Builder or developer: what's the difference?

The developer buys the land, gets planning permission and sells the homes. The builder puts the homes up. For the big housebuilders, such as Persimmon, Barratt, Bellway or Taylor Wimpey, they are the same company. On smaller sites they are often different: a land company or investor develops the site and hires a contractor to build it.

How BuildingRecord shows it

• Built by: the company is a housebuilder (a known name, or registered at Companies House as building homes) and it owned land on the estate while the homes were first sold.
• Developed by: the company owned land on the estate, but we can't yet confirm it built the homes. We say the builder is not yet known rather than guess.
• Not yet known: we haven't matched the estate to a company yet.

Why it matters

Workmanship is down to the builder; the warranty, the sales promises, leasehold terms and estate charges are usually set by the developer. If you're chasing a defect, both can matter.

How we'll fill the gaps

We're adding council planning applications (which name the applicant, usually the developer) and building control and warranty records (which name the builder). Know who built your estate? Tell us.