Each of us dreams of living in our own home, where we can come and relax from the bustle of the city. You can realize this dream by buying a ready-made house, but it is better to build it according to your own design, doing some of the work yourself. When the final decision has been made, the question arises of where to start building a house. Of course, from choosing a place for a house on a country plot. Then you need to prepare project documentation and obtain the necessary permits.
What documents need to be completed before construction begins?
It is important to complete all documents correctly and obtain permission to build a house from the relevant authorities. As a rule, this is the local administration or body authorized to give such permissions. Project documentation will be key to obtaining permits.
The construction of houses on garden plots is not as strictly regulated as in urban residential areas. As a rule, it is necessary to draw up a project that meets all the necessary requirements and provide documents for the land. The exact location of the house must also have the consent of the administrative authorities.
House project
A high-quality project for building a house includes all the necessary documentation. This documentation is prepared by the design organization. In most cases, the builder-contractor undertakes to complete all the work on a turnkey basis, including drawing up a complete house project, as well as preparing the necessary documents for administrative authorities.
Where to begin?
First, you need to familiarize yourself with the projects of already built houses by studying photos of the construction of the house. On the Internet you can find photographs of the construction of a building at all stages of the project, from an empty site to the moment when landscape work near the built house is completed and you can live in it.
The variety of ready-made standard solutions is limitless. However, it is worth implementing your own project, although it will cost a little more than a standard house. In this case, the designers will take into account all your wishes, as well as the ideas of family members.
What to build a house from
When building a house, you need to plan in advance at what time and how long you plan to live in it. If it’s permanent, then you need to build a reliable, warm house with heating and water supply. Electricity is a must in any home.
If there is a gas main nearby, then it is best to provide your home with a gas supply. In this case, there will be no problems with heating or cooking. As a rule, the price for electricity outside the city is slightly higher than in the city. All these conditions determine the choice of materials for building a house.
Traditionally, a country house is built of wood or brick. Combined options are also possible. For example, a house made of timber can be covered with one layer of brick. The result will be a warm and beautiful home.
If the first floor is completely brick, then the second floor is well made of wood. The space under the roof should be converted into an attic, then you will get an additional residential floor.
Wooden house
Such a house will organically fit into the surrounding nature. It will be a warm and reliable home that will last for many decades without major repairs. It is best to build from solid wood. If you use a modern rounded log, you will not need any additional finishing, either from the inside or the outside. It is better to impregnate the facade with a special composition, which will increase the service life of the wood.
Semicircular sides of logs without additional finishing and decoration are quite suitable for interior interiors. If you use a solid unprocessed log for construction - an ordinary log house, then after some time it is better to cover its front side with a layer of decorative brick. Such a house will serve for hundreds of years.
A building made of timber, the front sides of which are treated with decorative finishing, will be quite elegant and reliable. Such a house also does not need to be finished either outside or inside.
A relatively cheap option for a wooden house is panel construction. If modern panel panels are used in the construction of residential buildings, then such a dwelling will be quite warm and will not be inferior in strength to solid wood.
Stone house
A modern stone house can be called conditionally. Of course, they hardly ever build from natural stone anymore. A house made of brick is in no way inferior to a building made of stone, which is used only for decorative finishing, and not for the sake of preserving heat in the home.
Wood and stone require different construction technologies. The wood is initially processed using special equipment to facilitate the assembly process. All wooden buildings are, as a rule, the assembly of a finished house on a site. Brick - assembled directly on the site, literally brick by brick.
In suburban construction, monolithic construction technologies are widely used, when part of the house is built from monolithic concrete. These are the most durable buildings, but expensive in price. For greater convenience, it is worth considering the option of a brick house with a garage.
Foundation of the house
During any construction, the question arises of which foundation to choose. The foundation can be:
- solid monolithic - the most reliable foundation for any home;
- strip - lightweight concrete foundation, when a minimum amount of building materials is used;
- foundation on concrete pillars - when groundwater is located close to the surface of the earth or there is no point in building a solid foundation;
- piles - are used, as a rule, when groundwater is high, when solid types of foundations cannot be used on soft and marshy soils.
