In the UK you may be surprised to know that self-builders are actually the biggest builder, not the likes of Barratt or Persimmon. Over 25% of detached homes are built by individuals each year and many build to get exactly the home they want, to save money or indeed to help build a more ‘eco-friendly’ property.
In recognition of the £4 billion a year self-build puts back into the economy creating great local jobs and economic prosperity as well as providing over 10,000 quality homes per year, the government is now backing self-builders to help boost the market.
To date most of the help for people to get on the housing ladder has been through schemes like ‘Help to Buy’. And these have worked well for those who want to buy a ‘ready made’ new home or even a home which currently exists. But if you wanted to build something for yourself, there has been little help so far and self-builders have found finding plots locally difficult or have found financing puts them in a ‘catch 22’ and as perhaps they have kids, many don’t fancy spending time in a caravan while building!
The good news is these days are pretty much over. Local authorities now need to support self-builders with finding land for them to build on and there are even funds being made available to help get plots ready to build on.
For more information on self-build visit our guide to self-build homes and do order the FREE Jewson Self Build Pack.
The support ranges from:-
Single detached homes on plots in the country
Big sites which are ‘ready to go’ and support hundreds of new builds
Projects which allow local communities to get together and build their own homes on small sites
And even apartments if commissioned in towns and cities.
The main barriers which stop people from building include:
Finding land and plots to build on
Financing the project
So the government have asked councils (in England) to establish demand in their local area and report on how they intend to find land for self-builders to use and 12 sites which are owned by the government have also been released for self-build.
For more information on self-build visit our guide to self-build homes and do order the FREE Jewson Self Build Pack.
They have also launched a £30 million Custom Build Homes Fund to provide repayable finance for larger custom build developments.
Provided £65 million under the Affordable Housing Guarantee programme to enable community groups and housing associations to build affordable self-build housing.
Made self-build exempt from the Community Infrastructure Levy.
Created a £150 million repayable fund to help prepare up to 10,000 plots for custom build.
They are working with organisations like the ‘Self Build Portal’ to provide good information for anyone thinking about building their own home and we are working with Jewson to provide FREE information via our guide to self-build homes and do order the FREE Jewson Self Build Pack.
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