Just a thought crossed my mind because I remember in my home country, my family just used to do that and it was absolutely fine. My partner who was from Germany mentioned that people do this as well with no problem.
So I’m wondering if this will be allowed in Japan too? Or not because of “safety rules” and stuff?
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EDIT: Thanks for some perspective guys! Love all of them. 🙂 Have a great week!
18 comments
If you are a licensed architect, I suppose so.
The countryside is full of houses built by amateurs, whoever owned the land. When you build something nowadays you are supposed to get a permit for it. If you have a permit there is absolutely no problem building your own house.
Legally they could remove something that was built without a permit but for some reason that rarely occurs in Japan. However, an unpermitted building is very hard to sell. Banks won’t lend money for buying it, and no one will insure it.
I know a guy who owns a home electrician company and he did his house so there is that
See it all the time in the countryside.
A few younger Japanese couples in my area have bought older homes, rip out most of the house guts, and then modernize the place room by room by themselves. For electrical work, it is mainly done by the pros, but I have seen other people have electricians inspect their work before they continue to insulate and cover the electrical work. Pay a smaller fee but have greater piece of mind.
Yes.
My wife’s dad is a carpenter and he did it.
Depends on what you mean by building your own house I guess. In the suburbs in Japan where I grew up there was a guy building his own house brick by brick. I was there 18 years and I never saw it finished. I sometimes wonder what happened to that house.
If you mean more design your own house and hire people yourself, I’ve had friends do that. I think they hire architects and ask them if they can incorporate or design this or that for them which I’m sure they would do if you can cover the cost and it’s up to code.
People buy abandoned houses and diy them all the time. Some stuff might need a contractor here or there but most of it is not that hard.
I’d love to know more about this too, but presumably if you file plans correctly and pass building inspections just like any other house, there’d be no problem?
Seem to remember seeing a site where a サラリーマン spent years building their own house at the weekend
EDIT: after seeing one of the other comments about the 100 sqm limit, I researched this a bit and found [this page](https://fudousan-iroha.jp/build-a-house/qualifications-required-for-self-build/), which has more detailed info on requirements relating to self-build
Yes, with some caveats.
(I haven’t looked this up for a while, so it might be a bit out of date)
If you are building under 100 sqm you can self build and it’s (technically) possible to file the paperwork yourself. Some areas have extra limits lower than this. Of course, you still have to follow building regulations, land use, fire zones etc. You need to have passed the lowest level electricians exam to do the electrics (it’s not too hard).
Many people in the countryside build additions or completely new buildings without any paperwork. If you own the land and there’s no mortgage it’s unlikely to be problem, though it might cause problems if you want to sell.
This is a good site about self-building in Japan: [https://diy-ie.com/index.html](https://diy-ie.com/index.html)
I assume by ‘build your own house’ you mean talk to a developer etc. and have them build a house you design. Definitely, you can do that. I know a number of people that have done so.
I’d say 60-70% of people are happy with the outcome, and around 30% found it was far more time-consuming and exhausting than they had expected. The common complaint: “Going out to look at building materials was fun for about three months; before long the idea of going through and trying to pick wallpaper or floor tiles or ceiling fans and a million other things just got tiring, decision paralysis would set in and after a while we were like ‘we don’t care anymore you pick something’
My understanding is that you don’t need to have passed any certification to DIY all the electric stuff, actually. But you do need to have the result certified. This can be done by either having a certified electrician check and approve it, or having the city check and approve it. My sources are comments on facebook house renovation groups and you better check with your city.
I have a good friend who build his own log cabin home and cafeteria (separate buildings) on a plot of land up in the foothills. He said that the key is having certified contractors do key segments (plumbing, electrics, gas, etc) and getting permits.
A bit different from building from scratch but plenty of people buy older places and redo them. I plan to do this. I think /u/kyoto_kinnuku did it in Osaka. There’s a guy on YouTube who documented doing the same in Ibaraki.
I did all my own gas work for the oven and never got in trouble for it.
Yes
I know a few people who bought log cabin style kits and assembled them themselves.
I know a guy who built a log house all by himself on a farm, except he had the roof professionally installed, and worked with a professional electrician and plumber. It’s doable, if you have the time, endurance and a place to stay during the building process.
My grandpa in law built a summer house in the countryside. It’s really shitty but it’s got electricity and plumbing. So it seems like it’s possible. But unless you really know what you’re doing or it’s just some kind of second get away house, doesn’t seem worth it.