If the type of soil allows you to make a deep enough basement into which groundwater will not flow, it is worth making it. In this case, all the auxiliary and technical rooms can be placed in the lower part of the house, and your home will receive additional space.
It is necessary, of course, to take into account that the cost of construction in this case will increase significantly. High-quality basements are quite expensive.
How to choose a contractor
Of course, it is best to contact a contractor who will provide all types of high-quality work. The ideal option is to build a turnkey house. It should be taken into account that finishing a brick building will cost more than a wooden one.
Particular attention should be paid to electrical installation work. If there are frequent power outages, the project must include an autonomous power generator. The heating will most likely also be autonomous; an additional room will need to be built for plumbing equipment.
If a heating boiler is used, it will require consideration of fire safety standards. An important role is played by the installation of equipment for recycling biological waste on site. To do this, the project must provide a place near the house.
What points should you pay attention to?
Any construction of a house on a plot outside the city requires significant effort and will take a lot of time. It's no secret that the construction of some houses takes many years, and sometimes decades. To prevent this from happening, it is worth carefully considering and calculating all stages from design work to occupancy.
You need to be very picky when choosing a contractor. Trust only specialists who have proven themselves in the market. If a decision is made to build a house without finishing, then subsequent finishing work may approach the cost of construction itself.
Photo of the construction of a private house
The construction of residential buildings is one of the important branches of construction. Housing is built always and everywhere - you simply cannot do without it. Housing construction can be different: it is high-rise or low-rise construction, brick or monolithic, etc. Today I want to show several main stages of construction of a monolithic multi-storey building. For better clarity, photographs of the construction of different houses will be used.
The first stage of the actual construction of a house is excavation work. Those. First, they dig a foundation pit for the future building. After the pit is ready, the pile field is driven. Piles are not always driven, but in our city this is done quite often. Whether piles are needed or not depends on the geological conditions of the site chosen for construction.
The photo on the left just shows a section of the pile field. On the right is the equipment for the first stage of construction work - an excavator for excavating a pit and a machine for piling work.
Here is another machine for piling work. These machines are different - which one to use depends on the type of piling work being carried out and the type of piles used. As a rule, in our city we use either driven piles or bored piles (bored injection). Driven piles are usually reinforced concrete bars. To immerse them in the ground, only special devices are required. Therefore, in individual construction they are used quite rarely. The high cost of the piles themselves, as well as the rental of equipment, leave their mark.
Bored piles are most often used. First, a hole is made in the soil with a special drill, into which a reinforced frame is then inserted by machine. Then the well is filled with concrete solution, which fills all the voids. 
This is where the process of preparing a well for a future bored pile is shown. 
The pile field is closer. Bored piles are visible here. 
General form 
Then the foundation is made. This is the basis of any building, a guarantee that the structure will last for many years without deformation. The main function of the foundation is to bear the weight of the building, and the key requirement for it is strength. Foundations are also different, for example monolithic (slab) and prefabricated. In multi-story construction, a slab foundation is used. Such a foundation is resistant to any type of deformation and copes very well with maximum vertical loads without significant loss of its functional qualities. Since this is a monolithic foundation, its main element is poured reinforced concrete. It withstands loads and soil movements well. A frame made of reinforcement is installed in the dug pit, which is then filled with concrete. Moreover, the filling is continuous. The photo shows an already poured monolithic foundation 
Bigger. In winter, after pouring, the concrete is covered with a special material. This is done to warm up the concrete, which helps maintain the strength of the concrete. 
Well, then comes the construction of the floors of the future house. Since our house is monolithic, the main tasks during such construction are the preparation of a reinforced frame and the subsequent filling of the frame with concrete. 
The reinforcement sticking out of the concrete is the future basis of the frame of future walls. 
When the frame is ready, it is enclosed in formwork. Formwork creates the shape and dimensions of the future wall, column and ceiling. After the formwork is assembled and the process of pouring concrete occurs. Pouring takes place using concrete pumps. While the building's number of floors is not high, concrete pumps are used.
