·        New £150 million ‘Help to Build’ scheme to make it easier and more affordable for people to build their own homes

·        New homes can be made to order or built from scratch, and will benefit small building firms as part of the government’s Plan for Jobs

·        £2.1 million additional funding to help communities decide where they want new homes, shops and offices to be built and what they should look like

Have you ever watched television programmes such as Channel 4’s ‘Grand Designs’ and wondered how do you even get started? On 24th April 2021 the government announced a new £150m scheme to make it easier for people to build their own ‘dream’ home. 

The ‘Help to Build’ scheme will ensure that self and custom home building can become a realistic option to get onto the housing ladder through lower deposit mortgages.

Lowering the required deposit will free up capital, so people can build the home that they want and need whether it’s a commissioned, made to order home, or a new design from scratch. The scheme will provide an equity loan on the completed home, similar to the Help to Buy scheme.

Made to order homes allow people to customise the home they want based on existing designs. This could include more office space, or a particular design to support a family’s requirements including for disabled or older people.

Self and custom build could deliver 30-40,000 new homes a year: a significant contribution to the country’s housebuilding ambitions.

The scheme is part of the government’s wider Plan for Jobs as the new plans will also benefit small building firms. SME builders account for 1 in 10 new homes and the scheme will help scale up the number of self and custom build homes built every year.