A man from Edinburgh has gone viral on TikTok after sharing his progress of building a 'micro-house' in his back garden.
Neil from North Edinburgh doesn't hesitate to share that he has no building experience but after a lot of research, he gave it a go and is in the process of building a water-tight workshop.
The chemical engineer has taken TikTok by storm by showing his progress to his 17.7k followers on his account, Micro House Edinburgh, with him singlehandedly doing the work - although he admits he gets help from his pal down the street and his boyfriend, Louis, when another pair of hands is needed.
READ MORE- Mum slammed after fuming at British Airways for 'separating' her from two year old son
Speaking exclusively to Edinburgh Live, the amateur builder explained he plans to expand his house and to do this, he needed a new workshop outside.
Naturally, now that Neil had a taste of building, he is going to extend his main home himself. He said: "So that's gonna be the next thing after I build this house, will be me extending the main house, and obviously, that has to be to building standards as well. So this is a large part of this is me learning how to do it on a building, which is less important than the main house.
"If I make mistakes with that [the micro-house], it doesn't matter too much. It's not it's not super important. As long as it doesn't fall down", he laughed.
Expecting it to cost a total of £30k, the workshop is being built to Scottish building standards and on his website, Neil explains: "The building is split into two separate rooms. The left hand side will be my workshop, with a sink in the corner and worktops along the rear wall - headspace will be low here.
"The right hand side will likely be used as a gym for now, but has been designed to be big enough for a double bed and a small sofa. Off this room will be a full bathroom, with toilet/sink/shower."
Already spending £15,000, he was aiming for a total of £25,000 but revealed the cost of doors and windows caught him out, adding that they need to be more expensive to align with Scottish building standards.
When asked how he felt about the extra costs, the chemical engineer laughed: "Not great. I'm gonna have zero pounds!"
But he added: "It'll be worth it in the end. It's good experience, because I am intending on extending our house myself."
So far, he has laid down the foundations and is expecting the exterior to be complete by the end of summer and then will start work on the inside -which he thinks will take a "few to six months".
Over lockdown, a lot of people got stuck into DIY projects and learnt from Youtube, but Neil simply relied on one book, Building Construction Handbook by Roy Chudley and Roger Greeno, which has acted like a 'bible' for this project.
The main issue the TikToker admitted to facing was getting a building warrant. It took a year for it to be granted and he emphasised the importance of having all the correct documents.
He said: "This is one thing that people don't normally understand is that a building warrant is much more difficult and comprehensive than planning. Planning is simple. In comparison to building, the building warrant is very, very difficult. You need a lot of documents to get it, and it's very difficult to stick by.
"That's the thing that took the longest. So before I even started building, it took almost a year to get building warrant. So that was to get the architect to draw diagrams and get a structural engineer to draw diagrams. And then to get all that approved by the council. That's the thing that took the longest. And that's the thing that I had no idea about, I had no experience. That was the thing that was quite daunting and took a long time."
For something that will look like a mini-house, Neil's most asked question is if he needs planning permission. The answer to that is simply - no.
The Scottish Government states: "Most ancillary buildings do not need a planning permission application, because most meet a set of rules called 'permitted development'."
Neil's micro-home falls under this category.
To be classed as an 'ancillary' building;
- It's located at the back of the house.
- It's not used as a separate home to live in.
- It, and any other development, does not take up half or more of the 'curtilage' – this means half or more of the grounds behind your home.
- It's not higher than four metres at the highest point.
- Any part that's a metre or less from the boundary is no higher than 2.5 metres.
- The eaves (the part where the wall meets the roof) is no higher than three metres.
- If the land is in a conservation area or in the grounds of a listed building, the ancillary building has a footprint of less than four square metres.
Once he got the architect drawings, he created a 3D diagram and has been following that. He has also put the diagrams on his website for others to see as Neil said he couldn't find any examples online when he was researching.
For people in Scotland who are keen to do the same, the Edinburgh TikToker has been sharing his journey every step of the way on his TikTok Microhouseedinburgh and his plans on his website.
