merchant builder

Meanings

1. 1nouncountable

   A person or firm that both pays for a building project and carries out the construction, selling or renting the finished property.

   Grammar: Countable: one merchant builder, two merchant builders.

   Patterns

   • a merchant builder
   • work as a merchant builder

   The estate was developed by a merchant builder who financed and built the houses himself.

   Unlike a contractor, a merchant builder takes on the financial risk of the whole project.

2. 2nouncountable

   A trader who also makes or assembles the goods he sells, especially in a historical setting.

   Grammar: Often used in history writing about trade and craft.

   Patterns

   • a merchant builder of something

   He was a merchant builder of ships, buying timber and selling the finished vessels.

   In the old port, merchant builders both traded goods and constructed the warehouses.

Word forms

Common combinations

a successful merchant builder

A successful merchant builder can fund several sites at once.

the merchant builder model

The merchant builder model means one company owns and builds the homes.

act as a merchant builder

The firm agreed to act as a merchant builder for the new estate.

Synonyms and how they differ

developer

A developer usually funds and organizes a project but hires others to build; a merchant builder also does the building.

contractor

A contractor is paid to build for someone else, while a merchant builder builds on his own account.

Word family

merchant noun

A person who buys and sells goods in large amounts.

build verb

To construct something such as a house or road.

building noun

A structure with walls and a roof, or the activity of constructing.

Commonly confused: merchant builder or master builder?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “merchant builder”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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