Custom houses are a great choice when searching for your next home. More familiar routes include your traditional second-hand home or a new build from the volume housebuilders such as Taylor Wimpey, Redrow, Barratts, Persimmon or Bellway.

What is custom home building?

Custom-building is a form of housebuilding that enables you to get a new home that has been created with you to meet your lifestyle needs now and in the future. We offer a selection of layouts per floor for you to choose from. Your home is then built based on your choices.

Custom build housing developments are well-designed communities built specifically for the people who live there.

How does custom housing work?

You have the opportunity to customise your new home from a range of pre-designed customisable homes. You will be given plenty of flexibility to ensure that your home meets your needs.

You will have a range of choices including:

• House type (detached, semi-detached, terraced or flat)
• Internal layouts
• Interior fit out
• Exterior materials
• Additional features where possible, such as Electric Vehicle charging points or PV (Solar) panels.

Once all your selections have been made, your home will be built for you. Your home is handed over as a ‘blank canvas’. This is a plastered and painted shell with the services for the kitchen and bathroom brought into the room and capped, ready for connection.

You will then have access to your new home to add the finishing touches, supported by MyCustomBuild – a digital tool that connects you to local trades and suppliers.

You can find custom build home opportunities on our website you can sign up to the Custom Build Homes’ e-news to get latest developments and news straight to your inbox.

Why choose a custom home?

Choosing a custom build home for your next move will enable you to tailor your new home’s layout to enable you to live better by design. This ensures your home works for you, for example from family time and socialising to working from home.

What happens if I can’t find a custom build home in my preferred location?

Sign up to the Right to Build Register so that we can design new developments for the people who want to live there. We will let you know about opportunities which we believe meet your needs.

Who are Custom Build Homes?

Custom Build Homes (CBH) is creating and shaping new developments across the UK to create better designed communities and deliver homes that people want to live in.

CBH is an Enabler who works in partnership with landowners to manage the delivery of multiple new homes for each housing project. This process enables people to have primary input into the design and/or customisation of their new home.

Learn how you can create your dream house with CBH here.

Custom Build Homes (CBH) welcomes the new “Help to Build” Equity Loan Scheme (‘Help to Build’) announced by the Government today (26 November 2021) to support the diversification of the new homes sector and create additional housebuilding through the commissioning of custom and self-build homes. The scheme, which will be made be available across England, will enable more people to access mortgage finance to build or customise their own homes.

The Prospectus, published today, sets out the detailed design of Help to Build which, when launched officially, will stimulate the supply of opportunities for custom and self-build housing and begin delivering against pent up demand from younger homebuyers and those on modest incomes. 

The scheme is being initially rolled out for four years with a funding allocation of £150 million, administered by Homes England.

The scheme has been in design for some time; indeed, it was first announced in the November 2020 Spending Review and has remained an important Manifesto commitment of the present Conservative Government. 

The scheme has been designed in a similar way to the hugely successful new build product “Help to Buy”. It works by the Government committing to providing homebuyers with an equity loan equivalent to 20% of their agreed land and build costs. The funds are paid to the mortgage lender on completion of the build and homebuyers have a period of 5 years to repay the loan (without interest), as is the case with Help to Buy. In return for this commitment, mortgage lenders have agreed to fund custom and self-build projects with only 5% of land and build costs being required as a mortgage deposit. This is a stark improvement on the average deposit currently for a custom home, which sits at 15%, therefore it is likely to attract many new homebuyers to the sector, including first-time buyers.

CBH projects that £150 million could fund up to 2000 new custom or self-built homes, and while the funding is welcomed, it hopes the Government will continue to invest in the scheme if take-up is good because the statutory demand for custom and self-build housing already sits above 60,000 in England. The law dictates this number of units be supplied through the planning system within three years, under the Self-Build & Custom Housebuilding Act 2015, and much of the demand for this type of housing is made up of younger homebuyers seeking an alternative to volume built new homes.

