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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to wonder why new houses are so badly designed?

192 replies

StarlingMurmuration · 03/07/2015 14:59

We're planning to move house soon and I've just spent an enjoyable though frustrating half hour on Rightmove, wondering why on earth modern houses are so poorly designed. We have been renting a small three bed new build terrace, with a WC on the ground floor, and a family bathroom and ensuite on the first floor... I liked my ensuite but at the same time thought it was ridiculous as two of the three bedrooms were significantly smaller than they needed to be to allow the ensuite to fit. But I've just seen a house that takes the biscuit. A four bed, three floor semi with five (FIVE!) toilets/bathrooms. A WC on the ground floor and one on the first floor, a family bathroom and two ensuites. Meanwhile the master bedroom and the second bedroom with ensuites are both tiny (9'5" x 8'11"), and the other bedrooms are even smaller. Why in earth do developers think people want so many bathrooms at the expense of actual room space? AIBU to find this infuriating, or does everyone else actually ant five toilets in a four bedroom house?

OP posts:
DisappointedOne · 03/07/2015 19:31

Hmmmm. Remind me. Is it fun to walk around SF? Can you teach a child to ride a bike easily outside your house in SF? What happens when handbrakes fail in SF?

DisappointedOne · 03/07/2015 19:32

Our estate doesn't get gritted when it snows. If the roads didn't snake down the hill nobody would be able to get out!

TinklyLittleLaugh · 03/07/2015 19:43

We have five bedrooms and four bathrooms. It absolutely comes into its own when you have three or four teens all wanting a shower at the same time on a school morning or a Saturday night. And yes our boiler is absolutely massive.

notinagreatplace · 03/07/2015 19:46

Our house is new build and I love it - partly because of the bathrooms.. we have an en suite, a bathroom for the spare room, and a toilet downstairs. So, when we have guests (which is frequent), they have their own and, when we have people over socially, they don't have to go upstairs.

The design that I absolutely hate is those houses that have the main bathroom off the kitchen downstairs - who wants to traipse that far for a shower?!

Original poster
StarlingMurmuration · 03/07/2015 19:48

We've noticed while we've been house hunting that new builds have really rubbish front gardens as well. Even the really high end estates. There's a Redrow estate going up near us, and it looked great on paper, but when we looked round, the houses were practically on the street. And this is four and five bedroom places for sale for over £500k. It beggars belief.

OP posts:
Apatite1 · 03/07/2015 19:49

That house has squeezed 4 beds and 5 loos into 1500 sq ft! We have 5 beds and 3 loos in over 3500 sq ft and was worried about it being cramped Confused

Mass builders are out to maximise profit, end of. If you want a decent new house, you have to build it yourself.

DisappointedOne · 03/07/2015 19:55

The design that I absolutely hate is those houses that have the main bathroom off the kitchen downstairs - who wants to traipse that far for a shower?!

My first house was a victorian terrace that had the only toilet/bathroom downstairs at the back in an extension behind the kitchen (there was a utility area in-between). I lived there alone for many years and it never bothered me. I never even bothered getting dressed to go from bedroom to bathroom.

PoorNeglectedBike · 03/07/2015 20:05

Well we used to have CABE. then the government in their infinite wisdom did away with them leaving no one to champion the built environment

There are good developers. pj livesey is one. But the issue is land prices. There are small profits to be made when land is at a premium and very expensive. Developers have to squeeze every possible parameter to get any sort of return. And here in the uk we have a peculiar habit of looking at number of bedrooms / bathrooms rather than square meters and awarding status accordingly.

ChanandlerBongsNeighbour · 03/07/2015 20:12

We have a three bed fairly new build a d I HATE the master bedroom ensuite, just awful awful design and planning, it literally cuts out a quarter of the bedroom. I just cant understand the thought (or lack of!) behind the layout, SOOO much wasted space!! Our previous property was a new build flat purchased off plan and the ensuite was an absolute spacial dream (maybe I've been spoilt?). Definitely the first thing to change if we could ever afford to!

lljkk · 03/07/2015 20:18

What happens when handbrakes fail in SF?

by law in California you have to curb your front wheels when parking on a hill and leave the car parked in gear (or Park on an Auto). I find it amazing Brits aren't taught to do this. Never never rely on parking brake alone.

The cross streets are parallel to the slope, so can teach a kid to cycle there as well as anywhere. I dunno, I grew up in hilly neighbourhoods & managed. (My brothers used to skateboard down at speed, am not endorsing that).

lljkk · 03/07/2015 20:24

Pittsburgh is snowy & hilly with many roads in grid patterns, the cyclists manage.

Baddz · 03/07/2015 20:27

My sister lives in a 3 floor 5 bed.
Tiny plot...our garden is much bigger. Garage so small you can't actually get a car in it! Or you could but you'd have to climb out of out of the sunroof!
Built on land that floods so her back garden turns into a swamp in autumn/winter.
She has just knocked through the kitchen and dining room to make a decent sized kitchen diner.
No storage. None. At all.
None of the rooms are that big really. My lounge is larger (3 bed det)
It cost them £340k which is a lot round here (East mids)
I also have a pantry and a cubby hole in the second bedroom and a decent sized loft.
I would never, ever buy a new build!