In the photo you can see a concrete pump - it is a white machine with an elongated blue arrow. The concrete is directed along this arrow. 
By the way, before assembling the reinforced frame or pouring it with concrete, the area is cleared of dust and various elements (stones, sand, etc.). This is done with special air vacuum cleaners, and it looks like the photo below. 
A larger concrete pump - at the moment when a mixer with concrete drove up to it. 
This is how the walls of the building are poured 
And here, in fact, is the process of assembling a reinforced frame. The reinforcement in the frame is directed both vertically and horizontally. 
Openings in the frame are made immediately. 
Concrete is delivered to the upper floors with a special pump or crane using a “bell”. 
This is how concrete is poured using a crane and a “bell” - one presses the levers, the other directs the flow. 
The crane is also used to lift other building materials to the floors - formwork, reinforcement, beams. 
To build a floor slab (this is the future floor or ceiling of the apartment), you also need a reinforced frame. 
But first, the formwork is installed (in the photo), and then a reinforcement frame is assembled on the formwork, which is also filled with concrete. 
But builders need to know exactly where the boundaries of the floor will be, where the openings, walls, columns and other elements will be located. To do this, a construction site needs a surveyor who, using various instruments (as in the photo), will make an accurate breakdown of the location of the above elements. 
The basis of the building is a monolithic frame. But various partitions and balconies are made of brick (pictured) or building blocks. And here you can’t do without masons, who carry out this work. 
The balconies are made of brick, the facade walls and partitions are made of blocks. 
This is only part of building a house. Here you still cannot do without finishing work - both external (façade construction) and internal. But I'll tell you about this another time.
It’s difficult to imagine what a house looks like in reality when you only have a blueprint for it. In this article we have collected the most popular projects of built houses from our catalog. Let's look together at the features of the proposed options, highlight the main thing, look at photos of houses built according to the projects and floor plans.
Project No. 40-17
A two-storey cottage in a modern style with an area of 203 m2 with a bay window and a terrace. Wall material - brick, finishing - facing brick and plaster. During implementation, they decided to replace the plaster with facing bricks of a different color.
What is good about project 40-17 and the house built according to it?
- Columns and balconies decorate the façade;
- A minimalist appearance and straight lines define the modern style of the building;
- European standard floor design: the first one is reserved for living and guest areas, the second one is for bedrooms;
- Monolithic foundation and floors guarantee the reliability of the structure.
Project No. 47-05
A two-story European-style cottage with an area of 124 m2 with a terrace, attic, garage, bay window and balcony. A real find for owners of small plots, since the dimensions of the house are only 11*12 m, and at the same time there are so many useful details. Wall material - brick. The client decided to replace the plaster finishing with facing bricks.
What is good about project 47-05 and the house built on it?
- Bright and memorable appearance;
- A small space that contains all the necessary functional areas on the first floor and two bedrooms on the second;
- Exit to the terrace from the dining room.
Completed construction of a cottage house according to project 47-05:
Project No. 51-29
A two-story European-style house with an area of 150 m2 with a balcony, bay window and columns. The wall material is aerated concrete, the front finish is terracotta brick.
What is good about project 51-29 and the house built according to it?
- The walls are made of aerated concrete, which allows construction to proceed faster and save on insulation;
- On the ground floor there is a spacious dining-living room, on the second there are three bedrooms and an additional bathroom;
- The layout is suitable for a large family: the rooms are spacious and isolated.
Photo of the built country cottage according to project 51-29:
Project No. 51-54
A compact country house with dimensions of only 7 * 8 m. At the same time, there are 93 m 2 of usable area and an attic. Designed in a modern style. Finishing - plaster, wall material - brick.
What is good about project 51-54 and the house built according to it?
- Convenient for a small family of 3-4 people;
- The attic floor is reserved for the sleeping area;
- Suitable for construction on a narrow site.
This is what the completed house project looks like:
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Project No. 54-64
Three-storey house in Art Nouveau style with an area of 229 m2 with a basement, garage and attic. Wall material - aerated concrete, finishing - facing brick.
What is good about project 54-64 and the house built according to it?
- The ground floor is intended for a sauna, two garages and technical rooms;
- The ground floor provides space for work and relaxation;
- On the second floor there are three bedrooms and a large bathroom;
- Bright and memorable architecture: arched windows, wrought iron grilles, balcony and other decorative elements.
As a result, the country mansion accommodates everything necessary for year-round living for a large family.
Project No. 57-00A
A popular project among our clients is a two-story house in a modern style with an attic, a garage, a terrace and a bay window. Area 187 m2. Suitable for a large family of 5-7 people. The project involves finishing with artificial stone, but the client preferred to make do with plaster and decorative elements.
What is good about project 57-00A and the house built on it?
- An interesting solution for finishing - light plaster was used, the contrast to which is created by dark artificial stone;
- The layout of the first floor allowed for efficient use of space for the garage, technical rooms, wardrobe, guest room, dining room and living room;
- Spacious bathroom, three bedrooms and a balcony on the second floor;
- Unusual windows, access to the terrace directly from the kitchen, a bay window - everything fits together.
Project No. 57-07
Another popular project for a country house in a modern style, two-story, with an area of 115 m2. Wall material - aerated concrete, finishing - facing brick.
What is good about project 57-07 and the house built according to it?
- From the terrace you can access the spacious kitchen combined with the living room;
- On the ground floor there is enough space for utility rooms - boiler room, pantry, wardrobe;
- A large family can comfortably accommodate in three bedrooms; there is also a separate bathroom and toilet on the second floor.
Project No. 57-08
The top seller on the site is a compact house for the comfortable living of a small family with an area of 110 m2 with dimensions of 10 * 9 m. This country cottage with an attic is made in the European style. Most often purchased for the construction of country houses.
What is good about project 57-08 and the house built according to it?
- Despite the small area, it contains all the necessary premises for a comfortable stay;
- The usable area of the house is increased due to the use of the attic floor;
- Graceful windows, balconies, terraces and decorative trim create a unique, memorable appearance.
This house is a good example of what completed projects of one-story houses and cottages with an attic look like. Despite the modest space, everything fits together without feeling cramped.
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When I turned 18, I received my education and immediately got a job as a mechanic at our local factory. I decided to build a house in which I will live. I didn't want to take out a mortgage. I saved some money and bought a plot for 40,000, 4 km from the city.
The site was completely abandoned, but on it stood a house made of expanded clay blocks, which I later used for a new house.
In the first year, I made a stop and began to slowly raise the area. I’ll say right away that my friends helped me only for the first month and then merged, and so I built one after work, on vacation, on weekends, and holidays for about 6 years. With money from your salary.
Marked out the future foundation 6x8, dug 8 pillars, poured pillows there
The formwork is ready. In the photo the old house is only 2 years old, it was just built without a foundation by the previous owner
Here is a photo of the finished foundation.
The foundation cost 40 thousand, it was 2009.
They started laying bricks. I found a bricklayer for 800 rubles a day, he lays bricks, and I prepare the mortar and carry the bricks. The summer was hot, so we worked from 5 am to 11 pm, I was just on vacation for a month. After 11, a lawn with bricks arrived, and I unloaded it, and then carried it until the evening.
I laid down the logs and processed them.
This is me working.
The temporary floor is ready. You can see what the house will be like: brick on the outside, then 100mm polystyrene foam and expanded clay concrete from the old house.
At this stage, the mason left me, went to work in the north, and I had to hire a team to report.
Front view, paid another 40,000 rubles for the work. The total was 100,000 for the material and about 60,000 for the work.
Side view.
To save blocks with polystyrene foam, I reported myself.
Then it was necessary to make the roof. I calculated that if I did it myself, it would cost 40 thousand for the material made from timber, but I found a company that promised to do it for 40 thousand with the material, but from round timber; all I had to do was peel the pine bark. They made the roof and said that they forgot to calculate the sheathing and had to pay another 15 thousand. I didn’t pay extra; in the end, I was over 40 and they did the sheathing.
It was already snowing, so I covered the whole thing with roofing felt and left it for the winter.
