Building your own home is becoming a very popular way to own your own home. However, there can be pitfalls along the way if the correct advice and guidance is not obtained early in the process. Money is always the big one, without the correct financial advice a project can easily go way over budget. So, obtaining the advice at the very start is important as this establishes what funds you have available. Finding your plot of land can sometimes be a daunting prospect, however, you can register with the local authority for the right to build and they try to match you up with a suitable plot of land. Obtaining planning permission for your grand project needs to be applied for when you have had an architect draw up your plans and before any building work starts

Want to Build your own home? You have The Right to Build.

If you want to commission your own house in England, then legislation is in place to help, Councils must maintain a register of those who want to build in their area, and they must then ensure that enough suitable plots are given planning permission to meet that demand. For most councils the process is free and anyone can sign up, but a few councils have restrictions and costs.

Visit www.righttobuildportal.org to sign up and find out more.

Put simply, self-building is the act of commissioning a bespoke home that’s tailored to your design requirements and suits your lifestyle, as well as your budget. Every year, rather than buy a standard developer-built property, around 13,000 people choose to self-build their own homes from scratch in this way.

Self Build

Today the term ‘self-build’ can be used to refer to a wide range of approaches to creating a bespoke home that suits your needs. As soon as you commission your self-build home (whether through an architect, designer, contractor or package building company), you become a self-builder! So if you’re picturing a lone self-builder, literally lugging materials around a barren plot and taking on everything from bricklaying through to interior decoration – fear not! While that’s certainly one way of doing things and a great option for people who already work in the construction industry or happen to be ultra hands-on, it’s by no means obligatory. Going down the self-build route means you can tailor the process to suit just how much time and budget you can devote to your project.

Custom Build

There are several routes to custom building your home. Every custom-build site will have different variables and the custom-build enabler or developer will provide you with a menu of options to choose from. Even if you’re hopeless at DIY you can custom build. Choose to do as much or as little of the work yourself while supported by industry professionals. 

Purchasing a serviced plot can dramatically save you time and money, and still provide the same level of flexibility in the design and architecture as a standard self-build project.

Serviced plots are always available with an outline planning permission already agreed upon, which simply means the local planning authority, for that location, has permitted the development of a new dwelling, but the design and specification of the house are still to be agreed. Firstly by you and your design team and then by the same planning authority by way of a detailed planning consent, which you will need to get before you can begin construction. 

You will benefit from the utilities your house will need to run being connected to the boundary of your plot. The process of delivering these utilities, which include; electricity, gas, water, and telecoms, has been coordinated by the enabling developer. This means the speed at which your new home can be constructed is significantly quickened. 

Each serviced plot is accessible by a road which will have been designed to the requirements set by the Highways Authority. It's important to find out to what standard any road connected to your plot will be completed to, and if it will be adopted by the local council or whether you will be responsible for making annual payments towards its maintenance. 

When purchasing a serviced plot some developers may require you to purchase your plot at the outline planning permission stage, while others allow you to reserve it, for a fee, while you design your new home and seek detailed approval. 

You can choose to build your own home either yourself, by employing your own architect or builder, or you might choose to work with the developer to design and build your home to an agreed stage towards completion – then step in yourself to finish it off, just the way you want it. Alternatively, you might simply be happy to be involved in the design of your new home and leave the developer to build it for you to a fixed budget or timescale. The choice is yours.  

The key to custom build is finding the right site and plot for you.

Custom build enables families to choose a particular plot and the design of the home they want to build on it. At present, custom-build sites can come with anything from 4 – 2000 serviced plots ready for building on and each custom-build site has its own menu of options to choose from.