New build homes in the UK are a bit depressing

[Glasgoow]

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.

The Barratt one also describes a separate dining room but doesn't have one.

Look into buying a house that is 15-20 years old. They are mostly well insulated, you get a bit more space than today's new builds. And the trees and gardens have had a chance to mature a bit so it breaks up how overlooked they might feel.

I love my new build , I've 4 big double bedrooms, bathroom, ensuite, downstairs toilet. Mine is 4 beds over 3 stories. Theres no garage and a smallish garden but I don't like the garden so win, win. There's a big green built so all the kids play out, its set away from the houses. My vacuum cleaner lives in the glory hole, my ironing board lives in the hotpress. Its not an actual hotpress but its a big cupboard on the landing that we hang coats, store toilet rolls usually crap thrown in.

I love my house with a passion, it heats up and retains the heat really well, but I've lived in some awful, damp, falling apart tips before.

it seems the majority of the new builds that people say are great are large 4 bed executive builds not the 2/3 bed new builds

surely those executive homes were pretty ££££ compared to the 2/3 bedders

though i must say the idea of low maintenance sounds great

Off topic - but the first time I heard hotpress was in Norn Ireland - is it NI, Scottish, or not regional? We called it an airing cupboard in the (English) Midlands when I was growing up - but I prefer Hot Press.

Yes hot press here in NI. I used to think an airing cupboard was a whole other thing until i asked for clarification here on MN

wasonthelist I'm in Northern Ireland

I agree op and they have small windows.

Tiny gardens and huge sound problems with sound bouncing off all packed in houses and over looked by many.

But then I have never understood why people want to live on estates.

All houses the same, etc.

YANBU. In Scotland we have the Home Report which does actually give the m2 of houses and we looked into the new builds which were going up in our town. For pretty much treble the price of our ex council 2 bed flat we could get the cheapest 3 bedroom detached.On closer inspection we also saw that the 3 bedroom was less m2 than our 2 bedroom so all the rooms must have been bloody tine. Needless to say we did not bother and went with a 1900s stone build house which was considerably cheaper and 4 times the space.

"But then I have never understood why people want to live on estates.

All houses the same, etc."

Really? Did you give it much thought?

yes!! really curley

I do not like estates. sorry if this offends you.

I have friends who love their estates, and would also choose to live on an estate over a village, or road, or house in a field.

They love estate living and I cant stand it.

OK!

When we were looking we noticed that the downstairs of new builds were often lovely. Spacious and well laid out. But as you ventured upstairs it suddenly became clear that new home builders are obsessed with squeezing as much upstairs as they can. Most of the rooms would barely take much furniture with the exception of the bed. And there were bathrooms shoved all over the place.

OP, I agree completely. Most new builds are awful. The style of architecture is generic & uninspiring. There's no vision, character or beauty at all.

yes!! really curley

So youve given it some thought, you even have friends who love it yet you dont understand why some people do. You didnt get very far with that thinking did you?

I do not like estates
You dont have to like them to see why others do. Thats like saying you dont like chicken and cant see why others do.

sorry if this offends you.

it doesnt, random, hard of thinking strangers' opinions have little impact on my feelings. Im not that sensitive. Nor do i live on an estate.

ilovechristmas123 my friend's 2-bed new build has a good sized lounge, fair sized kitchen diner, huge cupboard under the stairs, downstairs loo and two very big bedrooms. I was really surprised by this as I'd expected one of the bedrooms to be a box room. I thought her garden was also tiny when I first saw it until she had it properly landscaped this summer and held a bbq for 50 people in it! It's amazing how much space you actually have when it's properly utilised. It was marketed as a started home but it has a lot more space than plenty of 20-30 year old semis I've been in. These types of houses are out there, you just have to seek them out.

pico2 - the dimensions for the Barrats home linked to above are at the bottom of the page next to the floor plan and they don't look too bad to me! Lounge is 21'8x10'4, which is is plenty in my eyes and I read the kitchen and dining room as separate measurements for one space rather than separate rooms. If you combine the two spaces, that's actually a very good size. It's not too far off the size ours which is 21 x11'2' and ours looks and feels spacious. The master bed at 12'8x10 isn't bad either, especially since it comes with double built in wardrobes. Our second bedroom and DD1's room is roughly this size and it houses plenty! Even bedroom 4 could probably take a double bed at a squeeze. I'd say the house was quite well proportioned.

We live in a newish build (compared to everywhere else we've lived - about 15 years old rather than Victorian / Edwardian) and I love it. Yes the (3) bedrooms are all a bit small and I wouldn't want to have more than one child here, but it is SO easy to keep clean compared to our previous houses. And quiet. And we have a driveway and a garage which feels like complete luxury.

I've always been a bit snooty about estates / new houses but our circumstances changed financially and for some reason round here newer houses seem to be cheaper so here we are. I think even if we came into more money now I would still go for something newer, which I would never have said a couple of years ago!

Its a good job people like different things.

I'd much rather live on an estate than a main road.

I have a huge garden but my neighbours still manage to annoy me.

I am going to buy a new build.
It is a bit smaller than where I am now but I'm happy to sacrifice that for clean, fresh, modern and absolutely no Diy.

I don't like ' unpolished' houses.

I like houses that don't need anything doing to them.

I also can't wait for my 3 toilets.

I had 3 toilets before and didn't realise how much I would miss them with my current house.

I also miss not graving a drive but will be sacrificing my large garden.

I have been in quite a few older houses that have been altered and they often seem very odd. You can tell that the basic design has been alt reed and it doesn't feel right at all.

I have also been in some houses with fantastic extensions that have enhanced the original design.

So youve given it some thought, you even have friends who love it yet you dont understand why some people do. You didnt get very far with that thinking did you?

I don't understand why they choose them outright and wouldn't even think of living outside of one, no.
But I guess its the same reason some people would never ever dream of booking their own holiday. You book through Thompsons and that's what you do.

I find them totally depressing Curley when I enter them I feel like I am entering a micro world and it makes me feel suffocated.

I hate that the houses all look the same and you graduate or try too, from a smaller one to a larger one.

I dislike the gardens, teeny and tiny and over looked. I do not like the lay outs.

So yes, I struggle to understand why they like them and choose to live there.

YANBU. That's all.

3 toilets,think of the toilet rolls,suppose you never run out

I lived in what is most people's dream rural location and hated it. I loved my last estate, ended up with fabulous friends in the neighbours but not in each other's pockets.

I'm now living on a very new development and already the sense of community is present.

You like what you like in terms of home. So there's never going to be a uniform fits all house.

However, I disagree with the op. It is just a massive generalisation. I think whether new build, old build self build people have huge expectations now when buying a house, which I suppose fair enough, it's a bloody hard thing to obtain, fraught with risk due to no legal support throughout the buying process, and the most major purchase of your life is based on sold as seen with only a couple of viewings.