Another factor that may constrain take-up is that the scheme does not cover any consultancy costs associated with a self-build project, such as those required for architecture, planning and engineering. These costs can be significant and will remain a barrier to entry for many who would otherwise be able to access the scheme. This will place an emphasis on the emerging custom build housing sector to bring to market sufficient opportunities to ensure the scheme is fully subscribed and can attract further Government investment to keep pace with increasing consumer demand for choice. This burden to deliver custom build opportunities will be felt by custom build Enablers, who Homes England now have a recommendation to support following The Bacon Review into the delivery of custom and self-build homes, earlier this year.

Tom Connor, CEO at CBH said:

“CBH is working hard to develop customisable housing products that breakdown the barrier of bespoke architecture and design, making it possible for more people to live in a custom home. While “Help to Build” is not a silver bullet for delivery in the sector, it’s another big sign that custom and self-build has the Government’s attention and that it is making good on its pledge to support delivery on behalf of the huge consumer audience that’s assembling.”

Full details of the scheme can be found here. 

Custom Build Homes (CBH) has been shortlisted twice for the upcoming Build It Awards 2021, in the category of Best Custom Project or Model.

The two projects shortlisted are Lowfield Green in York and Trinity Mews in Durham. 

The development at Lowfield Green in York saw an allocation of custom build housing for part of a wider new build scheme built on a former school site, which saw two plots ring-fenced for first-time buyers, a UK first for the custom and self-build housing sector.

CBH acted as Enablers on behalf of City of York Council and their shared success has resulted in a second site to the north of the city being identified to deliver more custom homes from 2022.

Trinity Mews in Durham is one of the first developments to be entirely bespoke, with CBH appointed to enable the delivery of nine custom homes in collaboration with their in-house team. The development, which sits to the south of the city benefits from a Design Code and Plot Passports that have aided and accelerated the design and planning process for homebuyers as well as serving to ensure the place develops a sense of cohesion while offering scope for freedom of expression in architecture.

Annually, the Build It Awards celebrate and recognise excellence and innovation in the custom and self-build sector, from design, construction, and finance.

The awards will be held on Friday, 26 November 2021 at a special ceremony in the Hilton Bankside Hotel, London. 

Hester McQueen, Chief Marketing Officer at Custom Build Homes, said: 

“Following recent success at the Awards in 2019, where the CBH enabled development, Long Four Acres won the Best Custom Build Project or Model, we are delighted to be back again this year with two nominations alongside our local authority clients.

“The increasing involvement of local authorities in the custom and self-build sector is helping to drive diversifications in new build supply and create additional quality housing which this country so desperately needs.”

The Government have today (Saturday, 21 August) published the results of the Bacon Review following a commission by the Prime Minister to set out a plan for a major scaling of self-commissioned housing across all tenures in England.

Custom Build Homes (CBH) welcomes the Report by Richard Bacon MP for South Norfolk which has taken several months to prepare. If fully implemented by the Government, it will lead to a significant increase in custom housebuilding – enabling many more people to create and design homes that work for them.

The Report which has been welcomed by Secretary of State for Housing Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, focusses on six main recommendations to open up the housing market and offer consumers much more choice in the homes they live in: 

• A stronger role for Homes England – the Government is asked to create a new Custom and Self-Build Housing Delivery Unit within Homes England to bring forward plots on small and large sites and to support the sector at scale. A range of initiatives are required to deliver this, including direct investment into custom & self-build Enablers, the urgent launch of the new Help to Build Equity Loan for consumers, more funding for councils to release plots, and to work with the ‘Centre of Excellence’ for Modern Methods of Constructions to promote effective custom build housing delivery.
• A focussed campaign to raise awareness and understanding of the Right to Build legislation – people in England can express their interest to create and design a home with their preferred local authority. It has been recommended that the Government should promote and strengthen the legislation and Self-Build & Custom Housebuilding Registers and create a custom and self-build housing Destination Show Park and Hub with Show Homes.
• To do more to support community-led housing through targeted funding for Community-led Housing Hubs, specialist housing associations and introducing a Self-Help Housing Programme and a Plot to Rent Scheme.
• For Government to promote, recognise and support the sector through its work to promote the take up of Modern Methods of Construction and Net Zero Housing ambitions.
• To maximise access to permissioned land for self-commissioned homes through the Government’s proposed changes to the planning system and change Right to Build legislation so that it better achieves its objectives, including stronger action where local authorities fail to meet their statutory duties and special planning policies which allow unplanned sites to come forward in areas of high demand for plots.
• To investigate the perceived disadvantages in the tax system between the custom and self-build delivery model and other forms of housing.