Pipbin · 03/07/2015 20:32

The design that I absolutely hate is those houses that have the main bathroom off the kitchen downstairs - who wants to traipse that far for a shower?!
Houses that have this aren't designed like this. They are generally old properties that were built without bathrooms and the bathroom is an extension.

I find it amazing Brits aren't taught to do this. Never never rely on parking brake alone

We are taught this. We do have hills here as well you know. Hmm

Hulababy · 03/07/2015 20:44

If always choose an en suite over a bigger bedroom. I don't spend that much time in my bedroom awake, or not in bed. We don't have a TV in the bedroom or anything. So I just need space for a king size bed, and clothes storage. After that I'm happy without lots of space.

I would always prioritise living space in terms of living room and an open plan kitchen over bedroom space too, and over a big garden - latter I'm not interested in at all so long as I can find room for somewhere decent to sit out there.

CrispyFern · 03/07/2015 20:53

Yes! So true! We've been looking and I absolutely agree. New builds are not fit for living in. Where are you meant to put your things with no cupboards anywhere? Why are you paying £150k more to live in a five bed house the same size as the 1970s three bed house except with a tiny dark overlooked minuscule garden?

ghostyslovesheep · 03/07/2015 20:56

oh I must live in a rare new build - huge under the stairs cupboard, huge landing cupboard and a triple built in wardrobe Grin

MehsMum · 03/07/2015 20:59

There are some swanky-looking new flats near us so I trotted around Rightmove to take a look. 2 moderately-sized bedrooms, not-huge living dining, tiny kitchen area, bathroom, en suite. WTF? Remove the bloody en suite and use the freed-up floorspace so you have somewhere for a table. Or use half of it to make more table-space, and the other half for a closet. I adult-shared with a (male) friend years ago: 2 bedrooms, one bathroom. It was never a problem.

The wonderful, huge built-in cupboards in old Scottish flats should be compulsory in all new build flats now. As for en suites: we had German friends who did not at all get the English obsession with en suites, esp given how small so many houses are here.

That said, I have seen some really nice new build houses round here, but they cost an arm and a leg, and the gardens are still tiny and the parking is crap if you have guests.

I swear in the future historians will look back at this time and conclude that everyone was incontinent.
Grin

MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig · 03/07/2015 21:11

God there's not even a utility room in that house. Where do you put all your crap? And why would you need another living room upstairs? They weren't quite sure what they were doing with that design were they?

Purplehonesty · 03/07/2015 21:12

When we did our barn conversion we put four beds and four wc in.
But that was because our layout is weird - two bedrooms upstairs so we put an ensuite in one so people staying didn't have to come downstairs in the night.
En suite in our bedroom downstairs as I didn't want to share a bathroom with the kids....
Family bathroom for the aforementioned dc
And a loo/sink in the utility room so that kids didn't have to trek through the house to use the loo whilst playing in the garden.
Works well as I don't ever have to share a loo with Dh!!

SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker · 03/07/2015 21:49

www.mysandcastle.com/726.5.html

LLjkk, that neighbourhood is a nightmare, parking is horrific, the houses are completely crammed together and honestly it shouldn't have been built in in that way, it is likely to liquify in an earthquake because so much of it is on sand. I think it is one of the worst neighbourhoods in terms of planning in the city, way too many houses, all higgledy piggeldy and all way too big for the land they are on.

lljkk · 04/07/2015 00:01

only the most expensive real estate in the city, though

Layde · 04/07/2015 01:38

OP, we looked at buying a house there when we bought our current house. We decided against as we felt the estate was really weirdly laid out, the houses felt imposing and the gardens too small. We now live in the next village across, having bought a house from the 1990s. (You may well guess where from my name!)

Have to say, the main thing I do not like about modern houses is not so much the inidividual design, but the estates that they are built on. I don't like the current trend for having houses all in very different styles and materials. To me, the estates do not look cohesive, and often having so many three storey houses so close to the road (often without pavements) feels oppressive. I very much felt this when we looked at the new housing estate in Faringdon.

They're building in my village now. I look at the piece of land they've got and every time I drive past, I wonder how on earth they're going to fit 60 odd houses into such a small bit of land.

chrome100 · 04/07/2015 05:33

I really do not see the point of ensuites. Why you would want to lie there and listen to your OH having a piss is beyond me.

chrome100 · 04/07/2015 05:44

And yy to lack of storage.

We live in a 2 bed flat in the basement of a converted house. However, we have a huge walk in cupboard where all the "stuff" lives, so it never feels cluttered (I have been known to sleep in the cupboard when the neighbours are having a party as it's the only place apart from the kitchen that doesn't share a wall with them).

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 04/07/2015 06:30

An en suite is essential IMO, when you have a few dc who become teenagers. Perfect set up is en suite, family bathroom, downstairs wc. Unless your family is enormous
(Numbers of, not shape of) that's enough.

I doubt i would buy a new build anyway, unless I could follow a dream and design my own.