labforge.co.uk — homelab for beginners

Build a real homelab. From scratch.

Step-by-step guides for people who want to actually learn networking and infrastructure — without wasting money or drowning in enterprise jargon.

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£200 Budget build possible
0→Pro Complete beginner path
UK Focused & relevant
Real Hands-on, no fluff

Start building today

Practical guides written from real experience. No filler, no unnecessary complexity.

Never built a lab before?

Follow this path and you'll go from zero to a working homelab with real services running.

01
Understand what a homelab actually is
What it is, why it matters, and whether you need one.
02
Choose your hardware
Mini PC, old laptop, or proper server — what's right for your budget.
03
Install Proxmox
The go-to hypervisor for homelab beginners. Free, powerful, and well documented.
04
Set up your network
VLANs, DNS, DHCP — the fundamentals you'll use everywhere.
05
Run your first services
Pi-hole, Nginx, Home Assistant — start with one and build from there.

What do you want to learn?

Pick a topic and dive in. Everything is written for beginners.