From the early June, we are in the depths of a recession. There's no point in trying to sell your house as you want the market to pick up and your savings aren't earning any interest. You've decorated your house to death and your garden is all done and ready for a barbeque. So now you are investigating the possibility of a self build conservatory.

What are the main criteria for selecting a self build conservatory?

1. Decide what you are going to use it for.

With self build conservatories this needs to be thought about rather carefully as this will denote the size and the style of the project.

2. How big do you want your conservatory to be?

Where self build conservatories are concerned this is really a two edged sword, as the obvious answer is as big as possible for my budget. But think practically and go outside with a tape measure and mark it out. There's nothing worse than sitting in one thats to small or the sofa wont fit !

3. What style of conservatory would I like?

Self build conservatories come in a range of styles with the most popular being the Edwardian, lean to or Victorian style. Most come in a range of three colours White, Light Oak (caramel) or Rosewood. The best advice I can give is match it to your windows.

4. What type of base would you like?

Types of base I hear you say what he is going on about. Well for self build conservatories the base market has been brought into the 21st century over the last couple of year. The big development is steel bases. These fundamentally are a floating steel raft that your conservatory sits on. There are no back breaking footings to dig just 450mm pads that you then fill with quick setting cement. These bases are great in difficult situations where drains are in the way of your building and go up in no time at all. In fact one Saturday i dug and concreted the pads for mine in around 3hrs. Admittedly I did get a move on as I was going to the rugby that afternoon but still I surprised myself. These bases also have prefabricated walls that have different slip brick styles to match your house.

5. Glass roof or polycarbonate roof?

Which is better well it depends on your budget and what you are going to be using it for. Glass roofs are more expensive but offer greater sound insulation but are more expensive. This is because of the glass itself is always toughened and the rafters and roof aluminium use to support the extra weight is reinforced. Polycarbonate offers great value for money but always make sure it is at least 25mm thick. Beware some diy high street chains offer 16mm as standard. At 25mm or 35mm if possible its insulation properties are superior to glass keeping the heating bills down.

6. Your budget and finance

Self build conservatories usually have a 10yr warranty and so stick to you budget and don't get seduced into finance there are much better deals to be had from the banks than any company can offer. And don't forget to haggle there's always a promotion round the corner.