To ensuite or not to ensuite?

Unless the house is big you do not need ensuite for each bedroom. 4 beds one or two ensuites, family bathroom.

Having said that I do have a four bed, four ensuites but all rooms are very large doubles and we have the office, downstairs loo, boot room and utility. So works very well when we have guests to stay.

I would like a gym and pool...............

I expect at least one en suite nowadays in a medium-large family home - we rent a tiny old 2-bed terraced but have one (shower only) plus full family bathroom and it really has been a benefit rather than detracting from our bedroom. There is a powerful little fan inside, so we don't get the shit stench others are mentioning, but DP more often than not uses the family bathroom for one of his prodigious dumps unless actually 'in' the bedroom iyswim.

En suites for every bedroom is rather overkill, though. I might expect it from a large mansion, or one of those big houses people can rent for the week, but I think 1 or 2 max per 3-6 bedrooms plus a family bathroom is nice. Anyway, I thought home office spaces were meant to be way higher up on desirability these days.

@wotsitallfor
"Mumsnet hates en suites so that's the consensus you'll get in here"

Is MN a hive mind?

I wouldn't even bother viewing a house with more than one en suite unless the bedrooms were all still a decent size (which they usually aren't in this type of house).

I'd much rather have great storage/walk in wardrobes than ensuites. I don't like sleeping that close to a shower/toilet, I want them as far away from the sleeping area as possible ideally.

Nope and I would only have an en-suite in our bedroom if there was no toilet. My husbands shit stinks so bad and o don’t want to wake up to that in my bedroom.

You have to think about the market you are aiming to sell to. A 4 bed detached in a good area is going to be pretty expensive. In the south east possibly £1m plus. Someone spending that kind of money is definitely going to want more than one bathroom to service four bedrooms. They wouldn't buy a house only offering that. I would agree that having an ensuite for all four bedrooms PLUS a family bathroom is completely over the top especially if it results in smaller bedrooms. Judging from my area having two ensuite, a family bathroom for the other two bedrooms plus a downstairs toilet would be absolutely fine.

As to the cleaning concern, someone buying in this price bracket would generally be paying someone else to clean their bathrooms!

Also hate ensuites. We have rebuilt a derelict house and one of the choices we had, given where the walls were and could be moved to/built, was that a smaller room off our bedroom could either be an ensuite or my office. We agreed immediately that it would be my office. There will be a big bathroom upstairs (just us and DS l will live there) and a smaller guest one downstairs (which will no doubt be mostly used by DH for sitting on the loo for inexplicably long periods).

Based on my preferences and friends homes ( London mc 30s/40s)

“required” in order to drop £1m+
en-suite in master
family bathroom
downstairs WC

nice to have
“guest suite” that is slightly separate with own bathroom
and / or
Jack and Jill bathroom (connects to two bedrooms)

depending on house size and bedrooms the most I’d probably be looking at it is a family bathroom 2 en-suites and a WC.

id also be irritated if I saw a house with multiple cramped 11x11 bedrooms with en-suites tacked on. Just give me an 11x19 or equivalent sized room!!!

I really wouldn't want a big chunk taken out of my bedroom for an en suite. I live in a fairly typical suburban semi; I sleep on the side of the bed nearest the bedroom door, so my walk to the bathroom is quicker than it is to get to the en suite in some hotels I've stayed in.

Mumsnet hates en suites so that's the consensus you'll get in here.

We have 4 beds, 3 with en-suite, family bathroom and cloakroom downstairs. It's one too many.

We'd not buy a house without (or without potential for ) master en-suite, guest en-suite, family bathroom and cloakroom.

Upstairs would rather a study, even if tiny, or a gym. Would much prefer a boot room shower downstairs or external entry shower/ loo for when using the pool.

4 bed house - 1 en-suite to master bedroom / 1 upstairs family bathroom / 1 downstairs toilet.

3 bed house - 1 upstairs bathroom / 1 downstairs toilet

An en-suite for every bedroom would put me off, I would much rather have more space and fewer toilets to clean.

@creamsnugjumper
"We rip them out. Why on earth do people want to sleep in a room they poo and wee in!!"

This 100% 😬😬😬

An en-suite to master bedroom is very normal these days, especially in new builds. But I wouldn’t want them in all bedrooms. Especially if you’ve got young kids, I’d worry about them getting up in the night and messing about in their bathroom. I also think it’s a bit pointless taking up bedroom space with a tiny en-suite. Would rather have the extra space for storage etc.
The ideal would be one en-suite, one nice decent sized family bathroom and a downstairs toilet.

I agree with this! We have an en suite for our master bedroom, but when I need to do a poo and my OH is still in bed I go to the other bathroom because I just prefer that there's at least one other door between me and him to reduce any noise or smells! (He does the same for me too 😂😂).

I hate ensuites with a passion. I probably wouldn't immediately tear it out if I bought a house with one, but I'd not put one in my own house. Equally, if I was between two houses, one with an ensuite and one with a storage cupboard/small walk in closet occupying the equivalent space of the ensuite, I'd 100% go for storage. I just find them grim and pointless. But that's just me, others love them.

En suites are bleurgh. It wouldn't entirely put me off a property, but we are light sleepers and wouldn't be able to use the loo in the night without waking the other one up, so it wouldn't get much use anyway.

We rip them out. Why on earth do people want to sleep in a room they poo and wee in!!

It's your project and your home and I agree office space is now more important than cleaning multiple bathrooms.

I think en suite to master bedroom, family bathroom and downstairs toilet is enough, I would not buy a property with multiple en suites, I have enough to clean. Many houses have them in each bedroom now, it's ridiculous. Our en suite is just shower and basin, as I don't want a toilet in the bedroom.

What price point? How many bedrooms? Overall square footage?

Plus en suites are horrendous for shift workers. I get up at 4.30am for work, I'm not going to be popular with Dh if I'm showering inches from him.

Agree that it depends on number of bedrooms and if it’s a family home or HMO. I suspect that your architect is thinking about the latter hence this suggestion.
I think en-suite in a main bedroom makes sense, especially if it’s on separate floor. If there is another bedroom on a separate floor it makes sense to get there en-suite as well if possible. But in a classic semidetached house with 3 bedrooms on one floor there is no need whatsoever to make 3 en-suites - 1 en-suite and one family bathroom is fine.

This... why on earth would I want DH's shits wafting around my bedroom?

I hate en-suites. Especially in smaller properties where the space is needed for storage or just living. They can be noisy for the other person in a double room and someone has to clean and maintain all those showers. My ideal would be a spacious downstairs shower with toilet in case of disability, and a full bathroom on each floor with bedrooms. A loo on any other floors without bedrooms.

Three beds or more I'd go with en suite . They are pretty common now. And can alway use a bedroom as office