ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 502

Discussion
The results presented by this study suggest that self-help personalisation can have a strong impact on overall levels of residential satisfaction in social housing. The analyses have shown that
personalisation tends to be a response to household needs not been addressed by the dwellings in their original state, suggesting that self-construction may enable low-income households
to gain control over their current residential conditions. Furthermore, expectations developed
before occupancy had a significant impact over residential satisfaction levels, suggesting that
active management of this variable may be critical for the overall success of the housing delivery
process.
Regardless of being recently occupied, more than three quarters of the surveyed dwellings presented at least some degree of self-help personalisation whilst almost one third of the houses
were substantially extended, confirming t