Living well · 5 min read
Why we build so few homes at a time
A small, fixed number of homes is a deliberate constraint. It changes what can be built, how it is supervised and what it costs to run.
Last updated 21 July 2026
Supervision scales badly
On a nine-home site, the person who designed the detail can be present when it is built. On a two-hundred-unit site, that detail is delegated, standardised and value-engineered. Most of the difference in perceived quality between developments comes from this and nothing else.
Running costs stay low
Fewer shared systems mean a smaller service charge: no concierge, no gym plant, no large-scale plant rooms with maintenance contracts. What is shared — landscaping, lighting, a pool, insurance — is simple enough for owners to oversee themselves.
Every home can be a good home
In a large building, some units face a lightwell or sit above the bin store. In a nine-home scheme, each residence can be given a good aspect, real daylight and a usable outdoor space. There is no filler.
Resale behaves differently
Scarcity helps: when only a handful of homes exist, your resale is not competing with thirty identical listings in the same building. The trade-off is that comparable evidence is thinner, so pricing a resale takes a valuer who knows the scheme.
The honest trade-offs
You get no gym, no reception, no on-site management office. Amenity is limited to what nine households can sensibly fund. For buyers who want hotel-style services, a larger scheme is genuinely the better choice.
This guide is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and rates change — take advice specific to your circumstances before you commit.
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