Personal Experience: How We Built a House and Spent 4 Million Rubles

Marina, together with her husband and two children, moved to the countryside to live in a house they designed and built themselves. Of course, the children's lifestyle has changed significantly: now there is always something to do inside — the interior decoration of the house is not yet complete. We asked Marina to share her experience and tell how to build a house quickly and on a budget.

Marina Vagina is an architecture and design expert, who shares tips on home organization in her Instagram account marisabel_v

How We Decided to Move to the Countryside

We made this decision in September of last year. We sold our apartment and built a house over the summer. The environment here is completely different, even sleep feels different. I like the feeling of closeness to nature, and the kids are also happy here: they forget about gadgets and spend more time outdoors.

Deciding to Build the House Yourself

This was my little dream — to design my own house. I prepared all the drawings, and friends recommended a construction crew. The 128 square meter frame house was built quickly — in just three months.

Our house is almost entirely wooden: frame made of pine + insulation. The facade and interior finishing are done using false boards (also pine), and the ceiling is wooden as well. We fully entrusted the material procurement to a construction company, and we didn’t regret it.

As a result, on the first floor we have a kitchen-living room, hallway and entrance hall, a bathroom and utility room. On the second floor — a children's room, bedroom and bathroom. This floor is a mansard, so the ceiling height at the highest point is 4000 mm.

Total Budget

We spent four million rubles on building the house and its interior decoration. I decided to conduct an experiment: build a beautiful and comfortable home with minimal costs. Everything is going according to plan!

You can see all expenses for the house in the estimate by clicking the link.

Where We Managed to Save Money

We did some of the work ourselves. For example, interior finishing: after the house was completed, we immediately laid laminate on both floors, installed plumbing fixtures, set up the kitchen and moved in. Now I paint the walls myself (they are made of false boards, water-based impregnation, so there is no smell), install doors and skirting boards.

Working with windows was more difficult: only one company agreed to make panoramic windows. My husband and his friends handled the installation themselves — they had experience as installers. It turned out great, and it’s not cold in winter.

By the way, we also saved money on the roof — metal roofing is inexpensive. Also, our structure is simple — a standard gable roof.

Also, I prepared the design project myself and planned all the furniture in advance. We buy it gradually as our budget allows. We bought a lot at discounts and promotions. Some items were found in IKEA.

Working with decor was more difficult: often I find interesting things in unassuming small shops. Most of the items we make ourselves using affordable materials, mostly wood.

5 Tips for Anyone Who Wants to Build a House Themselves

Only work with verified companies, check their portfolio and talk to previous clients.

Prepare a design project yourself or with a designer to avoid mistakes.

Monitor prices on finishing materials — often stores run sales.

Take some work on yourself, for example, painting walls — this helps save money.

Learn more about construction in general.