Research by the National Custom & Self Build Association suggests that over one million of us have ambitions to build our own home every year – but currently, just 13,000 manage to do actually do it. One of the big stumbling blocks is the availability of viable land (pretty amazing, considering the fact that only 5.9% of the UK is actually built on). The key word there is ‘viable’. If a site doesn’t have planning permission, then it’s almost certainly not a genuine prospect – and even if it does, there’s still a lot of work to do to check that you could actually build a house that suits you on it, at a price you can afford.
If all of this is starting to put the dampeners on your aim of creating a dream home, then fear not. As well as the more traditional routes to land finding (check out our beginner’s guide on page 117), there’s a new kid in town that could just level the playing field. On page 95, we take an in-depth look at how shovel-ready serviced plots are helping to make self building a realistic option for everyone.