As the owner of a stairlift company who’s also about to embark on a self-build project, I thought now was the perfect time to write this article.
Like many of you reading this, I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build our ‘forever home’.
With so many decisions to make, while it feels exciting and daunting at the same time, I have an overwhelming feeling that I will forget or overlook something. Perhaps that says more about my lack of experience project managing a self-build and not wanting to drop one of the many balls I will be juggling over the next 12 months.
My wife and I are now in our 40’s and, with three young children, need to design and build a home that works for all of us – not just for now but for the next 50 years (hopefully).
With that in mind we’ve worked hard on our architect’s brief to ensure we have the right balance of today’s requirements for a young family with the kid’s teenage years to our senior years. It’s quite a challenge but I feel that making the right decisions now will see us right for the future… but how far do you go?
We’re planning on having a kids playroom on the ground floor which will later become a snug when they’re teenagers and want their own space. This room would also be ideal for a ground floor bedroom should the need ever arise for us in later years.
Our build is on a sloped site but we’re trying to minimise steps and integrate slopes where possible. All entry points into the building are level access, so there’s no stepping down out of the back door into the garden. There’s a WC on the ground floor with a shower, large enough to refit a more thorough accessible bathing suite should the time arrive.
The doorways are wide enough for wheelchair users and the staircase, while curved in design, is 950mm wide, plenty large enough to take a stairlift.
While these considerations are actually quite depressing, dealing with them now will save a lot of time, money, heart-ache and upheaval if the only other option was to sell-up and move from a house we’ll have built so many happy memories in.
Kevin Woodberry is MD of Stairlift Experts, a customer centric stairlift company with coverage across the UK for new, reconditioned and rental stairlifts. Established in 2010, they have more than 35 years combined experience within the stairlift industry and can be a useful contact for builders looking for impartial expert advice.