The ultimate aspiration for millions of people is to have the opportunity to create their own custom-built residence, after all ‘your home is your castle’. But it remains a very distant dream to the majority, partly due to red tape, acquisition of suitable land, misperception that self-building is limited to the elite etc. However, the most common stumbling block is of course money.

Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has today proposed that anyone wanting to go down the self-build route should be given financial encouragement in the form of a subsidy to help generate a ‘nation of self-builders’. The monetary backing would be supplied courtesy of a £47 billion loan scheme specially reserved for self-builders.

He said: “In some European countries – Austria, Belgium, Sweden – as much as half of all new housing is custom build; likewise in Germany, where there’s a strong tradition of co-operative building. I refuse to believe they are any more ambitious or creative than the British, but they have systems which support, encourage and reward self-builders – and we must do likewise.”

Councils across the country will also be urged to release land more readily to try and help double the number of self-built homes currently constructed in the UK. The coalition ultimately hopes over the next few years that every one in five homes built will be a self-build project.

If this news has revived your interest in self-building then don’t forget to draw upon the expert services of JCW Floor Screeding at the necessary time.