The Federation of Master Builders’ (FMB) annual House Builders’ Survey aims to build a clearer picture of the experience of small and medium-sized (SME) house builders in England. It is the only survey of its kind to do so.
In 1988, SME house builders built 40% of all new homes. However, circumstances and systems that have favoured larger developers have meant that this figure has fallen to around 10-12% in recent years. The FMB proudly advocates for the reversal of this decline, and our annual House Builder’s Survey examines and monitors the SME portion of the market to understand how they can be better supported.
In this 2021 edition of the FMB House Builder’s Survey, the lack of available and viable land represents the most cited constraint (63%), closely followed by materials shortages (62%) and the planning system (61%). Interestingly, for the first year on record, a lack of available finance dropped out of the top three constraints (29%). Worryingly, there was a sharp rise in respondents citing a shortage of skilled workers as a constraint (53%).
