Once you have made the decision to go ahead, how do you find a site and then choose the sort of house you want to build? To do this you should decide on a style of building that is suitable to the site and evaluate the different materials available. Can you buy an off-the-shelf home or will you need an architect? How can you design the house so it is eco-friendly?

With these decisions made you are ready to start putting your plan into action. Are there any tasks you can undertake yourself or will you require professional help? Grand Designs guides you through the management of your project to the finished building. Finally, Kevin McCloud looks at the finishing touches to the interior and exterior that make the building into your dream home.

First-hand accounts from the eight teams of people featured in the television series illustrate the benefits — and problems — of building your home. Varying in price, style and complexity, each of these new homes is built to complement the lifestyles of its inhabitants as well as the surrounding environment. They include an oak-framed barn in Oxfordshire, a kit house on the south coast, a converted chapel in Cornwall, a co-operative self-build project in Brighton and a house built partially of straw bales in Islington, London.