For new build home owners....

[izzybee55]

If you knew back then what you knew now, would you buy a new build again? I definitely wouldn't. From the endless list of snags (we've been waiting 8 weeks now for them to come and lift the flooring to see the source of a leak) to the JCB reversing beepy noise at 7am every morning (bar sunday), because we still live on a building site. Needless to say the builders don't give a hoot once you're in and more often than not they throw these houses up.

I know I'm lucky to be a homeowner and older houses come with their fair share of issues too, but if I had my time again I definitely would not buy a new build. Thoughts!?

I’ve liked both my newbuilds but on here they are hated.

Yes, we had very few problems and we knew if anything came up it would be fixed. As with anything, new or older houses can have problems and I've known both to happen. I love a new build with everything fresh and unused so would definitely do it again.

Yes I would. I haven't had any real issues.

We have bought two houses in the last 8 years. Both times used the filters on property search sites to exclude new builds

Yes, I would, I love new builds. In fact I have never lived in a house that has been previously lived in by anyone else.

My parents bought a new build, many years before I was born.
Then my DH and I have only ever bought new builds, 3 of them.

We love where we live now, moved in around 17 years ago. We have 3 showers and the day we moved in we couldn't use any of them. 2 of them were scalding hot and one stone cold. The next day the builders adjusted 2 of the showers, the 2 that were scalding hot. But the one that was stone cold had been plumbed into the cold water twice, they had to get the tiles off the wall to fix that one.

We have had a few problems, but nothing major. It definitely wouldn't stop me buying a new build in the future.

We have had three new builds and I don’t think I’d want a secondhand house. Yes, there is always snagging, but it’s fixed as quickly as possible.

It very much depends on the developer , whether the houses are of a good standard. There are some I wouldn’t touch with the proverbial barge pole, but I know which ones I think do a good job.

People talk about parking issues and character features and then change their character property to something more modern. The worst parking issues locally are in a street of Victorian houses.

I’ve bought 3 houses in my life, all new builds
No regrets at all

You must all have better builders than I do

We live in one and love it. Yes, there were snags but nothing major. I agree it completely depends on the builder. Our last taxi told us he could tell which builders each ride had (there are three or four across the development) by how happy they were with things.

Some builders have a poor reputation and most people know who they are. Generally, they’ll be the ones who have cheaper properties and build quickly and do t provide any extras, like flooring, cheap light switches etc. You get to know the ones who provide better quality.

We just moved into a newbuild. Never in a million years thought we’d buy a newbuild (loved from a listed Georgian property) but the amount of work the older properties we viewed needed doing (kitchens and bathrooms) really put me off now we have two children. We viewed a newbuild and were converted! So far we are absolutely loving it, but it is a very naice expensive house on a great development with amazing views and sunsets. We had a snagging survey done which picked up about 160 things but nearly all were tiny decorative things and only a couple of minor structural bits. The site manager says hello and waves to me most days and already a lot of the snags have been sorted. They only have two more plots to finish/sell so it won’t be a building site for long and for now my two boys are loving watching all the diggers and dumpers!

So yes, I’d definitely do it again.

It will really depend on the builder/development.

Love our new build and would buy a new house again if we were to move. The layout is exactly how we like, including having enough toilets and bathrooms. It's well insulated and energy efficient, with solar panels. The garage fits two cars and the development isn't cluttered with loads of on-street parking. There were minor snags that were fixed right away.

Our first two properties were new builds and then last year we bought out 1970s house, absolutely love it and would never buy a new build again! The building work didn't bother me but snagging was an issue and maintenance fees, we have so much more room in our older house too

We are in our third. Each one had problems but this one was the worst. We discovered that our stairs were not anchored to the house! Thank goodness for the nhbc because the builders wouldn't talk to us. When decorating our hallway we took down the vent above the airing cupboard to discover that there was no hole just the metal grill. We had a leaking roof one day and when we contacted the builder he sent a joiner round. There were lots of other things too but I hate to think what else there is that we haven't found yet. And by the way this is a major builder.

