I saw this article during my morning online newspaper reading [1]. About a lady that design and build her own house. Despite she have no background in house design (architecture) nor civil background. Still, it is proven can be done with proper planning and good consultation.
Thestar article on Atiqah Nadia Zailani joins tiny home movement [1].
Atiqah, who has no design or architectural background, started sketching the designs for her new home.
“My dad is an architect. That’s as far as it goes,” says the 31-year-old who works as an international development consultant.
“I just asked myself, ‘Do I cook a lot?’ Not really. So I don’t need a massive kitchen,” she says, about drafting the blueprint for her ideal living space. “Instead, I spend a lot of time in my bedroom and at my work desk, so I want that to be a big, beautiful space.”
At 520 sq ft (48.3 sq m), Atiqah’s house comprises an open floor living room and kitchen, a bathroom and a verandah on the ground floor. The upper level is a spacious loft for her bed and work desk. The staircase leading up to the loft doubles up as a wardrobe.
The house structure has been completed but Atiqah wants to take her time to furnish and equip it before she moves in permanently, which she estimates will take five years.
She plans to make each piece of furniture herself. On top of that, the eco-conscious youth is looking for ways to make her home self-sustainable, so she is installing solar panels to power her home, a rainwater collection tank for running water, and a composting toilet to recycle human waste.
“I’m against the disposable culture. For instance, you don’t have to do anything because money can do it for you. You don’t have to learn how to do plumbing, you don’t have to learn how to sew or how to fix your phone because you can pay somebody to do it for you, or you can just throw it away. And that bothers me. It’s a principle that I don’t agree with.
The overall cost of realising Atiqah’s dream so far is RM200,000. But the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the project probably cost even more.
What is EPIC Homes [2]?
EPIC (Extraordinary People Impacting Community) is a social enterprise that iams to inspire,mobilise and empower people to make positive impact in their communities. EPIC designs and creates collaborative platforms that allows you to do this in a fun and easy way.
It's flagship project, EPIC Homes, is an initiative that iams to build relationsips through the act of building homes for underprivilaged Malaysian commiunities. An EPIC Home can be built within 3 days with a team of ordinary people. Under the Builder Training Programme, participants are equipped with the skills and knowledge to lead, manage and build homes.
A brief information on EPIC Homes [3,4].
“Every time we meet an architect or an engineer, we would ask if they had heard of such a concept – a house that can easily be built by anyone and it needs to be done by three days.
“We thought that two days was too idealistic and three days seemed more realistic for students and people with full-time jobs who really care to come out and do this,” says Oei.
That is how Epic Homes started.
For Oei, the founder and chief executive officer of Epic Homes, and Kennedy, who is the co-founder, the concept is more than building houses – it is about building relationships.
Volunteers would first need to attend a five-hour “Builders Basic” course where they are taught how to drill, hammer, saw and use some other power tools.
They are also given a run-through on the site and safety protocols, what to wear for different applications, how to properly set up a scaffold to climb and how to put on their safety harness before they can go on a build-a-house job.
The half-day course run by Epic Homes costs RM125 excluding GST and is one of its social business models. The sessions are held three to four times each month.
After the five hours, they can go and build a house.
Seems like it is not that hard to built a house. Since she manage to do it within 3 days via assistance from EPIC Homes team [1].
As for me who just buy my own house, took me 2 years to finally receive the house key from developer [5].
Till then, have fun in your effort planning and building your own dream home 😉.
References:
[1] Atiqah Nadia Zailani joins tiny home movement
[2] What is EPIC Homes? http://www.hati.my/environment/epic-homes/
[3] Epic meaning to building homes
[4] EPIC Homes http://epichome.org/
[5] The look of my house key set in March 2015 https://serinurulbeauty.blogspot.my/2015/03/finally-my-house-key-is-within-my-hands.html
[5] The look of my house key set in March 2015 https://serinurulbeauty.blogspot.my/2015/03/finally-my-house-key-is-within-my-hands.html
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