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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

People who design houses should have to live in them!

210 replies

SweetMoon · 15/02/2018 11:01

Went to view a new build yesterday on a new development. Nice looking house but there was a major WTF moment with its design.

It was a town house over 3 floors and had 4 bedrooms. 3 Bedrooms were ensuite. Bedroom 4 was the smallest bedroom and then right next to it a massive family bathroom. But the other bedrooms all had decent size ensuites, including 2 with baths so basically the only bedroom using the massive bathroom would be the small bedroom 4.

Why not just make that en suite aswell? Or better yet, use bedroom 3's big ensuite as the family bathroom (it could be accessed from the landing if a door put in) and have the massive bathroom as another bedroom or a study?

Or am I missing something? There was a seperate toilet on the ground floor for guests, so bathroom wouldn't even be used by a visitor.

Although quite a big house there was also nowhere to store your hoover or a broom or anything as no tall cupboard or even a space where they can stand. That was a little odd. The downstairs loo was huge, so again could easily have been half the size and then a lovely cupboard could have been next to it there.

AIBU to think people that design these new houses should be made to live in them for a month afterwards so they can realise all the little things that are just odd!

OP posts:

staremma · 15/02/2018 12:05

The people who design them are the client most of the time so it is whatever they think sells best. Unfortunately in today's housing market everything sells as there is a housing shortage so it must be hard to tell what sells the best as everything sells quickly.

YouTheCat · 15/02/2018 12:05

I'd imagine young families wouldn't want their kids having en suite facilities. Can you imagine the mess after the little cherubs had stuff towels down the loo and tipped out the shampoo?

FabulouslyFab · 15/02/2018 12:06

I have the tiniest new build and have to use the downstairs loo as a storage room - vaccuum, ironing board, hooks for coats, shopping bags .....

MigGril · 15/02/2018 12:06

Yes I don't get that either the newer the house the more bathrooms they seem to have. I mean who has time to clean 5 toilets!!

I thought we where being luckily moving into a house with 3. And no I can't afford a clearer .

staremma · 15/02/2018 12:06

Stud walls between toilets, bathrooms, any room with a washing machine in it should have insulation between the walls to stop sound travelling, if you could hear people peeing they either did not install insulation in the correct places or the doors weren't a good fit.

MaisyPops · 15/02/2018 12:07

My last house was a new build. Not enough storage but 3 bathrooms (well 2 and a downstairs loo). The ensuite was created taking a bite out of the master bedroom. Not really sure why they did that. It made the master bedroom an odd shape.

Bowerbird5 · 15/02/2018 12:07

The designer has a cleaner who brings her own vacuum!

KevinTheYuccaPlant · 15/02/2018 12:09

Ditto people who make home improvements. Looked at a house last year where the owners had put in a new kitchen themselves without the aid of a kitchen designer or professional joiner. I asked where the fridge and freezer were. Out of the kitchen, down the corridor past the downstairs bathroom and on the furthest wall from the door in the utility room inside a cupboard - just so handy for when you're cooking! No way to get one into the kitchen without ripping out all the units and starting again.

staremma · 15/02/2018 12:10

I completely agree, most new builds have far to many bathrooms or have them in silly positions but it is what the developers have decided works. Storage is also a major issue, I agree. Sometimes when I work on these types of projects I do wonder what the client was thinking but the clients word goes so the architect doesn't usually have a major say on these types of things, especially for developers who will have a certain way that they carry out all projects.

FlyingElbows · 15/02/2018 12:10

Lol Bowerbird5 you've just solved the mystery for me! I knew I should have had a cleaner all along

thecatsthecats · 15/02/2018 12:10

I don't think most people want all ensuite bathrooms!

Ensuite for a parents, family bathroom for kids, extra loo, and maybe at a push an ensuite for a permanent guest room, but I don't think most people want to be in the default position of having all those bathrooms to clean, and as PP have said, supervising little children's bathrooms!