Summer has come and I have saved up some money. Made a frame
I covered the frame with clapboard 2 cm thick.
I installed an expensive door. I also made a door on the second floor, because... I'm planning to add a balcony
I started making the subfloor. I soaked boards from an old house for a couple of days and laid them on the floor, then a construction membrane, polystyrene foam and again a membrane.
They brought the windows.
I made lighting on the street so that after work in the winter we could come and work.
I brought so many boards to the first floor that there was even some left over on the second floor. And again I left this whole matter until the summer.
In summer it is cheapest to buy a stove. and began to sheathe everything with plasterboard.
When it started raining, the roofing material could not withstand the shrinkage of the wooden roof, so I had to buy ondulin and lay the roof. It turned out to be 40 thousand.
I did the roof alone. it takes two days on one side.
The second side too. I put shutters on the windows so that nothing would be stolen and the windows would not be broken by hooligans.
This is a septic tank.
They buried it, that’s how it happened. The tractor driver was not very skilled, and therefore did not make it to the level
While covering the walls with plasterboard, I encountered a problem. How to make a ceiling alone? I found this thing online and made the ceiling in the room in one day.
I hung up the heaters to keep it warm while I was at work.
I brought polystyrene foam. We must prepare for winter.
The combined toilet and bathtub were made from PVC panels. Fast, beautiful, practical and you can always change the design.
Ceiling in the toilet, slatted
The color of the walls turned out to be rubbish. Paintable wallpaper.
Living room.
There was very little space left for the staircase, so we had to make it almost a spiral one. I couldn’t have mastered this one myself; I bought a ready-made version for 28 thousand rubles.
I built a shed in the yard.
Cost 24 thousand, with foundation
It was winter and I decided to make a house for my cat.
I started making a veranda and balcony early in the spring. Immediately with a 5x3 scope.
I made a “house” for the well from scraps of clapboard.
Covered the second floor with siding.
There is laminate everywhere inside and heated floors.
Lighting in the kitchen.
So we lived in the house all summer, winter, spring, and in April at 5 am I left on a business trip, my girlfriend went to work, and at 6 pm, when I was on the other side of the country, they sent me this photo.
The car, house and barn were on fire.
The neighbors wanted to save the property, but there were shutters on the windows from thieves, which the firefighters only pulled off with a machine and then with bricks, and the door had 12 locks, also with a machine.
Consequences of the fire. 2 months have passed, the cause of the fire is unknown.
Not everyone can build large two-story houses on their own. Some lack knowledge, others do not believe in themselves. A modest 6 by 8 one-level house can be built on your own, with the occasional help of friends and family. In fact, the construction of just the frame occurs quite quickly. The construction of an inexpensive house on an already assembled foundation took 45 days. Then all work will take place under the roof, not counting the exterior finishing.
Choosing the project and appearance of the house
Getting a ready-made project for a future building is quite simple. It can be ordered from experienced designers, but you have to pay for it. Having insignificant financial resources, you can independently complete the project of an inexpensive house. You can also select a project on the websites of construction companies that post detailed information about the layouts.
The owner of the site for the future frame building created his own draft plan for the house. For greater clarity, he used the Archicad program.
Layout of a 6x8 frame house 
Do-it-yourself pile foundation
The depth of laying the foundation depends on the depth of soil freezing and its other properties. In regions with warm climates, excessive deepening of the foundation is not required. Therefore, homogeneous dense soil and the absence of close proximity to groundwater require minimal depth.
The owner of the site decided to install a pile foundation to a depth of 800 mm. You can even do this process yourself. To do this, holes were made with a hand drill to the intended depth. With the help of a sapper's shovel, expansions were dug. The builder manually expanded the holes for the piles, removing the soil with an ordinary small bowl.
For the installation of concrete piles, roofing felt formwork was made. After pouring, metal studs were installed. The builder used a bucket and pieces of reinforcement to construct a device for pouring concrete.
A total of 24 piles were poured for the construction of an inexpensive house to a depth of 800 mm and a diameter of 200 mm, with a rise to a height of 500 mm. Smaller piles of 120 mm in the amount of 8 pieces were poured under the veranda. A pile layout plan was used for installation. The foundation, after pouring, was left for the winter until the developer's vacation.
