Completing a full home renovation a few years ago gave Wayne and Kandi the urge to take on a bigger project, but spending three years and counting living in two caravans with their four children and dog hasn’t been plain sailing

We are Wayne and Kandi from Manston, a small village in the south east of Kent. We have embarked on the journey of a lifetime – our first self-build home! Wayne is project managing the build alongside running a very busy marine engineering business.

Where we started 

We had always dreamt of building our home – I think it’s most people’s dream but very few get the opportunity to make it reality. Back in 2018 we bought a run down four bedroom semi in need of a full renovation that we completed during Covid. This gave us the itch to take on something really big. So out of the blue, we sold our home and moved into two static caravans while trying to make a decision on what our next move was going to be. 

We were incredibly lucky to find the perfect plot of land to build our dream home on. This is where all the fun began! Wayne loves a challenging project and from the very start had decided he wanted to do a big part of the build himself. After driving around looking at different homes and trawling the internet for ideas we came up with our list of ‘must haves’. We teamed up with a great local architect, Luke Strange, and he sketched what we wanted first time round, incorporating a mix of traditional features with a modern twist that would still leave us in keeping with our surroundings.

After a few tweaks to the design internally we submitted our application in February 2023, and to our surprise, the plans were approved within eight weeks with no problems or amendments needed. At the end of August we broke ground, embarking on an archaeological dig. However, with nothing found we were able to move straight on to digging the footings and removing the oversite concrete slab. This part of the project happened so fast, and progress was good. It wasn’t long before the bricklayers arrived on site and had the first few courses down ready for us to get the block and beam floor on. The weather was on our side, it being dry and warm into October, but then winter hit.

A long winter 

This is where things slowed down, since November we have battled with the weather from week to week. Despite high winds, torrential rain and freezing temperatures, work did carry on during the winter, but not at the rate we would have hoped for. We have spent many nights lying awake listening to the rain hoping it doesn’t cause damage to any work already done. 

Fast forward to now and the weather has finally turned, after the wettest winter for years. We are just about to complete the roof and are preparing for cladding and installation of windows so we can get the scaffolding down. Internally, we are preparing for screed and about to start first fixing the plumbing and electrical installation. With the long drawn out winter behind us we are now able to get really stuck in, and we are really hoping to meet our deadline of Christmas 2024. 

To date, this has been a massive challenge alongside an already busy lifestyle with four children and a dog. Living in two static caravans for almost three years has presented its own challenges, but the process overall is very rewarding. My advice to anyone else taking on such a project is whatever you think you’re going to spend, you need to add a minimum of 10% for unforeseen costs. Secondly, price check everything and don’t be afraid to try and negotiate a deal – if you rely on someone else sourcing your materials then it’s going to cost you 20+% more. 

We have found a whole community of self-builders and home improvement enthusiasts online, and it has been great to share stories and experiences with people in a similar position. We have used it to document our build so we have something to look back on for years to come. If you’re interested in seeing our progress, you can follow us on Instagram @self_build_with_the_maddoxs and see the project through to the end with us!