The Review, which follows the recent publication of a Government Action Plan setting out what it plans to do support more people to build their own homes, has engaged a wide range of industry experts and other stakeholders, including those from abroad.

CBH had been closely involved in the Review through its Director of Planning & Strategic Engagement and ex-civil servant, Mario Wolf, who has supported Richard Bacon in his review. To assist, CBH was also requested to provided primary research to help better understand the preferences of consumers over where and what type of homes they want to build. This found that many people do not have a strong preference about building a home on a single plot or on a larger housing site. There is also an overwhelming consumer preference for commissioning a bespoke home, built on a serviced plot, from a contractor or builder and buying a customisable home. Top findings were: 46% of people have no preference whether they build on a single plot or whether they build alongside a group of other houses (i.e. a larger housing site) and 47% would prefer to build a bespoke home on a serviced plot with the support of a contractor or builder.

Commenting on the conclusions and recommendations, Mario Wolf, Director of Planning & Strategic Engagement at Custom Build Homes, said:  

“This Report marks a major milestone in the drive to scale-up the custom and self-build housing sector in this country and we welcome its conclusions and recommendations.

“Richard has looked comprehensively at the growth potential of custom and self-build housing as a driver for more and better designed homes and much greater consumer choice. He has concluded there is a significant market ready to be unlocked through a series of targeted actions. We look forward to continuing to work with Richard and the Government to secure the timely implementation of his recommendations.”

The market for custom build housing is growing rapidly and more and more landowners are coming forward with potential sites in response to consumer demand. What is needed is to convert more of these sites into real homes and showcase what this market is capable of delivering, as Bacon recommends.

For example, at CBH we recently launched a pilot custom build community at Trinity Mews, near Durham on public land in partnership with Durham County Council. We have seen high pent up demand and viewings for just nine plots in short time. We are also seeing this demand in other areas, often much higher than what local authorities are showing on their local registers. What landowners are looking for is the support to bring sites forward and more permissive policies where councils fail to meet their statutory duties. Bacon’s recommendations for exception sites and targets to be introduced should therefore be welcomed.

The Review has also identified an urgent need for Government to support greater investment into the sector and it recognises the important role that enablers can play to drive up scale through custom build housing, learning from other markets.

CBH is well positioned to enable a range of landowners to bring forward custom housebuilding at scale. Customisation and modern methods of construction are important market drivers and we know that our customers have strong preferences for these products. They have fewer defects and heating bills can be substantially lower, as buildings are higher quality, greener and built to last.

Bacon’s recommendations and the government’s ambition to delivering greener housing should also be welcomed. CBH data demonstrates that people want bigger homes and give the highest priority to plots and homes which are energy efficient, and which have a garden and garage.

All CBH developments are demand-led. With access to the UK’s leading database of over 100,000 people actively looking for an opportunity to have input into the design of their own home CBH can bring forward sites which accurately respond to local demand and market plots and homes to a ready audience. This data is also proving crucial to support planning applications and appeals.

With our market-leading knowledge of CBH policy and close engagement with Government CBH can also offer expert advice to create customisable developments to multiple different homebuyers at different price points, through optional upgrades, enabling new homebuyers to purchase homes they will love within their budget.

Through its parent company, The BuildStore Group, CBH is also well-placed to support custom projects with specialist mortgages and financial products, including specialist finance for landowners. Bacon has urged the Government to launch the Help to Build Equity Loan, a new mortgage to enable people to custom build a new home with only a 5% mortgage deposit, by September 2021, which should be welcomed and will be supported through the BuildStore Group.

CBH urges anyone who wants to self-commission their own home to sign up to the CBH Custom Build Register as soon as possible so that we can bring more custom build housing opportunities to market and for those who want to develop their land to contact us at custombuildhomes.co.uk

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has today (Monday 8 February) published its long-awaited revisions to the Planning Practice Guidance related to custom and self-build housing.

