Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Original poster

New build homes in the UK are a bit depressing

155 replies

Glasgoow · 07/09/2015 15:37

I want to move somewhere with better insulation than my 1930s house. Looked around a few new build places and they are just depressing.

They pretend to be all unique by craming different designed houses all on top of each other but its just a ploy to allow them to pack loads in.

The gardens are tiny and either back onto a road or are overlooked.

Looked at one this morning and for a 4 bedroom house they had crammed in 5 toilets, bathroom and two ensuites. I guess if it was a mansion that would be handy, but it wasn't and the bedrooms were tiny with little wardrobe space. It had its own gauarge but this was as part of a "coach house" where they build 4 garages and then a flat on top for someone else to live in. If I was coming back late at night I wouldn't want to use my garage as someone is living on top of it. Drive space for just one car and parking would probably be a nightmare when people come round. Its just cramming all they can in and presenting it with small beds and tables to make it loom bigger. The pictures were very deceiving, they must of sunk the camera into the wall to make it look as big as they did. The windows were all on the small side too.

Just a shame, I want a new home, but a quality one designed to be good to live in not to just maximise their profits.

OP posts:

OurBlanche · 07/09/2015 17:17

Only 6% is built on....

OK. How much of Britain is Highlands and Islands, mountain, water, marsh, flood plain, crumbling coastal, protected, farmed, merely remote, or in any other way unsuitable to build on?

Statistics like that are never of any use to anyone. They don't tell any useful part of the whole story. They are just a soundbite, full of tosh, signifying nothing!

What about infill, brownland and all the other less desirable for builders but more convenient for buyers spaces that could be built on, but won't as the cost of building is higher than building on farmland is, even with the road access that is usually required to be built.

We don't have a lack of land, we don't even have a lack of urban land, not to mention a lot of unused housing stock. We just don't have the collective will to enforce its use.

derenstar · 07/09/2015 17:18

Not all new builds are tiny shoe boxes. Ours is a good size, 4 double beds, large kitchen diner, good size lounge and separate dining room which we currently use as a kids play room. Garden is also a good size and we managed to pick a plot with 4-5 parking spaces in addition to the garage (corner plot at end of a cul de sac). We did however see many terrible examples, the worse ones in my opinion being the three storey ones with weird layouts where the living areas - kitchen and lounge are on different floors. Just couldn't see how that would work for families but they still sold in their droves. Also storage, ours was the only design we saw with cupboard space, one in half way, another under the stairs and one upstairs on the landing housing the hot water tank. Lots of the new builds we saw had none. In fact in one Barrats house we saw, there was not even room for a wardrobe in the master bedroom. The sales person suggested we could put wardrobes on the landing! Needless to say we moved on.

Keep, look there are good ones out there and some developers are better IMO than others. Ours is by Charles Church.

SurlyCue · 07/09/2015 17:19

Yes the lack of storage space is the one that really baffles me. Where do people put their hoovers, suitcases and other household stuff that needs a home?

My friend's new build had zero storage it had a large bathroom, master ensuite and then a wc shoved under the stairs. So her hoover, ironing board, coats, shoes, pram all had to go by the front door in the space between it and the stairs. There wasnt even a tall cupboard in the kitchen you could have used. Really badly planned.

WaggleBee · 07/09/2015 17:20

If you want a shiny newly built house but don't like the ones on offer OP, then build your own?

ghostyslovesheep · 07/09/2015 17:21

my last home - new build, was lovely - 2 big bed rooms, one decent sized small one, big garden (overlooked but not actually overlooked - IE no one could see into the back) huge hall way - I loved it

I am now in a 1970's semi because I needed 4 rooms - I love it as well

Some new builds are lovely - you are looking at the wrong ones

ghostyslovesheep · 07/09/2015 17:22

oh and mine had 2 huge storage cupboards - in the hall and on the landing

LuckyWednesday · 07/09/2015 17:23

I live in an older home maybe 1940-50s and the sound proofing is shit!
I moved from a new build where the sound proofing is also shit!
I need a detached bungalow

LuckyWednesday · 07/09/2015 17:24

However both were very large flats just to add but the new build was an open plan kitchen so was small

WaggleBee · 07/09/2015 17:30

The people I've heard in rl sneering about new builds have houses that need a lot of DIY doing, dated decor and scruffy gardens. In their cases I think there's a touch of the

derenstar · 07/09/2015 17:40

wagglebee-I'm inclined to agree with you there. There is a lady at work who lives in a house with 'character' (read falling apart with damp. I know because I've had the misfortune of dropping her home when she was unwell) and she is incredibly scathing about all new builds. I grew up in Victorian terrace where the fourth bedroom couldn't fit a standard single bed so my parents had one made. I suspect it was once a cupboard! DH on the other hand grew up in three bed post- war terrace which was gigantic in proportion to my family home but they had an outside toilet until 1992 and the soundproofing was beyond rubbish! There are good and bad houses across the spectrum I think.

specialsubject · 07/09/2015 17:42

ah yes, the Geldof-logic; we've got loads of spare land so we are not overcrowded.

where does food come from? Clue - the answer is not 'Waitrose'. Oh, and the trivial stuff like transport, water, power, schools, hospitals...

new builds are always huge houses on postage stamp plots, tiny rooms, too many bathrooms. And yet they all seem to sell so more get built. I don't think they are even cheap!

