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AIBU?

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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 12:23

@BarbaraOcumbungles Says the developer. Not saying I agree with it.

EnormousDormouse · 15/02/2018 12:26

In one new build I looked at, you had to leave the kitchen, walk through the hall then through the lounge to get to the dining room. Truly idiotic design.

Original poster
SweetMoon · 15/02/2018 12:28

Out of interest, which room was largest, the small Bedroom 4 or the 'massive family bathroom'?

The bathroom was bigger!

Most people buying houses want one bathroom per bedroom

Well ok, but why have the biggest bathroom for use by the smallest bedroom? Why not just give that one an ensuite aswell. Or better yet have the 2 bedrooms on that floor share a bathroom, so bedroom 4 could be a bit bigger?

Ok, get the toilet space maybe for wheelchair. But then it was a townhouse so wheelchair user would not be able to go upstairs as no way could a chairlift be fitted in the first set of stairs, it was very narrow with a sharp bend. In fact, not sure a sofa would!

OP posts:
staremma · 15/02/2018 12:32

Yes, I completely agree, it would have been much better to have bedroom 3 & 4 with a shared family bathroom, does seem very odd but that is the way the developer decided they wanted it, doesn't make any sense to me either.

Well if your front door can't be accessed by wheelchair then there is no point in designing a toilet that can accommodate one is there, assumed that a wheelchair could actually get into the house, apologies. In that case the size of the downstairs loo is silly as well.

windygallows · 15/02/2018 12:33

Agree with shifty - no architects used in designing of individual houses. Fairly sure it's done by computer and then sort of approved 'en masse'. Because of this there is no 'common sense' review of the space and the ultimate aim is to fit as many bedrooms into the space while meeting building regs/legal requirements.

If any architect over 6 feet were involved, surely they'd suggest raising the ceiling height in the rooms - that alone would radically improve new builds. As they are they feel tiny and squashed because the developers are so tight with ceiling space.

So many new build communities really are the 'slums of tomorrow.'

dotdotdotmustdash · 15/02/2018 12:33

We are a family of 4, with the DC now off at Uni. We have one bathroom and one shower room, neither en suite, and it's been the perfect arrangement. The requirement has always been for a 2nd toilet if the other room is busy. It's very rare that both showers/baths are in use at the same time, and many plumbing systems would struggle with that.

What I don't understand is making a 3 bed home with one master bedroom, one double bedroom and one single bedroom - what's the point of that in a family home? I guess they want you to buy a 4-bed when your children get bigger, but then you get a 4-bed with a small 4th bedroom which is too small for guests!

What's wrong with building a home with 3 double bedrooms so an 'average' family of 4 can all be comfortable and the children can have the same space?

TheFirstMrsDV · 15/02/2018 12:34

what happened to the Homes For Life thing?
A lot of new town houses are ridiculous. A small reception and a kitchen downstairs and the rest of the accomodation on three floors.
Rubbish for families with small children, elderly and anyone with a disability or child with a disability.
Yet they keep building them. They are the new high density housing disguised as luxury housing.

SusannahL · 15/02/2018 12:35

And how about that habit some developers have of leaving bedrooms doors off to make the rooms look larger?

We viewed some like that and realised that whichever side the doors were hung would severely limit what size bed and furniture could be fitted in, and in fact where it would all go.

We need our wits about us these days with what should after all be an enjoyable experience.

MrsHathaway · 15/02/2018 12:37

They are the new high density housing disguised as luxury housing.

yy and the premium is baffling. Especially when half the ground floor is a garage you can't fit a car in Confused which solves no problems except box ticking. Those seem to be falling out of favour, mind you.

I do keep saying it, but I wish developers would build semi-detached houses. They seem to build either cramped terraces luxury townhouses or detached houses on too-small plots. Semi-detached is a good balance between sensible use of space and quick/cheap building. Party wall case law is well established now so it shouldn't put people off.

Original poster
SweetMoon · 15/02/2018 12:39

Obviously we won't be buying it, it just wouldn't work for us as really don't need that many bathrooms. It would be the youngest (4) in the smallest bedroom and he doesnt actually care much about a lovely bathroom to himself. Or even for being clean for that matter!

Tiny garden too, but useable. There was parking for 2 cars off road, however as I have 5 kids I'm wondering where their cars would go if they decide to drive at age 17 (only a couple years away! eeek) as there was no space for parking on the road at all. Actually that would rule out visitors too, as there would be literally no where for them to park!

I just came away so baffled.

OP posts:
MaisyPops · 15/02/2018 12:43

They seem to build eithercramped terracesluxury townhouses
That's the fashion around here.
Townhouses are just terraces dressed up nicely. We had one and the garage was too small to fit a car in so each house only seemed to have 1 car parking space on the drive which was stupud when most were 2 car households.

FizzyGreenWater · 15/02/2018 12:45

The en suite thing is just mad.

No, I don't want potentially a third of the livable rooms devoted to bathroom space. I'd rather have: another (bed)room, more cupboard space, bigger bedrooms in the first place.

