MIDDLE EARNERS MAY be able to save hundreds of thousands off the cost of a home during a self-build, but only by empowering them with the “knowledge, skills and confidence”, a sustainable construction worker is to tell TDs later on Tuesday.

Harrison Gardner, who also fronts RTÉ’s Build Your Own Home TV series, is to present to the Oireacthas Housing Committee on ways to make self-building a more affordable option amid the housing crisis.

He is the co-founder and chairperson of Common Knowledge, a social enterprise in the Burren in Co Clare that gives homeowners and potential homeowners the practical skills need to build their own sustainable home.

Gardner is to urge TDs that the State should fund hands-on training for self-builders as a way to let them “talk to contractors on equal terms”, with such courses delivered through Education and Training Boards, local authorities and community groups, and open to people who can’t afford to pay.

The committee will hear of an example from Gardner where a client of his had a self-build priced at around €460,000 by a quantity surveyor; after working with Gardner, the woman then “understood how a house goes together” and was able to make big savings.

“She project-managed the build, hired the trades directly, did much of the work herself, and built that house for 230,000: half the cost, and an amount that is within reach of an income close to the average wage,” Gardner’s opening statement outlines.

He also wants TDs on the committee to recommend adding a ‘national self-build pathway’ to the government’s housing plan, creating a register in every council of the individuals and groups who want to build their own homes.

The key issue, according to Gardner, is that the problem in this housing crisis isn’t a lack of sustainable materials and methods.

“Those low-carbon methods and materials are out there and well documented,” he will say.

The problem is that too few people can afford them or know how to use them. A way of building is only truly sustainable if potential homeowners can afford it, access it, maintain it, and find someone with the skills to deliver it.

Gardner is to further outline that the system fails if it “treats homes as products or units on a spreadsheet”, and instead needs to view housing as a “human right, not a product, a luxury or a charity case”.

“Between those who need social housing and those who can afford market prices is everybody else,” his statement reads.

“Many of those people are ready, willing and able to build a home for themselves. Supports like Help to Buy and the vacant property grants are well-intentioned, but for many people the finances still don’t add up, and the barriers are not only financial.”