ᐅ Building a House with Natural Stone Yourself?

Hello dear housebuilding forum community,

I am new here and have a few questions about housebuilding and planning.
I should also mention that this topic is completely new to me, but I am slowly starting to get involved with it.
I am 27 years old and come from Lower Saxony.

And here are my question(s):

Is it possible to purchase a developed plot of land, which can be found relatively cheaply, and build your own house there using natural stone?
I am thinking of the type of construction often found in Italy. I have attached an example photo.
I have a good friend who owns very large forest areas, where there are countless sandstone boulders that I would be allowed to use. (Yes, I am aware that I would have to collect several tons of stone, but that was somehow done in the past as well.)
I would pour the foundation from concrete, and build the intermediate floors from wood or concrete.
To meet structural engineering requirements, I would hire an architect, and for the electrical, heating, and plumbing work, I would also hire professional companies.
I have access to roofers, carpenters, and masons.

I hope to be able to do as much of the building myself as possible and achieve significant cost savings.
The construction process would certainly take years, just to collect the stones, but I have the time.
I find this type of construction very beautiful and sustainable.

Do you think this plan is completely crazy or not feasible at all?
Or do you think it might be possible to consider this project more seriously?

Thank you very much in advance

Yuri

I see the structural engineering as the smaller issue here, with the main challenge being compliance with the energy saving regulations.

And no bank will provide financing. You will have to pay for the house using your own equity.
In the end, it is likely to be more expensive than traditional construction with an exterior cladding.

Yuri Sagdiyev schrieb:

but it somehow used to work before

In the past, people simply had very different expectations for such a construction...
I have personally arranged for some sandstone work and also done some myself, organizing all the stones independently, etc. Building an entire house with sandstone and sourcing all the stones... congratulations.
You would need quarried stones, properly sized and shaped, etc. In short, it’s a nice dream, but just a dream. These stones are now quite expensive, even if they come from demolition sites.
I know people who did something like this back in 1980, reconstructing an old castle complex… oh dear.
Where would you get so many stones? Who would cut them? Moisture concerns, EXPERIENCED craftsmen, and so on.
By the way, as already mentioned, you won’t get approval for this nowadays in 2020.
Germany still has many old buildings that need restoration, but for that, you need solid expertise and the right people who actually know how to do it.

Yuri Sagdiyev schrieb:

I am aware that I would have to gather several tons for that,

You should calculate how many tons you would actually need... “several” tons sounds a bit naive here. Quarrying and shaping boulders one by one by hand... every single stone... no way!
Additionally, sandstone can be extremely brittle, depending on its origin.

Yuri Sagdiyev schrieb:

I hope to be able to do as much of the construction myself as possible and save a significant amount of money.
The building process would surely take years, just to carry the bricks alone, but I have that time.

Out of all that time, you can immediately subtract about three and a half years for an apprenticeship as a stonemason, and for cost savings, you’d better invest your time elsewhere: specifically in everything that comes after the shell construction (and possibly during drywall installation when building the non-load-bearing interior walls). If you want the savings to be truly significant, you will also need to drastically reduce the budget on the finishes and fittings.

Yuri Sagdiyev schrieb:

to acquire serviced building land, which is already relatively inexpensive,

That sounds like a golden opportunity—what have you been smoking?

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Yes, this is all quite absurd. If you want to do a lot of the work yourself, then move away from stone and concrete. WOOD is your material. Have the basic structure installed, and you can easily do everything else yourself. That way, you won’t have any structural engineering issues.

Building land will be the biggest problem.