Why are new builds teeny tiny?

[Baptiste11]

Went to view a new housing estate yesterday and had a look round the show home. Well. It was tiny. It was a 3 bed semi with parking for 2 cars but inside I could not believe the room dimensions.

The kitchen/diner had a small table and chairs in, the lounge was so tiny it only had a small two seater and an armchair. The family bathroom had no window and was tiny. The master bedroom did have a small fitted wardrobe but the other two bedrooms had no wardrobe space and were furnished with only a bedside table and dressing table - no room for a chest of drawers etc

For the price of what was obviously meant to be a family home I couldn’t believe how small it was. The thought of spending lockdown in the tiny living room made me shudder. There was also nowhere anyone could work from home - no room for a desk and chair.

How do developers get away with building such tiny properties?

Apparently most of the development is sold out & there is a waiting list for the next phase!
And you have to pay a service charge and a grounds fee every year (which they can increase whenever they want) just for the pleasure of living there!

It is shocking. I know someone who bought a new build 'townhouse' with a living area on the first floor. The staircase was so narrow she couldn't get her sofa up it or armchairs up it. She had a real challenge shopping around for furniture that would fit her teeny tiny house. I swear they are built for mice.

That's why we decided not to go for a new property for our rental. For a similar price to a house like the one you describe we got a 1950s ex council house semi. 3 good sized beds, big sitting room and dining room and a garage and off road parking, also big front and back gardens. Absolutely no contest - I would never buy a new build!

We have a big new build but a lot of them are tiny. People are blinded by the swish fittings in the show homes and the clean finishes

Here it’s just the cheap ones that are

They often seem to be all toilets and car parking spaces these days. I saw one that was two bed with an en-suite, bathroom and downstairs toilet. Why would a two bed house need three toilets?!

More houses = more money.

However, shop around! I'm in a new build (Countryside) and it's nice and spacious, with lots of clever storage built in under and over the stairs, so no more cramming suitcases under my bed etc. The kitchen diner is huge, we have a 6 seater dining table + a free standing dresser in the dining area, living room is smaller but plenty of room for my 6 seater corner sofa + everything else. It's temporary for us but I love it.

There’s a new build development near us which has approved planning but they haven’t started digging yet.

There aren’t any pavements; it’s not clear if emergency vehicles can get round to all bits of the development (bin stores away from houses). Access is via a country Lane with no passing places. The HA houses though ostensibly the same size as the privately owned houses have less parking. It’s going to be a mess.

@EnglishScot

Here it’s just the cheap ones that are

Here the 5 beds are starting at 400k. Which is expensive for the area and the living space downstairs is tiny.

The bedrooms are small and split over 2 floors. They come with one parking space and the road outside is so tiny once you have a car parked up, outside its a struggle to get round them.

There was a thread on this a while ago where I found out they had special small furniture for the show homes to make it seek bigger. I don't think I'd buy a new build if I could help it, they're small, cold in winter and an oven in summer, the restricted covenants are ridiculous and the ones near me seem to mainly turn into high crime areas.

Not only the size/ price issue. We looked at new builds and the uncapped estate management fees on freehold property are really ridiculous on top of council tax. This year it may only be £165 but next year it could be anything with no recourse.

I can’t stand new builds, wouldn’t even consider buying. Sold at premium prices, too small, tiny gardens. The estates always look like toytown to me. Families need homes with space, gardens for children to play. I was speaking to someone the other day, he said he wouldn’t buy a new build, as they use cheap materials, unless they are built for a housing association, when they are higher spec.

It depends on your location and budget. My new build is 1600sq ft, no service charge and parking for 6 cars. Couldn't have got more for our money with an older house here (especially parking).

But there are lots of new build estates here with loads of little houses hemmed in too, much cheaper than mine, just as there are loads of narrow streets with tiny Victorian terraces with no parking over the country. It'll depend on budget and location.

Some new builds are a great design for young families. I've always lived in period houses, but I've visited new houses with the following features you don't always find in old:

As standard, living rooms which give on to safe square, fenced-in gardens, which you can see all corners of, at a glance. No steps down from the French windows - all smooth and fresh, new patio - easy to keep clean.

Downstairs cloakrooms, often with shower.

Large kitchens with dining table - but not as large and draughty as a knock-through would be where one Victorian/30s kitchen and dining room are combined into one massive room.
An ensuite bathroom for one bedroom, family bathroom too.

Built- in bedroom cupboards.

Parquet floors which are easy to wash.

Often a garage, and quite often approachable from an inside door, so handy if you want a freezer in there or storage of stuff you need to access.

Often new builds are small, but not a bad size for little children and their equipment.

A local corner shop and grassy space within walking distance.

Years ago I sat down in an armchair in a showhouse to adjust my sandal and could hardly squeeze into it, even though fairly slim.

That was when I realised they often furnish with extra small furniture.

It was about twenty-five years ago so not recent.

