I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that

[HoneyDragon]

But the builders behind me seem grimly determined to build the ugliest house ever.

Fair enough I don't have to live in it, but it's going to be awful if they continue. Who wants a fugly house?

They appear to be doing it mainly in Sandstone and then a massive red brick bit at back

Am I missing something about building techniques and it will somehow look nice at the end? Because they want over half a million for it and I'm bewildered as to who will pay it.

Yes, it's going to be us overlooking them .... They've levelled out lower than our house. It's our boundary so we'll put trellis up later so they get some privacy

Having had a look at Persimmon online I think they specialise in odd-looking houses - the closest development to here seems to consist of houses styled to look like miniature blocks of flats. Really quite weird.

All the smaller developments locally (including the one I can see from here) are white boxes. Some more successful than others - the ones out the back aren't finished yet, on the market for QUITE a lot of money, look like shipping containers.

There are some Redrow new builds near us for nearly £600k, for four and five bedroom houses on a narrow development with small plots - they're actually very pretty homes but equivalent houses in the area with bigger gardens that are less than ten years old are going for about £150k less.

Saying new builds in the uk are small, ugly and poorly designed is very bear shits in the woods.

1/10th the price in most ofFrance would buy something better. Uk property is overvalued IMO.

I like mine, but I have to admit mine is a rarity in that it has a very large garden, good parking and space.

Hence I look at the fugly house and feel bad for the people who may move in ... I'm sure they'll love it, but it could be so so much better.

Oh I do love a fugly house thread.

I feel sorry for fugly houses, and always imagine they might have a certain something special about them inside.

Quite often I fantasise about shocking my friends/family/neighbours by moving out of our classic Victorian terrace with long front garden and double bay windows, and into a brutalist 60s cube of a house. I'd really quite like to do that.

I don't understand why so many builders seem to be stuck building these faux Victorian houses.
Design something new and interesting.

I like them but then I have a new build and love it . People seem to hate them but each to their own .

The new build in front of me looks like a fire station. It's all red brick & big doors. It's hideous. I've no idea how it got planning permission. It's probably gorgeous inside, but I'm only on waving terms with the owners & I haven't been invited in

We chose a self build in the end because all the new builds were small for the money, poorly laid and overlooked with tiny gardens.

Decided to try to self build. After a year of looking we found a plot with detailed planning and have gone ahead.

We're a little bit further out that we planned but we're getting a house double the size of these big developer new builds with 10x the garden.

I would urge everyone to explore this option.

My question with that though Lord is how you get the money to do that with out selling your current house?

and how to avoid getting pregnant as always seems to happen on Grand Designs

I'd have that Euph, over the ones in the OP.

Sounds good lord, I plan on doing yhr same. Maybe in wales and an eco type home for half the price of new builds.around here (Somerset) they are selling coach houses - aka 2 bed flat on top of 3 of your neighbours gauarge for 250k.

DyslexicScientist: why are the first floor Windows on those house so tiny and low down? It looks really odd.

Meh. Its just the equivalent of "basic bitch" for houses.

Hate that sort of grand designs house euph. All the owners bang on about design and they've all got exactly the same house. Big white box with oversized windows. I think it's the equivalent of the Austrian blinds we all had in the 80s thinking we were totally modern - actually totally identikit and now look incredible dated.

I believe they fit small windows to boost the energy efficiency.

Not sure about the rest. I find modern housing estates like a dystopian movie

I can't imagine similar disgust about art deco houses when they sprang up

Could have been worse...

"My question with that though Lord is how you get the money to do that with out selling your current house?"

We did sell ours and have been renting for 8 months while the work has been done. Moving in less than 3 weeks now!

I don't like the box type modern type either and I think they will look dreadful in years to come.

See I can cope with that because it's two house. However if you told me its one I'd start wincing.

I called them late this afternoon as the reason my interest was piqued is friends who visited us are trying to move back to the area and were having a good nosy then asked about the brickwork. So it's officially clarified, it's going to be a fugly house. I pointed out it was fugly as I'm helpful like that

So if anyone wants to live at the back of me in a bloody awful looking house with a crap garden and have to pay £128 maintence fees pa as its a private development than you can for only just half a million pounds.

The new builds round here are all vile. Either they:

A - chop ancient oak trees down and build thousands of three-storey monstrosities with tiny windows in a huge field, with a maze of winding roads and cul-de-sacs (where you could die of old age before you found your way out of the estate again),

or

B - they buy a beautiful old house with roses round the door, a fabulous mature garden with an orchard and lovely old wooden barns, flatten the lot and squeeze in five 4-bedroom houses into the same plot.

Whichever they do, they also make sure that they make the gardens just big enough for the wheelie bins and a trampoline and nothing else, and never provide enough parking spaces.