Self-Build and Renovation

Despite uncertain economic times, the demand for new homes throughout the UK continues to rise. Potential homeowners face fresh challenges in a post-pandemic, cost-of-energy crisis world and as they make one of the largest financial commitments of their lives, are becoming savvier about making a sustainable investment for the future.

Amongst the uncertainty, we are seeing interesting trends emerge in the self-build market with incentives such as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Help To Build scheme and other incentives to tackle soaring energy costs like the Eco Build grant designed to help lower energy consumption, reduce bills, and create energy efficiency and independence for generations of homeowners to come. Solar PV (Photovoltaic) panels also saw a 15% increase in installations in 2023 with with many homeowners continuing to benefit from the Smart Export Guarantee where homeowners can get paid for excess electricity they generate and send back to the grid. The rise in solar panels is also expected to continue into 2024.

Self-Build defined

Self-build covers a wide spectrum, from projects where individuals are involved in building or managing the construction of their home from beginning to end. Custom homebuilding typically refers to projects where individuals commission their home build to a developer who develops their new build project.

UK self-build trends

Although statistics on self-build trends in the UK are not derived from a sole source, HM Government revealed that the number of self-build projects completed in 2020 had risen to 15,000 an increase of 50% in 2 years in a sector worth in excess of 3.6 billion. Despite recent economic uncertainty self-build projects have continued to follow this upward curve.

Benefits of joining the self-build revolution

There are many benefits of self-building on an individual, community and national basis with homeowners wanting greater autonomy in choosing where and how they want to live. Homeowners can prioritise key factors such as design, sustainability, energy savings and environmental impact with a self-build project.

Building for a better future

The UK has typically fallen behind our European neighbours where there is a well-established self-build tradition in countries such as Belgium, Italy, and Germany. The recent rise in self-build in the UK demonstrates however that this is changing and is reflected in popular culture (tv programming and platforms dedicated to the subject) and in planning policy to support the growth of the sector. Increased environmental awareness drives the desire to create better, energy-efficient dwellings and reduce living costs by introducing renewable sources of energy such as solar power.

Organisations such as the National Self-Build & Renovation Centre and the National Custom & Self Build Association offer independent advice and support to self-builders throughout the UK offering guidance by highlighting the best in building methods, innovations, and technology and have dedicated events with the very best suppliers in the industry. Solarwatt regularly features at self-build events and in specialist publications introducing our premium quality solar solutions and expertise to the self-build market. Check out this innovative PV solar system designed for an award winning Education House in association with Build It Magazine and our Premium Partners, Eco Energy Environment.

At Solarwatt we don’t want to wait for the future to happen, we want to help shape it. With more than 30 years of solar industry expertise, our quality solutions and our expert partner installers can help you self-build better.