All the modern houses I've seen are a warren of tiny tiny tiny rooms, with the upper floors chopped into miserable units just so that you can fit at least three toilets within literally a few feet of one another.

Don't get me started on 'five bed executive family homes' with the same square footage as your average older semi with at least three of the bedrooms too small to fit a proper sized wardrobe in. But you could always keep your clothes in the fifteen extra loos, I guess...

SaskaTchewan · 15/02/2018 12:47

YANBU!
Properties are priced and sold per the amount of bedrooms, not the square footage, so developers come up with ridiculous designs.
Box rooms that barely fits a single bed, but still count as a "bedroom", garages too small to fit a car, bathrooms where you can't fit a washing machine if you don't have a utility, and ridiculously small rooms in general.

I don't understand our obsession with semi-detached houses. Cue endless neighbours wars because of noise, partition wall agreements, it's a nightmare. It got even worst with people putting tv in their bedrooms, I feel sorry for the neighbours who have litterally nowhere to expect next door noise.

HotCrossBunFight · 15/02/2018 12:48

A lot of them round here have an ensuite in every room but bedrooms that can't take more furniture than a double bed. They dress the show home up woth minimal furniture so you can't tell how tiny they are

piratequeenio · 15/02/2018 12:48

Ouir house is 300 years old and very big. it is perfectly designed. it has a bootroom, a huge scullery, decent but not ridiculous kitchen, two living rooms - one large one spEmaller and three bathrooms. Only one en suite. perfect, god knows why they cant design dcently now!

FizzyGreenWater · 15/02/2018 12:49

Yes the overwhelming difference in modern v older houses is S P A C E.

Just rabbit hutches. Developers, it's no use trumpeting all the toilets and the hundreds of bedrooms when you've used the same footprint, but squeezed as many room divisions in as possible.

HottySnanky · 15/02/2018 12:49

And making the show home furniture custom made to 2/3rds size so the rooms look bigger...

I would never buy a new build. Bedrooms that are barely bigger than cupboards, no storage anywhere, horrible open plan downstairs layouts, tiny gardens, and hugely expensive for the space you get.

ChocFudgeLover · 15/02/2018 12:49

We looked at a new build and were told all the neighbours had an agreement no one was to park on the street. We decided it probably wasn't a good idea to buy a house where we'd piss off the entire street from day one by doing exactly that Grin

I was even told off by the estate agent for parking in the street to view it fgs.

FizzyGreenWater · 15/02/2018 12:49

HotCross- apparently they buy furniture which is deliberately slightly scaled down!!!!

wonkylegs · 15/02/2018 12:50

Most big housebuilders don't employ architects to come up with their generic house types or if they do they rarely get the final say. Big housebuilders house types are generally designed by quantity surveyors, accountants and marketing consultants tweaked for building regs and occasionally planning rules.
I am an architect although I don't work for a big housebuilders, I have worked on new build housing (small estates & individual houses - but don't have the problems you cite here)

SeeKnievelHitThe17thBus · 15/02/2018 12:52

There have been other threads on here where all the bedrooms had an en suite, asking what bathrooms visitors should use because you had to walk through a bedroom to get to all of them e.g. if you had guests sleeping on a sofa bed in the living room. Sounds like you have the better option with the place you viewed.

plasticcheese · 15/02/2018 12:56

My friend has a newbuild detached house with 4 bedrooms and 4 toilets/bathrooms, so presumably aimed at families. But no dining room and only enough space in the kitchen for a bistro table and chairs. Do people not entertain or have family meals around the table anymore?

rebeccatheold · 15/02/2018 12:57

Agree re the toilets. We live in a new build and have 3 toilets for 2 people. I fear they will rise up against us.

Original poster
SweetMoon · 15/02/2018 12:58

There have been other threads on here where all the bedrooms had an en suite, asking what bathrooms visitors should use because you had to walk through a bedroom to get to all of them e.g. if you had guests sleeping on a sofa bed in the living room. Sounds like you have the better option with the place you viewed.

Well yes but we don't tend to have guests sleeping on our sofa on a regular basis. The kids have guests they share their bedrooms. If I had guests I'd most likely give up my room for them (or shift some kids around!)

Certainly wouldn't buy a house based on the fact it would be great to have this massive bathroom in case we ever have a guest who sleeps on our couch!

OP posts:
UrgentScurryfunge · 15/02/2018 13:01

We're doing work on our 1980s estate house (so was the era of the en-suite but reasonable proportions to rooms compared to the newest developments although I suspect their designers had no more than a capsule wardrobe).

An extension for master bedroom/ ensuite will make the current master/ ensuite redundant. The layout means that in the future you could knock the snug bathroom and old ensuite together to make a nicely sized bathroom with seperate shower and bath. The old ensuite is pretty decrepit anyway and I see no purpose in replacing it for a spare room or one of our DCs getting a superior room/ bathroom over the other.

Like OP, I'd rather have better living space than umpteen toilets.