We live in a new build and we are still fighting to get the snagging list finished 18 months later.

If I had my time again, I'd pay for a professional snagging list to be done, it's expensive but they deal with the builders on your behalf and capture flaws you might miss.

Our development was finished when we moved in, I'd think twice about moving into a building site. But in theory I'd buy a new build again.

We haven't had any massive issues, a few things a bit crappy and we've waiting ages for them to turf our garden. they keep turning up the day after it's been torrential rain and saying 'oh it's too wet, bye'. This has happened three or so times

I think on threads like this we need to remember there’s a big difference between an estate of 200 houses chucked up almost overnight and a small cluster of executive homes. We could be discussing entirely different things here.

We rented a new build and I didn’t rate it. Have since moved to an old ex council house and would consider a new build now if they built some in the right area for us.

Not from the same builder but they've gone bust so...

Building a hatch which was too small to access the stopcock
Using a ceiling rose as a junction box
Designing the bathroom so if any work needs doing on the sink you have to lie legs in the hallway and dislocate your neck
Designing the toilet with boxing so you can't change the toilet seat (physically impossible to reach the screws underneath)
Leaving bare electrics next to a sharp metal strip then being surprised when the whole hallway lights went bang

3 new builds
Recently bought 1930's house
Different issues tbh

New build clean and cheap to maintain vs smaller garden and less privacy

1930's needs work and more expensive to heat vs huge garden and lots of privacy

New build was great when kids young however now children older we have time to do any work.

Horses for courses

My house is a new build, same for a few of my friends and family. I’m happy with it and would buy one again despite any issues we’ve had.

I think some new builds are crap and some older houses are crap too. I don’t think you can lump all properties into old/new categories and judge them based off that.

If I could live in a beautiful 300 year old palace, I’d drop my 3 bed house like a hot potato obviously. On the other hand, if I were offered a derelict 1 bed bungalow from the 60s for example, that wouldn’t be for me.

It also depends on how the new builds compare to what else is on the area. I live in a fairly run down city where the older properties largely consist mainly of small semis/terraced and council properties that are a bit dated. If I lived in a picturesque rural village, I’d be less likely to buy a new build on the outskirts than I would an older house with a lovely mature garden bang in the centre of everything

The fact there are companies that make a profit from managing new build customers snagging lists should really tell people all they need to know about new builds.

My new build is fine and I'd buy one again. Snagging was sorted swiftly as builders were still on site.

We had a new build and there were a few snagging issues but on the whole it was ok.

Two main issues with new builds for me - many are now leasehold houses, which isn't acceptable, and/or private developments so you have to pay a service charge even if the house is freehold. And the other issue is that they are overpriced. There is a new development near me where the house prices start at £510K. It's in the middle of nowhere, no local amenities. The houses may be very nice but the prices are nonsense.

Our first house was an 18mth old 'new build' It was actually quite a good thing as we got the benefit of the initial issues being resolved and also had carpets etc.

I do live in a 1960's house, I do smile wryly at the 'new builds are all the same' as there is pretty much 4 house designs, so at first it would have been the same.

We did look at new builds but the space was generally small and they didn't meet our needs. My concern is always about how quickly they go up. Also many new builds near by are being built alongside main dual carriageways.

We had two new builds, first one was fine but the second -OMG - it was at the end of phase 2 of a 3 phase build and just as the walls went up, the builder was taken over by David Wilson Homes who then finished both our house and the one next door. Within a week of moving in, both properties had a snagging list over 200 items long.

To cut a very long story short, we ended up taking legal action against DWH as they only created more problems when they 'fixed' the original ones, accusing us of lying, becoming belligerent and rude saying ridiculous things like our carpet fitters had caused the concrete floor base (under the actual floorboards!) to be uneven. Ended up settling out of court and said no more builders to enter our house - we got professionals to solve the issues which they did very quickly and easily. Neighbours also negotiated a settlement for their problems which werent quite as bad as ours.

Conversely my partner has just bought a new build and only had 5 snagging items, one of which was a missing knob on a cupboard - easily solved . it does depend on the builder!!