JaneEyre70 · 15/02/2018 12:10

We've been muttering about moving for a while, and I love the idea of a new house but we've not seen a single one that would work for us. You do wonder the wisdom of some designs, especially ones with no storage built in.

OlennasWimple · 15/02/2018 12:11

I loathe the current trend for ensuites everywhere, especially when they come at the expense of a decent sized bedroom. There really isn't a need for a bathroom per bedroom.

My litmus test for whether a house is livable in is whether there is anywhere to store a hoover and an ironing board - so many houses lack even a tall cupboard that would house these essential items

HolyShet · 15/02/2018 12:12

New builds are basically designed by algorhithm

probably no architects went anywhere near it

it will have been design-and-build - drawn up by an architectural technician to a checklist of what the developer thinks will get the highest price.

staremma · 15/02/2018 12:12

@JaneEyre70 If you want a new build go to the company that are building the new builds where you want to move and get them to make changes on the plans before they start building your house, that's the best way! It doesn't cost that much more and will mean that you get what you want!

ChocFudgeLover · 15/02/2018 12:12

I don't understand a lot of the new builds. 50million ensuites to clean (no thanks!) and no storage.

ChocFudgeLover · 15/02/2018 12:13

Or 4/5 bed houses, presumably for families, with a teeny living room and feck all garden.

staremma · 15/02/2018 12:13

Yes, that is absolutely correct @HolyShet that is how it works for these types of projects that I work on.

staremma · 15/02/2018 12:15

@ChocFudgeLover I completely agree but for developers it all about profit and gardens don't make profit. I personally think it is absolutely ridiculous the size of most peoples gardens in new builds and the price of them but that is unfortunately the way the housing market has gone! Money money money.

JennyHolzersGhost · 15/02/2018 12:16

Utterly baffling. Tons of en suites, tiny tiny bedrooms and no storage. Someone must buy these places but I can’t imagine living in one.

ChocFudgeLover · 15/02/2018 12:18

Most people buying houses want one bathroom per bedroom if possible (obviously not everyone does but the majority do

I really don't think most do. Most people buying 3+ bed homes are families. Most families with anything other than teens do not want ensuite bathrooms for their 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11 year olds.

They sell because people want a new house and there's no other options because they all have 10 blinking en suites.

BarbaraOcumbungles · 15/02/2018 12:19

Most people buying houses want one bathroom per bedroom if possible

Who says so?

A bathroom per bedroom is completely ridiculous.

MrsHathaway · 15/02/2018 12:19

My litmus test for whether a house is livable in is whether there is anywhere to store a hoover and an ironing board - so many houses lack even a tall cupboard that would house these essential items

Our "one that got away" house had this problem - there was space under the stairs, but open. We had a toddler at the time so that simply wasn't practical. But boxing it in would have been a real shame as the floor was original Victorian tiles and it would have spoiled the pattern forever. I'm also not at all sure where coats would have hung.

FWIW our litmus test for whether a house would suit us was "where does the hoover live? where does the Christmas tree go?" If we couldn't immediately work out the answers to those questions then it wasn't going to fit our lifestyle.

I guess people who want storage don't buy new builds, and people who buy new builds can do without storage. The developer doesn't give a shit how many people don't like the house, so long as they all get sold.

staremma · 15/02/2018 12:21

@ChocFudgeLover Yes, agree, when your child is little you will not want them to have an ensuite but when they get older you/they might want one and houses nowadays are built as lifelong homes, so that people don't have to ever move out (or at least that the idea). I am not saying a agree with it but that's how it is.

ShiftyMcGifty · 15/02/2018 12:23

New builds are basically designed by algorhithm

probably no architects went anywhere near it

it will have been design-and-build - drawn up by an architectural technician to a checklist of what the developer thinks will get the highest price.

Do you mean a design-build contractor? Basically a contractor who has design services in-house. Cause those that been around for decades.

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