Whether you are just starting your self-build research and keen to understand plot costs for your budget or actively looking to secure a plot, most self-builders are likely jump into google and look for dedicated self-build plot finder websites.
Related Content: Looking for a Self-Build Plot? Where to Find a Self-Build Plot
To save you some time and energy, we’ve pulled together a list of the best self-build plot finder websites. With a bit of time, and probably a few cups of coffee, you’ll be on the right path to securing that plot for your dream home.
The Best Self-Build Plot Websites
#1 PlotBrowser
PlotBrowser.com is funded by SelfBuild & Design magazine, to which it supplies five pages of newly listed properties each month. It contains plots listings of land for new build homes and existing properties that can be converted, re-developed or modernised. You can search by each of these different types of plots and by county on their easy to use search function.
The website is completely free to use and you can browse properties without registering. However to be able to access the seller’s details you do need to register with them which is quick and easy.
As with PlotSearch below, you can set up a handy ‘alert’ for when new plots are listed and they also verify the availability of all plots listed on a regular basis.
In terms of number of listings, a search on Aberdeenshire generated 97 results , while searching in the Angus county generated 6 results.
As with the other sites, you’ll find it scattered with adverts across sidebars, which can be a little frustrating.
Visit the PlotBrowser website HERE.
#2 PlotFinder
Plotfinder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher based in Bath. They publish a range of specialist magazines including Real Homes and Home Building and Renovating.
The listings include land and renovation plots and state that 16,725 plots and properties are listed at the time of writing. However when searching based on locality, they showed up the fewest results for Aberdeenshire (7 plots) and Angus (8 plots).
Listings are easy to search by county and region, the website has much fewer ads than others, just one key advert at top of page, and feels easier to navigate as less ‘cluttered’.
However you will need to pay a fee to view the full listing, with options to pay monthly (£5) or annually (£40/£60 depending on type of payment). It is worth noting the additional benefits to subscribing which include Home Building and Renovating show tickets:
- Access to full details of over 17,000 plots and renovation opportunities
- Full details of opportunities which have recently obtained planning permission
- Email alerts based on your search criteria
- Bookmark your favourite plots and properties
- All the latest plotfinder.net news and offers
- Free tickets to all the Homebuilding and Renovating Shows worth up to £192
Visit the PlotFinder website HERE.
#2 PlotSearch
PlotSearch is just one of several websites/businesses owned and managed by Buildstore. Based in Livingston, they provide a range of services in the self-build space from researching a project, through to finding land for sale, bespoke self-build finance & insurance, buying building materials and seeing how others build their own home.
PlotSearch is completely free for self-builders to search,(there is an annual fee of £75 for developers) and has a great search function where you can filter by area and budget. They state that only genuine building opportunities are listed, i.e where planning has been granted.
Their website claims to be the largest site and specialises in listing opportunities with 8,000 in total. Taking a quick look, Aberdeenshire area had 218 sites, with 229 building opportunities, from £20k upwards. Angus listings totalled 26 sites, with 33 building opportunities from £50k upwards.
In addition to free subscription to search all plots (no credit card details were requested when registering), you can:
- Carry out unlimited searches for plots, conversion & renovation opportunities throughout the UK using a variety of criteria
- Save your favourite searches to your account
- View and download full plot reports
- Set up email alerts to notify you when anything matching your chosen criteria enters the database
- Access their PlotShare initiative, which allows you to team up with other self builders to purchase larger sites with planning for up to 4 homes
While the website was a little clumsy with adverts on both left and right side bars, it is quick and simple to use and the plot listings themselves were easy to read and find.
Visit the PlotSearch website HERE.
Finding a Self-Build Plot – Over To You
While there are a number of generic property websites who also have the ability to search on ‘land only’, we’ve chosen to omit these as the information and specialist nature of the above sites, substantially aids with searches.
We’d love to hear your thoughts:
- Have we missed a great website that you’ve found invaluable when trying to find that elusive self-build plot?
- Have you used the above websites? Do you have any advice for someone embarking upon a self-build plot search?