The provision of new housing in rural Britain has, apart from during a very short period, been the result of private sector activity. Councils, housing associations and other registered social landlords have of course commissioned new housing but have done little direct building themselves. The structure, conduct and performance of the private house-building industry therefore has a crucial bearing on supply and, particularly, on supply responsiveness. In both academic and policy commentary, there are commonly critiques of the industry for its ways of working and for the quality of its outputs. Yet, particularly in the thin markets that typify many rural housing systems, there can be significant constraints on what the builder can provide. This chapter explores the nature of private house-building in rural areas. It also looks at issues of rural housing quality, asking whether design is demand responsive, and sensitive to local context, or whether rural areas suffer the same variants on standardised housing designs seen in urban and suburban locations. Lastly, it examines the possible role that self-build or self-directed housing might play in Britain's countrysides.

The house-building industry and the housing development process

Housing output across Britain is dominated by a relatively small number of players who build speculatively. This is confirmed by data presented in Tables 11.1a and 11.1b, which also list the ‘top 10’ companies by turnover. But for the housing markets of rural Britain, outside of peri-urban areas – that is, in less accessible and remote areas – speculative building by the volume builders is rather less common. Instead, new housing in these locations is more regularly supplied by local or regional builders (some of whom are also subcontractors to the volume builders; see Satsangi et al [2000, 2005] for local market evidence in Scotland). Volume builders, as the name suggests, typically build in large volumes. This is what allows them to minimise the cost per unit of their output and, ceteris paribus, maximise the profits from development: essentially, they enjoy scale advantages. Local and regional builders, on the other hand, are rather more likely to build to order, or to produce bespoke housing, than they are to build on the anticipation of sale. Whilst the volume builders can (afford to) hold significant land banks, local builders do not.