Many of the insects that keep pests down through summer — solitary bees, ladybirds, lacewings — need a dry, undisturbed place to get through the cold months, and a tidied garden with nothing left standing often doesn't give them one. A simple box packed with different materials gives several species somewhere to go at once, built from offcuts and things lying around rather than anything bought new. The compartments matter more than how tidy it looks: each filling suits a different insect, and a hotel with only one kind of material just suits one.

Build an Insect Hotel for Overwintering Bees and Ladybirds

Step by step

Build a simple open-fronted box from pallet wood or an old drawer, roughly 40cm wide, 30cm tall and 20cm deep — a back, two sides, a top and a base, sawn to length and screwed together, with the front left open.
40 min
Add a sloped roof that overhangs the open front by a few centimetres, covered with a scrap of roofing felt or a flat tile, so rain runs off rather than into the compartments.
20 min
Saw timber offcuts to size and screw them in as dividers, splitting the inside into three or four compartments so each filling can be kept separate.
20 min
Cut bamboo canes to the depth of the box and pack them tightly into one compartment, cut end facing outward — this is the one solitary bees will use.
15 min
Drill holes 2-10mm across and 10-15cm deep into the hardwood log rounds, stopping short of the back so they don't go all the way through, then wedge the logs into a second compartment.
30 min
Cut the dry hollow plant stems to length and pack a third compartment tightly with them.
15 min
Fill the last compartment loosely with pine cones and a double handful of dry straw.
10 min
Stretch the galvanised wire mesh over the open front and staple it to the frame — loose enough for insects to get in and out, tight enough to hold the filling through wind and rain.
15 min
Fix or stand the hotel at around waist to shoulder height, facing south or south-east and out of the way of foot traffic, then leave it alone.
10 min

Afterwards

Leave the hotel untouched over winter; disturbing it kills what's sheltering inside. Check it in spring once the weather has warmed, top up any compartments that have emptied out, and replace the bamboo canes and drilled logs every couple of years, since old tubes build up mites and fungal spores that can harm the next occupants.

Questions

Will it attract wasps?

Common wasps mostly nest in soil or wall cavities, not insect hotels. What moves in is solitary bees, lacewings and ladybirds, none of which are aggressive.

Which way should it face?

South or south-east, so it catches the morning sun, with the roof keeping the opening dry in the rain.

Can I use timber from an old treated fence panel?

No. Preservative leaches into the holes insects are living in. Stick to reclaimed pallet wood stamped HT, or untreated offcuts.

Do I need to clean it out every year?

No, leave it alone most years. Replace the nesting tubes every couple of years when the old ones look clogged or mouldy.