Self-build, custom build or design and build: which route suits you?

People use these three terms as if they mean the same thing. They don't, and the difference has very little to do with the house itself. It's about who carries the risk at each stage, and how much of your own time the job is going to take.

So it's worth being clear about the routes before you commit to one.

Self-build: you become the main contractor

In the everyday sense, self-build means you organise the build yourself. You buy the plot, appoint the architect and the structural engineer, get planning and building control approval, and then either manage the trades directly or do some of the work with your own hands.

The appeal is control, and the hope of saving the main contractor's margin. The catch is that you become the main contractor. You order the materials, book the scaffold, sequence the trades and chase the one who hasn't turned up. When the groundworker and the bricklayer blame each other for a level that's out, you are the one who sorts it.

Some people do this very well, usually those with time, a flexible job and some building experience. For most, the saving gets eaten by delays, wasted materials and paying twice for work that has to be redone.

On a self-build, nobody else is responsible for the gaps between the trades. That is where most of the money goes.

In planning law and for the Community Infrastructure Levy, "self-build" is wider than this. Someone who commissions a builder to build a home they will live in usually counts too, which matters if you want the levy's self-build exemption. That exemption comes with conditions, including living in the house as your main home for a period afterwards, so check the detail with your council before you rely on it.

Custom build: someone else takes on the land

Custom build sits in the middle. A developer or enabler provides the plot, usually with planning in place and access and services already brought to it. You choose the design within a set of rules, sometimes from a range of house types and sometimes with more freedom. The house is then built for you, either to a weathertight shell that you finish or all the way through.

You give up some design freedom, and you pay for the work someone else has done on the land. In return, the riskiest part, finding a plot and getting it through planning, is done before you commit.

Councils in England have to keep a register of people who want a self-build or custom build plot in their area. If you are looking for a plot, it's worth getting your name on it.

Design and build: one contract for both

Design and build is a way of contracting, not a type of house. One contractor takes responsibility for finishing the design and for building it, under a single contract.

Usually the client's architect takes the design through planning and sets out in writing what the client wants, in a document often called the employer's requirements. The contractor then completes the technical design and builds to it. Sometimes the architect moves across to work for the contractor for the later stages, which is called novation.

The advantage is a single point of responsibility. If a detail doesn't work, there is no argument about whether it's a design problem or a building problem, because both belong to the contractor. You also tend to get a firm price earlier.

The trade-off is control. After contract, the detailed design decisions sit with the contractor. If the requirements are vague, the specification can drift towards whatever is easiest to build. The quality of the written brief decides how well this route works.

The traditional route, and where the risk sits

There is also the route most people picture. Your architect designs the house fully, builders price it against complete drawings, and you appoint a main contractor to build what's drawn. How firm the price is depends on how complete the drawings are when they go out.

Side by side:

• Self-build. You carry the land, planning, design, cost and programme risk, and most of your spare time goes into the job.
• Custom build. The enabler has carried most of the land and planning risk. You choose within limits.
• Traditional. You carry the design risk, through your architect. The builder carries the risk of building to the price.
• Design and build. The contractor carries more of the design and cost risk after contract. You carry the risk of a weak brief.

VAT works differently too. A VAT-registered builder constructing a new home can generally zero-rate the work. If you buy the materials yourself, you pay VAT on them and reclaim it afterwards through HMRC's DIY housebuilders scheme, which has its own rules and deadline. Ask your accountant before you choose a route.

Where we fit

We build one-off homes and small developments across Cheshire and Greater Manchester as the main contractor, and the person who prices the job runs it on site. If you own a plot and have an architect, we can price the drawings and build them under one contract. Our Knutsford new build is the kind of job we mean: an empty plot taken through to a finished detached family home, signed off by building control and the warranty provider.

If you're still looking for land, our guide to buying a building plot in Cheshire covers what to check before you offer, and more about how we build is on our new build homes in Cheshire page.

Send us a location and title plan and you'll get a free site appraisal back within five working days, covering what the land is worth and what it would cost to build out. If you already have drawings, send those, and you'll get a price from the person who would run the job.