Discover the best planning-guaranteed approaches to a new bespoke home

Launched in August 2021, Trinity Mews is a partnership between Durham County Council and Custom Build Homes (www.custombuildhomes.co.uk) offering nine spacious three to five-bedroom bespoke properties and giving the customers full input into the design of their new homes

Self building is the best way to get a truly individual new home, but it’s not without challenges. Finding viable land, sorting out the finance and gaining planning consent are all common hurdles. They are not insurmountable, of course, but they can add cost and delay to a traditional self build route.

In recent years, the industry has been working with government – through the National Custom and Self Build Association – to help ease those burdens and make it easier than ever to commission an individual home. In that time, new routes have sprung up that offer all the choice, control and quality you’d expect – but without some of the stresses associated with conventional self building.

Grouped under the moniker ‘custom build’, they range from individual shovel-ready plots through to large-scale developments where every home is bespoke. The common ground is that a lot of the initial setup (eg planning consent and arranging utilities) are done for you by an experienced provider, who may well offer follow-on services, too. So, here’s a look at the main custom build opportunities: