Bug hotels serve an important role for encouraging pollinators in a garden. A well-designed bug hotel can attract dozens of solitary bees that benefit the cross-pollination of a garden or orchard. I like to think of bug hotels as a much more manageable bee hive for those of us looking to attract and house pollinators; they’re zero work and provide ample rewards.
You don’t need specialty tools or gobs of skill to make a functional, beautiful, DIY insect hotel for your garden. Honestly, you could bore holes into any piece of wood and you’d come out with a functional bug hotel. For something a little nicer that you’re proud to display in your garden, I’m going to show you a simple, cost-effective, DIY method of building an insect hotel that can be accomplished with basic tools.
This is a great project for beginner woodworkers, DIYers, and kids (with adult supervision). And there’s no limit to the design of your DIY bug hotel; you could paint interesting designs on the front, stain your wood, cut out interesting shapes for the structure, and more.
Materials
For this project, you’ll only need two power tools; a circular saw and a drill. Let’s be clear though- you could also use a hand saw if you don’t own a circular saw, or buy lumber that’s pre-cut.
I’m using cedar in my project because I had some leftover from a bird feeder build and it’s a naturally water-resistant wood species. You can find cedar at any home center, or you could use scraps or reclaimed wood to keep your cost down. One fence-picket cedar board costs $3, which is what I’d recommend. Fence picket cedar is a little stringy and you may need to do some hand-sanding to get a smooth surface, but it’s cost-effective. I promise that the bugs in your bug hotel aren’t picky though. You could also use a 2’x4’ cedar board, which runs about $10.
Additional items I used to build my insect hotel; a speed square (you could also use a ruler to mark your lines), pencil, tape (any masking tape will work, I like green frog tape), spray paint ($5), spray lacquer ($5), some wood glue ($5), and a sheet of 120 grit sandpaper ($.99 cents at my hardware store).
Between the cedar, paint, lacquer, and sandpaper building your bug hotel will cost about $14. Not bad at all. If you buy a small bottle of wood glue it’ll be $18.
Let’s Build Our DIY Bug Hotel
Step One
I wanted a house-like roofline on my bug hotel, so using my speed square and pencil as a template I marked a 45 degree line just up from the base.
This is an opportunity for creativity though; you could cut any shape or angle out of your material. If you don’t have a saw, you could also skip this temp and go for a simple square or rectangular shape. The sky’s the limit!
Step Two
To make this bug hotel “roofline” cut, line up your speed square with the edge of the saw so the guide mark on your saw sits on the line you just drew. This helps guide the saw in a straight line as you make the cut.
It probably goes without saying, but saws are dangerous and this task should be done by an adult. Be careful!
Step Three
This next step is about mirroring the cut you just made further down your board so you end up with two identical pieces that we’ll eventually glue together to create the bug hotel. Gluing the two pieces together creates a deeper hotel for us to drill into; your bug hotel guests will prefer this.
So, using the piece you just cut as a template, line up the top “roofline” and mark out the bottom. This is the next, and final, cut you’ll make with your circular saw, using the speed square as a guide. Again, be careful!
Step Four
Line up your two bug hotel halves and spread out a generous amount of wood glue, making sure to cover the whole of each side.
Line up the edges and stack the pieces together, using your tools as clamping pressure while the glue dries.
You could also use a brick or stone, books, or actual clamps to get the pressure needed to glue these pieces together.
Another trick I like is it to tape the pieces together to get good clamping pressure.
Step Five
Once the glue has dried, use your speed square and pencil to mark out a grid along the bug hotel; where the lines intersect is where you’ll drill your holes. Once the grid is marked out, use your drill and a bit to bore holes into the bug hotel.
This is an opportunity for creativity; you could throw the grid out the window and drill holes at random or use different size bits to get a different look for your insect hostel.
I liked the idea of two different hole sizes, so I used two different drill bits for my hotel “rooms.”
Once your bug hotel rooms are drilled out, take your piece of 120 grit sandpaper and gently sand off the grid lines and soften the edges of your bug hotel.
Step Six
Tape off the front of your bug hotel completely, making sure to press down firmly on the tape to ensure good adhesion.
Once complete, flip the bug hotel over and spray a layer of paint.
I used rustoleum because it had the color that i liked best (it also happens to match our adirondack chairs in the backyard); when it comes to spray paint, most $5 paints are relatively the same.
The painting is another opportunity for creative license as you build your bug hotel; do what you want! This is a great spot to get young kids involved in the creative process; create a “bug hotel city” by having them customize their own hotel with craft paint and brushes. Use hot glue to add rocks or bark to the sides or mix some glitter in with paint to get a glittery bug hotel. The sky is really the limit with this project.
If you’re using spray paint like I did, keep adding thin layers of paint, allowing it to dry between coats, until you have achieved your desired coverage.
Once the painting is complete, peel off the tape and give the whole piece a few layers spray-lacquer, front and back, to protect and seal all of the surfaces. Be extra generous with these coats if you’re using a wood other than cedar, or consider using canned spar-urethane to give it extra protection.
Complete!
There are countless ways to display your new DIY insect hotel. You could screw it into a fence post, put a sawtooth hanger on the back, prop it up against another feature, place it in a pot, and more.
Make sure your bug hotel rests in an area pollinators are more likely to frequent. The “hole” design of these hotels are ideal for solitary bees, so think about the kinds of habitat they need to survive and thrive. We put our insect hotel adjacent to an existing garden bed with lots of recurring blooms, above an area we plan on planting with more flowers next year.
If you build this project, share it with me on instagram at @beardogdesigns ! I’d love to see what you come up with.
