Can’t find your perfect home?

If you have been looking for a property but just can’t quite find the right one, then perhaps Group Custom Build is the answer.

Maybe the properties you see are not environmentally friendly, or they’re not designed in the way you’d like them to be.

Maybe you’d like to live within a like-minded community or you’re looking to downsize but have very specific requirements.

Whatever the reason you can’t find a property that suits you, it probably won’t be solved by a traditional property developer’s one size fits all approach.

That’s where Group Custom Build could be of interest.

What is Group Custom Build?

The idea is simple. We find larger sites, and bring groups of individuals together. We use your collective buying power and our experience of delivery to build bespoke high quality and great value housing.

Group Custom Build is a hybrid between self-build and custom build.

It gives people choice in the design, layout, and specification of their own home with the benefit of us acting as site-finders and project managers.

Why is Group Custom Build better?

A developer will normally add 25% profit margin to total costs. This is passed on to you within the price you pay for a new build home.  On top of that, a developer will have to pay finance costs to private investors and banks. This can add up to hundreds of thousands of pounds. Instead, we will charge a transparent 10% of total costs.

Also, once a developer has bought a site, they will do all they can to reduce construction costs by cutting corners or using lower quality materials. This is very hard for you, as a consumer, to know in advance, and is only revealed many years later when things start falling apart. In our model, you have a say in the specification and will live in a home which will last for many more years.

Finally, you pay stamp duty on the full price of a home, whereas with Group Custom Build, you pay stamp duty on the cost of the land not the house – saving tens of thousands of pounds.

In summary, the benefits are:

1. You get a home where you have had a say in the design, layout and quality of materials
2. You save approximately 15% on a similar sized home being sold on the market but knowing that yours is likely to be much better in terms of quality
3. The site is found by us and the project is managed by us to keep things on track and on budget

What’s the catch?

1. Time. Finding good sites is not easy (even for us) and doing a Group Custom Build will not be quick.  Even if we are managing this project, you should be looking at a 2-4 year time horizon (depending on the site) before you can move in.

2. Risk. Doing it yourself and saving 15% (or more) involves you taking some risk. You are effectively acting as a property developer and while we will be there to mitigate your risk and give you the benefit of our experience, it cannot eliminate risk entirely.

3. Finance. This route is much harder than getting a traditional mortgage on a home that is already built and ready to move into. We can help you raise funding, but traditional development finance interest rates are high. So, the more money you can raise personally, the lower the overall cost to you. Read more about custom build mortgages here.

Next Steps 

If this sounds appealing, then please join our growing custom build register to find out about our latest opportunities.