Why do so many new builds have en-suites/lots of bathrooms?

[Bloodybrambles]

Just out of curiosity really. Growing up I don’t really remember them being much of a thing. Maybe large houses (4+ bedrooms) would have an en-suite off the master bedroom. I remember house hunting with my parents as a kid and a downstairs toilet was a deal breaker. Even then I don’t remember that many houses having en-suites/lots of bathrooms (I feel like we viewed hundreds of houses).

A few of my friends live in new builds and something I’ve noticed is a lot of bathrooms:bedroom/space. One friend has a five bed with five bathrooms! No wonder she has a cleaner…

My best friend has just bought his first house. It’s a cozy two bed, open plan downstairs with a WC, then the master bedroom with en suite and bedroom 2 (just about fit single bed + wardrobe) with the family bathroom opposite. He had been looking with his partner for months and just wanted something in budget, that had at least two bedrooms + parking.

It’s almost made me conscious that we’ve not future proofed with what we hope to be our family home. One family bathroom for three bedrooms (plus wc downstairs).

Then you have a pretty good size house

The three bed detached built near me all have ensuites
And a wardrobe that's smaller than my coat cupboard with no room for more

Then you have a pretty good size house

Because, news flash, houses come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and people have different budgets. Lots of people with small budgets still want bathrooms, and they accept that it means smaller living space. We were those people, we bought a tiny new build as our first home, we chose it for the insulation, modern floor plan and extra toilets, we could have opted for an older house with more space, but that was not our priority. When we had enough equity, we could afford a large new build, with bathrooms AND space.

It's not for you to dictate what people with small budgets should buy, as has been stated throughout this thread, if people wanted more space than they did bathrooms, developers wouldn't spend millions of pounds building them. Those who do want the space, buy the plentiful older stock.

Depending on the size of the property and the number of occupants, I don't think you can have too many bathrooms. Our house was previously a three bed with one bathroom and a separate toilet. One Saturday, we came home from an afternoon of shopping with our kids (two of them at the time) and we were all bursting to go. At that point, we vowed we'd put in a downstairs toilet, which we did a few years after our third chid was born, along with a shower room. I did contemplate ripping out the airing cupboard last year and stealing part of the hallway to make an en-suite in my room but didn't as that would have been nice, but pointless really.

My older two have unofficially moved out - always here at weekends though, and now with partners and two grandchildren - but even when there's just two of us in the house, it's nice not having to share the space. I often have people to stay - at least once every month - so having more than one bathroom is essential.

I love my en-suite, I wouldn’t go back to one bathroom like we had when I was growing up, it’s something y ok wouldn’t really think would make a big difference but it just feels so much nicer having the door open into the bedroom rather than having to queue for the loo and walk along the corridor for a shower when we have guests.

I grew up in a house with an outdoor toilet in the 70s. My older sister and I would always go together because we were scared of spiders 😁

Like this 😁

In one house i had one bathroom and 3 teens age 13-19 and we coped just fine. Everyone just has to learn some common decency like asking if anyone needs to use the loo before they go in to shower and understanding you can only have the bathroom for 30 minutes max and the shower can only run for 5 minutes max. Teaches your children how to live with others.

They can house share for that!

In one house i had one bathroom and 3 teens age 13-19 and we coped just fine.

I grew up in a house with one bathroom, I live to tell the tale, but I don't want to "cope just fine" in my house, it's my home and my standards are higher now.

Exactly
we have 5 in our house as well. Now older but also went through the teenage years with one bathroom as well. It isn’t a problem but I suppose if people want more then as we’ve read here they will have smaller bedrooms.
Priorities are everyone’s choice.

In one house i had one bathroom and 3 teens age 13-19 and we coped just fine.

There’s a difference between coping and having a higher level of living standard. I don’t think any people would actually choose to have just one shared bathroom for a family nowadays.

I'm moving my kitchen into the dining room and making a utility room with separate toilet and shower room in the current kitchen. Upstairs bathroom for two.

Can't wait!

I am really surprised by posters who are ok with sharing bathrooms with their childrens live in partners! That requires fortitude.

@Lentilweaver I'm probably going to deeply regret asking this, but what is it about sharing a bathroom with the partners of adult DC that requires fortitude? In our house some common courtesy is required around adult DC sleepovers (like I don't want to hear them bonking), leaving mugs and plates everywhere and god forbid, if they were filthy beasts who didn't clean the loo after using it and leaving skids everywhere, they'd be hearing from me, but that's just good manners. I'm slightly worried about what it is that requires more than that? 😬

Doing similar here ( if we get permission )
Extending out into existing attached workers toilets to get a utility and grd fl wc and shower rm, mainly because if we sell that’s what people want these days.
Sometimes it’s just about maximising the space you have to make it work for you and the future.

As above, the 200+ year old house I grew up in has had an en-suite since the 1980s.

Oh I don't allow partners to live or stay overnight at all, but I already find it challenging living with young adult children. No way would I able to tolerate other people's children.

We only have one bathroom - and that's downstairs! And for us it's not future proofed for old age as we don't have room for a downstairs bedroom . Thinking now of turning the box room into a toilet/shower room so at least it would be on the same floor as the bedrooms. I find it odd seeing posts on here with people complaining about en-suites being 'disgusting' - it's a luxury to me. I love it when we go away and the bathroom is just next door.

Yes - that would be difficult. Just thinking back when DS was here and his GF stayed over - we all left the house at different times so the morning arguments were just me and DS and one of us showered when the other one walked the dog. I was used to it at the time, but wouldn't want to go back to that and would love to not have to trek downstairs to go to the loo in the night.

Why fortitude? I genuinely don’t see what you mean.

You must be looking at lower priced new builds, a utility is as standard as an en suite these days in a family sized home.

I genuinely dont understand why it is so weird that as a 53 yr old woman, I don't want to share a bathroom with a surly teen boy unrelated to me!

Well I don't think anyone's suggesting you be in there at the same time.

No need to be snide.

You know how most people dont want to live with their mothers because of the lack of privacy? I don't want to live with the partners of my DC. Not unusual.
Would happily live with my mum though and will be in the future.

Anyone buying that will be able to afford a cleaner so what's the problem?