Platform construction and horizontal frame assembly
Before installing the frame, a frame was made of three sewn boards 150x50, and they will be composite along the length of the non-standard width of the house (6.2 m). The logs are cut into the frame at a distance of 600 mm from each other. On top are 12 mm OSB boards in two layers. The lower level consists of boards coated with bitumen primer, glassine and 150mm thick foam plastic as insulation.
To determine the dimensions and distortions of the boards, a device was created from bars, pieces of lumber and an old door, which facilitates not only calibration, but also sawing of the material.
Of course, assembling the frame in a “lying” position is much easier. Raising such a structure into a vertical position is a difficult task. For this purpose, one wall is divided into two parts to facilitate installation.
After installing the frame, the outlines of the future house are already visible.
Features of roof installation
When assembling the top trim, jute was used that was impregnated against insect pests.
The roof was covered with a metal profile with a wave height of 21 mm. The sheets were chosen to fit the slope. During 5 weeks of construction, with occasional help from my son, the house acquired an almost completed appearance.
Exterior finishing of frame
After the allotted 45 days, the house has a roof, doors and windows. Further construction and external finishing will be carried out only on weekends. The house is sheathed with siding on OSB boards without sheathing and installation of wind and moisture-proof membranes.
Interior finishing of the finished building
After completing the exterior siding work, the rough ceiling was installed. Knauf mineral wool was used as insulation. A windproof film is laid on top.
After installing the ceiling, the outer walls were insulated with foam plastic, 50 mm thick. For reliability, the slightest cracks were foamed with mounting foam through a cone-shaped nozzle on the cylinder.
At the same time, the lathing for the gypsum fiber board was installed. After completing the assembly of the sheathing, it was protected with GVL, 12 mm thick. The ceiling was finished with MDF panels.
Izover was installed into the internal partitions before sewing the gypsum plasterboard. The mineral wool chosen was regular, classic, according to the seller’s recommendation, size 2X50. At the same time, electrical wiring was installed in corrugated tubes.
plastered walls for wallpapering 
Bathroom finishing
A separate point at the completion of construction is the installation of a shower cabin, toilet and water heater. At the same time as finishing the bathroom, water distribution was carried out. The finishing was carried out with PVC panels. The joints between the panels are additionally treated with sealant.
Finishing the basement of a finished building
The distance between the ground surface and the lower edge of the building is covered with flat slate and painted. The slate was mounted on bars that arrived on top of the frame. Additionally, the bars supported the ebb deformed by the heat. The place where the slate contacts the ground is filled with sand, coated with waterproofing and forming a slope away from the house.
Errors and non-standard features of this house
During construction, the linear expansion of the metal profile when heated was not taken into account, which led to the appearance of a slight crack. Installation in one sheet reduces the likelihood of leaks, but in order to avoid cracking and reduce the durability of the seals under the fasteners, it is recommended to cover it with an overlapping metal profile of several parts. Also, for small areas of coverage, it is recommended to slightly increase the diameter of the hole for the mounting screw.
To save money, plastic castings were used. Due to prolonged heat, they became deformed; the owner of the house recommends using metal ones.
The choice of the main insulation is also questionable. Polystyrene foam has poor sound insulation and, even without supporting combustion, can be very dangerous in a fire due to the release of toxic asphyxiants.
After a long stay, additional forced ventilation in the kitchen area was installed due to the strong spread of odors throughout all rooms. Also, as the owner lives, he believes that the 12 mm OSB subfloor is not rigid enough and recommends taking slabs of greater thickness.
Building an inexpensive house with your own hands, although not an easy task, is quite feasible. It may take longer than 45 days to build a frame, but it will significantly reduce the cost of constructing a building by eliminating the need for hired workers. At the same time, the cost of a house when turning to professional builders can double. In addition, self-construction allows you not only to save money, but also to be proud of yourself for constructing your home yourself.
The house itself after completion of construction looks like this:
In 2011, the estimate for building a house was 370 rubles.
