The products offer loans up to £1m and up to five times the applicant’s income for those earning more than £100,000.
The lender said that five times income was available to employed and self-employed applicants, which it said acknowledged that a “significant proportion” of self-builders own their own business.
Furness Building Society has a “flexible approach” to lending to self-employed directors and will lend to company directors using salary and profit before tax as opposed to solely dividends.
The funds are released in stages through the build, and the releases are linked to the cost of each stage of the work.
There are no valuations during the build and each release is pre-agreed and arranged during the mortgage application and outlined in the mortgage offer.
BuildLoan said that this meant that self-builders knew exactly how much money they would receive at each stage so they can “proceed with confidence” that funds will be available.
The deals also allow or advance stage payments through BuildLoan. This means upfront funds are provided at each stage, which the firm said could make self or custom building “much more accessible” for those with less funds and those looking to cut their carbon impact or running costs by using greener systems.
BuildLoan: ‘More control over the homes they live in’
Chris Martin (pictured), head of product development and lender relationships at BuildLoan, said: “We know that many people who want more control in how they earn their living by running their own business also want more control over the home they live in.
“These new products offer the same unique features as the rest of our self and custom build mortgages, along with increased borrowing capacity for higher earning self-employed and employed clients.”
Alasdair McDonald, head of intermediaries at Furness Building Society, said: “We’ve worked with BuildLoan to develop these products along with a flexible affordability approach to recognise that applicants with higher incomes will often have more disposable income.
“We have a lot of experience lending to self-employed clients, which means that even with some uncertainty around interest rates, we can understand where it’s reasonable and responsible to lend that bit more to help the client to achieve their ambition of building their dream home.”