DollyMcDolly · 07/09/2015 17:48

I moved into a new build a good few months ago. I was really surprised at the size of the rooms. Very generous. The storage is, however, shocking. We had to build storage in and now I'm very happy with it. It's a 4 bedroom with 3 bathrooms but we actually need those 3 bathrooms so I'm not complaining. I love it and my bills have reduced a lot even though it's a bigger house than my previous one

wasonthelist · 07/09/2015 17:52

Yes the lack of storage space is the one that really baffles me. Where do people put their hoovers, suitcases and other household stuff that needs a home?

In the garage - there's no chance of fitting a car made since 1959 in there.

Cherrypi · 07/09/2015 17:53

I don't like the curvy roads in New build estates. Our 60s estate has lovely wide straight roads. I appreciate the developers are trying to maximise profit.

wasonthelist · 07/09/2015 17:55

*The people I've heard in rl sneering about new builds have houses that need a lot of DIY doing, dated decor and scruffy gardens. In their cases I think there's a touch of the envy"

Well I wasn't sneering, but I am proud of my "dated" decor and "scruffy" garden (the HORROR), thanks, as well as a garage I can actually fit 2 cars and a couple of lawnmowers and a workbench and some garden tools in, thanks :)

leftyloosy · 07/09/2015 18:03

Our victorian house has no storage. We have a damp basement, but no under stair cupboard or anything. All our storage is built in by us. And our third bedroom isn't big enough for a single bed, dd as a shorty bed in there.

squoosh · 07/09/2015 18:04

Glasgow tenements are the best for storage. My first flat had two massive walk in cupboards for a one bed flat.

OhFuckWhatHaveIDone · 07/09/2015 18:10

They're trying to accommodate people who decide to have 4 or 5 or 6 kids. Unfortunately we don't have the space to build mansions to house someone's growing brood.

I thought they were trying to accommodate the increasing number of adults who have no hope of getting onto the property ladder so have to spend a decade or more housesharing, actually. Hence the excessive bathrooms - acquaintances don't want to share a bathroom for ten years.

You don't seem to be getting that the main problem is the stupid number of bathrooms taking away all the living space.

SurlyCue · 07/09/2015 18:14

Yes my 1930's terrace has one large double and then two tiny single rooms. dS2 also has to have a shorty as standard single doesnt fit. It also has a postage stamp garden and on street parking, and only one bathroom which is downstairs. however it has masses of storage, cupboard under stairs, large walk in hot press, floor to ceiling built in wardrobes in double room, and a sort of utility area between kitchen and back door. And it is incredibly easy to heat. I would still love a new build though. This house hasnt been maintained well by landlord and it never feels clean to me. So many knooks and crannies and bits added on here and there in a slapdash manner. And lots of leaks.

mamalovebird · 07/09/2015 18:17

All new houses built have to have a downstairs loo to satisfy disability access regulations.

Agree the Barratts and Wimpey homes aren't spacious but I live in a new build from a smaller developer who was involved in the design. The layout was planned really well, we have a bigger garden than most of the older properties in the area, 2 parking spaces in a private car park and it's increased in value since we bought it.

Try contacting your local planning office for smaller developments on your area.

Fromparistoberlin73 · 07/09/2015 18:25

Angelina77

hating hating that one! I don't like new builds that try and look traditional. far prefer something a bit more modern. That said, I quite like "old" new builds once the gardens have a all grown around them.

Aeroflotgirl · 07/09/2015 18:32

I love my new build, shock horror 18 year old Persimmon home, no it's nit falling down. If has 4 decent sized bedrooms, all could quite happily fit a double bed in, a big double garage, and huge garden to back and a decent front garden, it has kerb apoeal too.

ReadtheSmallPrint · 07/09/2015 18:34

I love my 1970s box. Fugly on the outside, lovely on the inside. Big garden, big drive, lots of distance between houses, every bedroom is a double and the equivalent size house on the 'new estate' would cost 100k more (and not be on a bus route).

I could do a lot with 100k.

wasonthelist · 07/09/2015 18:37

My house is fugly on the outside .....and the inside.

Pico2 · 07/09/2015 18:52

I think it's quite telling that the Barratt house linked to above doesn't give measurements for any of the rooms. Some have beds drawn on, but you can draw a bed any size you like. The same is true for some new builds near us. Even though they are using a local agent, there are no measurements on their website/Rightmove.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Swipe left for the next trending thread