nice trees and bushes, flowers, all sorts."

The pair maintain a tight budget and have accumulated their funds throughout their seven-year romance whilst at college and university.

Hannah revealed: "£100,000 is the total amount we're going to spend on the house fully excluding the cost of the plot of land. Inside we'll have a nice kitchen, nice bathrooms - Charlie's obsessed with having a laundry chute.

"We do want heated floors. If you bought a house in our area you would pay £375,000 and that's for a rubbish one.

"We're going to spend less than £200,000 all in, hopefully. We're making a lot of profit doing it ourselves.

"I suppose it's no different to doing a renovation, but the fact is essentially we're making more money doing it from scratch. We're taking the time to save more money.

"I don't think we're going to stay there forever, but we'll stay a good amount of time. We're not allowed to sell for two years, otherwise we've got to pay a horrendous amount of tax. I think we've got a little bit of a bug doing stuff ourselves - we've already looked at renos in our area."

The duo, who frequently travel, are residing with their parents in Burnham-on-Sea until they can finally relocate in summer 2026.

Plot of land: £70,000

Plot preparation and groundwork: around £18,000

ICF structure, concrete and steel: approximately £40,000

Roof and windows: approximately £22,000

Plumbing, electrics and heating: approximately £18,000

Internal works and finishes: approximately £22,000

Total: £190,000