Number of Property Developers in the UK

The Market Size

The world of property development is involved across many sectors Commercial, Residential, Retail, Industrials, hospitality, and disciplines. The term property development refers to the process of repurposing land or reconfiguring/changing use/extending etc. an existing building, usually to increase its value. Real estate development is a substantial contributor to the UK economy directly employing more than 1.2m people and contributing over £100bn to GDP – about 7% of the total. In this article, we explore the number of home builders in the UK and the types in terms of typical sizes.

Examples of organisations that have calculated this size market include:

• Smith’s Clarity Solutions – 4,584
• More Than Words Marketing – 4,626
• Property Data – 2,469
• SmartScrapers – 6,161
• The Construction Centre - directory

Property Developers and Their Relevance to SHEDyt

For property developers, SHEDyt exists to simplify property management for occupiers in collaboration with a marketplace of real estate experts. Our research has also found that most property developers are still physically printing homeowner manuals and this is an area where digitisation is occurring including the work being done at SHEDyt.

Types of Home Builders

Within the SHEDyt business, the developers on the CRM are segmented into six (6) types, in summary, note them below:

MICRO - This size of developer mostly works part-time and they focus on refurbishing homes or converting existing buildings. They are more likely to work on buildings under 2,000 square feet (185 sqm²) and either let them out, becoming landlords or flip them for a profit.

SMALL - Usually these developers are individuals or a couple of partners, using mainly subcontractors that create half a dozen homes every year. Small developers will normally have websites where they showcase their business and services; Due to the scale of their operations, they tend to build out one development at a time.

MEDIUM - These businesses usually create a professional brand name and build dozens of homes a year in a town/city or region. Unlike small developers, medium builders typically engage in multiple developments at the same time. Their workforce will usually have a number of permanent employees and substantial expertise purchased from subcontractors.

LARGE - With these companies employees normally run into double digits and will be generally creating hundreds of homes each year in multiple locations. These developers are sometimes household names, and they will likely have an internal planning resource.

PLC/VOLUME - These are the big boys of the property development market in the UK and are building thousands of homes every year. They have hundreds or even thousands of employees and can engage in 100m+ construction projects. Because of their large size, these real estate development companies are listed on stock exchanges and have turnovers that run into billions of pounds.

Summary and Feedback

As of July 2023, SHEDyt has calculated the number of property developers in the UK is in the region of 6,000 to 7,000. This has been ascertained through our network and the work we do in marketing the platform to them. This research works on numbers and has included data gathered from LinkedIn, Apollo, Companies House, and a number of trade and professional member association websites.

If your business is also targeting property developers, a list is available from the SHEDyt shop and if you have any feedback, please get in touch with us at SHEDyt.

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