The Guidance, which was first published in April 2016 and updated in July 2017, plays an important part in the implementation of the Government’s Right to Build legislation and national planning policy under the Self-build and Custom Housebuilding Act 2015, which was amended by the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

The intention to revise the Guidance was flagged by the Housing Secretary, Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, in his letter to all local authorities in October last year and trailed in the Government’s recent response to the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission ‘Living with Beauty’ report.

Notable changes to the Guidance, include:

• Clarifying that self-build and custom housebuilding (CSB) can cover a wide spectrum of projects, including customised housing where the home is built ready for occupation (‘turnkey’). It also puts helpfully beyond doubt that off-plan housing is excluded from the definition.
• Clarity that CSB multi-unit and communal schemes can qualify for the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) exemption.
• A stronger message that self-build and custom housebuilding registers are likely to be a material consideration in planning decisions.
• The need for councils to consider the evidence of demand when carrying out their housing functions, including the need to ensure that CSB is an integral part of their housing delivery strategy.
• Underlining the importance of using public land to ensure sufficient sites come forward to meet demand and that it can help in regeneration objectives.
• That serviced plots of land can provide an opportunity for converting an existing building to residential use (rather than a new build).
• Clarity on the relationship to assessing housing need and that councils should use the demand data from the registers in their area, supported as necessary by additional data from secondary sources, to understand and consider future need for this type of housing in their area. Importantly it also makes clear that demand assessment tools can also be utilised when planning for custom and self-build housing.
• That councils should consider how local planning policies may address identified requirements for CSB to ensure enough serviced plots with suitable permission come forward.
• Much needed clarification around the use of registers, including that councils can choose to work with a private sector supplier to maintain the register provided the relevant authority holds and publicises its register in accordance with the legislation; that councils need to demonstrate a rationale underpinning local eligibility; and, that any tests need to be proportionate, reasonable and be regularly reviewed.
• On financial solvency tests, it sends a clear signal that CSB can provide a route to affordable home ownership which should be taken into consideration and that a community group’s collective ability to purchase a site needs to be considered.

The Guidance also strengthens the messages about how councils should record suitable permissions under the legislation. Newly included are that councils need to consider whether an application, permission or development is for CSB; whether developers have identified that self-build or custom build plots will be included as part of their development and that the initial owner of the homes will have had primary input into its final design and layout; whether a planning application references self-build or custom build and whether a CIL or Section 106 exemption has been granted for a particular development. 

It also, for the first time, includes a clear signal that CSB can bring benefits such as diversifying the housing market, increase consumer choice and bringing innovation in design and construction.

Disappointingly, the guidance has failed to provide clarity on how viability considerations affect CSB housing. This is considered a missed opportunity to provide much needed clarity in this area and challenge gaming by those developers and landowners who want to avoid bringing forward plots in response to proven demand and local policies. The Guidance could also have offered more advice on how the CIL exemption for CSB works for multi-unit schemes.

Custom Build Homes will set out a full analysis of the changes to Guidance and its perceived impact on the self and custom build sector as soon as possible. The analysis will clarify and identify in more detail the main changes and their practical effect for custom and self-build housebuilding.

Commenting on the revised Guidance, Custom Build Homes’ Director of Planning and Strategic Engagement and former Director of the Government supported Right to Build Task Force, and ex-civil servant, Mario Wolf said:

“The need to bring the Guidance up to date has been pressing for some time, as Councils and practitioners have grappled with the Right to Build and questions around the application of national policy and the law in this area.

“Although we are seeing a lot of sites coming forward now for this form of housing, our clients remain frustrated by inaction and game playing by some Councils in how they exercise their statutory duties and unnecessary debate around the meaning and intentions of the Government’s policy. The changes that the Government has made to the PPG should therefore be welcomed.”

Also published alongside the Guidance for the first time is a new MHCLG Data Release which provides the figures reported by local authorities under their self-build and custom housebuilding duties for the periods 2016, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.

RTPI planners, Mario Wolf and Andy Moger, Associate Director at Tetlow King Planning who is a Member of the Right to Build Task Force, will be setting out their views on the Guidance changes and the published data in a detailed analysis shortly which will be published at custombuildhomes.co.uk.

The revised Guidance can be found here and the Data Release here.