I keep drumming in to my kids do not buy a shiny new build. Apart from the tiny rooms and pathetic gardens there always seem to be issues with them. People complaining about the workmanship.
They go up quickly and use the cheapest materials and they cost a bloody fortune compared to what you get for an ex council house which are far more sturdier and roomier.

@Walkerbean16

we have bought a new build, it is really big, room sizes are brilliant garden is a good size, however the development is split into part Persimmon part Charles Church houses and the houses they are building now down our street the entire downstairs is probably smaller than our kitchen/dining room. probably make a nice starter home but they are still 150k!

Where do you live if I may ask??

It’s been the same for ages. At least 25 years ago dh and I looked at a new build in London - all very beautifully show-homed, but you could tell a mile off that the furniture was pint-sized, inc. a small (4 foot!) double bed in what was supposed to be a master bedroom!

New builds are so often overpriced per sq m than older properties anyway. When I was looking a few years ago with a dd at flats in SW London, a one bed new build of under 50 sq m (with hefty service charges on top) was going for the same price as several 2 bed Edwardian maisonettes of 70 sq m, in much nicer roads, and most with a small outside space thrown in.

I used to wonder who on earth was ever daft enough to buy the new builds, but of course they did - no doubt seduced by the shiny newness and clever ‘dressing’ in trendy grey and lime green, etc. - never mind that there was nowhere to put anything.

We looked at new builds, the only walls that would be suitable for wardrobes had fittings for televisions
Who designs this shit?

I've lived in several new-build. We bought our first off-plan. We visited the building site when the foundations had just been laid (this was back in 2000, when they were less safety conscious about building sites) and thought we'd come to the wrong plot at first - the house's footprint was so minuscule that we couldn't believe there would be space for all the rooms we were expecting. Once built, it was fine for a starter home, although there wasn't space for a cot next to our bed .

When we sold that house, the estate agent described it as having two double bedrooms, which always seemed a stretch - technically you could shoehorn a small double bed into the second bedroom, but then you wouldn't be able to fit in a wardrobe or chest of drawers, so it definitely wasn't practical to use it as a double bedroom.

We have also lived in a much larger new build with a big garden, and that was lovely. Plenty of space both within and around the houses. So, not all new-builds are tiny but you do have to approach them with a certain amount of scepticism about room size and storage, and not allow yourself to be enchanted by the shiny surfaces and carefully staged rooms.

They are a mess once you get your stuff in as there isn't space for everything, main feature of the tiny garden is the wheels bins - and parking wars breaks out regularly.

We are not in a position to buy so can only speak from a tenting point of view - We have recently moved from an older local authority house to a local authority new build. We assumed it would be tiny but this particular development the houses are a really good size. Don’t have measurements to hand but examples would be: lounge big enough for 2 4 seater sofas, armchairs, footstool and media unit.. entire middle of room still empty enough the kids can play happily. Kitchen big enough for a 8 seater dining table. The “ box room” as labelled on plans has a double bed, an armchair, chest of drawers, wardrobe and floor space.

Other local authority new builds we have seen have been the opposite and families are packed in like sardines

There was a Channel 4 Dispatches programme on the New Build Scandal, tiny room sizes is just a part of it.

The big developers are operating rip off after rip off, you have to be so careful. There is the leasehold rip off, the telling you it's finished when it isn't rip off, the failing to install the proper fire safety measures rip off, the only giving you one day to report any snags rip off. Now the cladding scandal too.

As the programme said, you have more consumer protection when you buy a toaster than a new house. Never ever use the solicitor recommended by the developers, always get your own.

You have to be very careful and check everything

Some new builds aren't small. You just need to look around.

One of my friends lives on an estate of new builds in the SE. The first phrase the houses are tiny and have some really odd "features" e.g. kitchen door placement. The second phrase houses - which she lives in - have a decent size houses but they have issues over parking. The houses on this phrase are bigger because of they are located near a nature reserve the developer had to keep, so they are targeted at a different market. Thanks to Covid I've not managed to nosy around the third phrase.

In my area of London due to locals like me making a fuss developers know they have to be careful of the number of properties they build. They know if they push the numbers to high then we will object strongly to their planning application. So new build houses are bigger than many of the houses built in the area in the 1980s and 1990s. They are also designed to fit in with the style of the existing houses they are near on the road. I have two friends who live in new build houses like this. One didn't want a new build house but that's all she find in the area at the time.

They know if they push the numbers to high then we will object strongly to their planning application.

It's not just about money for developers and size preference for buyers though, my area has been designated as one for development and as such the council have targets for house building, they have rejected applications that are not dense enough because they feel an area of land can host more homes.

Many residents tried to reject planning applications based on density and traffic concerns, but were swiftly ignored (and rightly so in my opinion, the area was in dire need of housing).

Also with parking there was a push to not have too many parking spaces by some councils to "encourage" public transport which is why parking can be dire in some areas. I spoke to an architect who told me about all the secret parking spaces he'd created in Milton Keynes but weren't allowed to be designated as parking!