Proud to be an associate member of the Federation of Master Builders

We’re delighted to share that Mortgage Style is now an associate member of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and we couldn’t be more excited to work with their exceptional builders.

The FMB has spent decades championing quality, professionalism and craft across the UK construction industry. Those are values we recognise, because they’re the same ones we bring to mortgage and property finance advice. So this feels like a natural fit, and we’re looking forward to supporting FMB members and their clients in the months and years ahead.

Why this partnership matters

Builders are at the heart of the property world. You turn plots into homes, tired buildings into desirable spaces, and ambitious plans into bricks and mortar. But there’s a moment in many builders’ careers where the opportunity shifts, from building for other people to building for yourself.

That step, from contractor to developer, is one of the most exciting moves a builder can make. It’s also one of the most daunting, because the finance side works very differently from anything you encounter on a standard job. That’s exactly where we come in.

What we help with

Our specialism is the finance that sits behind property projects. For FMB members and their clients, that covers the full journey of a development, including:

Bridging loans — short-term funding that lets you move quickly, whether that’s securing a site at auction, buying a property that wouldn’t qualify for a standard mortgage, or bridging a gap while a longer-term facility is arranged. Speed and flexibility are the whole point.

Refurbishment finance — funding designed around projects that involve significant work: conversions, structural changes, bringing a run-down property back to life, or turning a house into an HMO. The right product here is shaped around the works themselves, not just the property as it stands today.

Development finance — for ground-up builds and larger schemes, where money is released in stages as the project progresses, against surveyor sign-off. Getting the structure of this right at the outset can make the difference between a smooth project and a stressful one.

Commercial mortgages — whether you’re buying premises for your own business, holding a finished scheme as an investment, or arranging the longer-term finance that lets you exit a development cleanly.

There are also specialist routes available for the right projects including arrangements that can fund up to 100% of a scheme as a joint venture, with no cash needed from the builder. These aren’t right for every project, but where they fit, they can be powerful.

Guiding builders through a new way of thinking about risk

Here’s something we see again and again: a builder who is brilliant at managing the risks of a build steps into development and suddenly faces a completely different risk picture (that nobody has explained).

As a contractor, the client carries the big risks. They own the land, they hold the planning permission, and they arrange the finance. You’re paid for the work you do, and if the wider project runs into trouble, you’re largely insulated from it.

As the developer, all of that risk lands on you. Cash funds the build through staged drawdowns rather than arriving as you go. Delays don’t just cost patience, they cost interest. And profit is no longer a margin on works; it’s the whole equation: the end value of the finished scheme, minus the land, minus the build, minus the finance, minus the fees.

It’s a genuinely different way of thinking and it’s one of the most valuable things we can help FMB members with. We’re not here to tell you how to build; you’re the expert on that. Our job is to help you understand and navigate the money side, so you can make the leap with your eyes open and your margin protected. That means helping you weigh up whether a deal stacks up before you commit, choosing the right finance for each stage, and presenting your construction experience to lenders in the way they need to see it.

Introducing our sister firm, Brunel Bridging

Given the specialist nature of the finance required by many of our property developer clients, in 2023 we launched our sister firm, Brunel Bridging, to give our advisors access to even more lenders with bespoke products to fit these more demanding scenarios. Same team, same premises, same tenacious approach with a focus on high levels of communication; just delivered under our bespoke banner.

Looking ahead

Becoming an associate member of the FMB is the start of something we’re really proud of. Whether you’re an established developer, a builder weighing up your first project, or simply someone who wants a second opinion on the numbers behind a deal, we’d love to help.

We’re looking forward to supporting FMB members and their clients — and to helping more builders take that exciting step from building for others to building for themselves.