To ask which new build houses you would avoid

[bridgetreilly]

Looking for a house and there are several new build developments we’re interested in, but I’m finding it hard to get honest reviews. Are there builders with truly awful reputations that I shouldn’t even bother looking at?

And, conversely, has anyone got experience of a good quality new home that you love?

I have one but it’s an infill house, one of a pair on an established road, built by a small family builders and I knew people who’d bought their previous projects. It inevitably has the odd issue, but generally I love it. I wouldn’t touch a new build on an estate from a national chain developer - they all appear to be built on sub prime land on floodplains or next to major roads around here.

I’d avoid new build if possible.
Persimmon in particular have a dreadful reputation.

I'm with a local builder up north but it's a massive development. About 250 houses I think. They've been fantastic. Barely any snags, beautifully built, gardens are uneven though.. They were also cheaper than the bigger well known builders.
I have heard better things from strata and redrow.

I am a consultant who works for all the major house builders & some of the regional/locals. The nationals are publicly listed companies, so have to deliver profits to shareholders. The profitability of their companies affects how much they can borrow to fund work. No where in there is the word “customer.”
I would only recommend Crest Nicholson & Berkeley, but would keep an eye on Berkeley now that Tony Pidgley has died.
The smaller builders can vary, but some trade on a quality offer. A 10 year NHBC guarantee can help.

I'm the second owner of a house built in 2012 so it's new-ish. I bought it when it was 6 years old so any snagging issues would have been sorted already. It's part of a small estate built by a local developer, not one of the big ones already mentioned.

Overall it's been good - I've been here 3 years without any issues. When doing DIY you can tell where some corners have been cut in the build quality but I've lived in properties of varying ages and older isn't always better. This house is better for insulation and soundproofing than the Victorian and 1930s houses I've had, for example. The en-suite and downstairs toilet haven't had to be retro-fitted and of course the boiler, heating and electrics are all modern. Every house has a garage and off-street parking.

My only real gripe is the plasterboard on the walls where the tape has blown but some cosmetic cracks are normal as a new house settles. It's also a leasehold but no ground rent or charges and leasehold is normal in the town where I live.

I’ve had two new Miller Homes, excellent experience both times. Still in second one twenty years on with no issues. I wouldn’t touch a Persimmon Home with a barge pole - had a friend who worked for them, said the quality was terrible.

Both my DH and I work in the industry, have seen office and site side we would not touch Barratts or Persimmon.

Most of the others I’d consider.

So much of it comes down to the actual team on site that it’s hard to tar them all with the same brush.

A couple of things I’d definitely check leasehold/freehold, whether you pay a service charge, if it’s standard construction vs timber frame.

@bootlebumtrinketti

We live in a Higgins new build in central London. The quality is amazing. Cannot hear a peep from neighbours (we are mid terrace). The finish is superb. We are private buyers not help to buy though.

Similar positive experience of Higgins (bought about 7 years ago). A few snags but nothing major and they fixed them all with no arguments even though they were off site. Good quality and solidly built - we also don’t hear our neighbours in the terraces.

I'd possibly buy new build on a small road built by a local building firm of only a few house.

Personally I don't understand why you'd want to live on a sprawling estate where it all looks the same, there's less than a metre between you and all your gardens are tiny and overlooked, and the houses have zero character. People say they don't want the upkeep of older houses, but it seems new builds have HEAPS of their own problems.

But I grew up on military married quarter patches, so I think my idea of estates is skewed.

I'd avoid all of them. I don't want to live in an anonymous concrete box if theres choice to buy a more established property which is undoubtedly going to be better value, albeit it might need a coat of paint.

We're considering a 6 year old "new build" and wondering if we're likely to experience problems with it.

Not personally no but I did express an interest in some builds that have been there about 8 years and was warned off those by a local on those and I quote 'quarter of a million quid shoeboxes with a myriad of problems'.

I'd never buy a new build from any of the big developers. I bought a second-hand "new build" that was about 10 years old. Everything about it was cheap and shoddy and I now understand why the vendors were so keen to sell that our offer of 20% under asking price was accepted without haggling!

My sister bought one on a new estate a few years ago - snagging is still ongoing, once you pay your money, the developers don't care.

A lot of the work is done by very cheap unskilled labour and it shows, with badly plastered walls, electric sockets that don't work, paint splatters everywhere, radiators that don't warm up because the pipes have been bent badly constricting the flow.

Let others buy the new homes and buy an older one instead.

We live on a small development of 20 ‘new’ houses built by a local developer, it’s lovely and we’ve never had any problems with our house in the 8 years we have been here. Soil quality being a bit crap is probably the only complaint I can think of. I wouldn’t buy a new build from any large developer though, too many friends have had problems with them.

One more thing- avoid any leasehold house- not sure if new build L/H houses are now banned anyway.

I was involved in the end bits of a case against David Wilson Homes. The purchaser won but only after 7 years of living with his elderly mum, racking up legal costs and almost going bankrupt.

DH had a Taylor Wimpey flat. Minimal snagging but he appeared to be one of the few in his development without a major problem. He said the quality was very poor compared to his sister's flat which was bought from a small scale developer. TW also dug up the main road several times to add more utilities which drove him mad.

We are in our third new build, built by Charles Church. Our first flat was built by Taylor Wimpey, had a few issues, nothing major but their after care service was shocking. Once they did eventually come out, they fixed our issues but it did put me off buying from them again.

Second house built by Persimmon, main issue was quality of fixtures and fittings, carpets laid with no underlay, toilets and radiators not plumbed in correctly and dishwasher not being connected. I think this reflects the workmanship of the contractors they use. They were quick to sort out issues and our site manager was excellent.

Our current house was built 3 years ago by Charles Church, we’ve had very very few issues with -partly because we’re more experienced and knew what to look out for and partly because we have gone for better quality fittings. Some tiles were loose in one of the bathrooms but nothing major and their customer service has been exceptional. We love our house, we love the layout, the space and airiness and knowing we don’t have to worry about finding issues with plumbing, wiring or whatever!

Personally, I love new builds and don’t understand the hate, I think a lot of it is a mix of snobbery and dare I say it jealousy. Each to their own but I like that I am able to pick and design a space that suits my needs. You get 2 years which is plenty to get any issues fixed by the house builder and 10 years NHBC warranty for serious structural issues. Thankfully I’ve never had or known anyone to have any serious structural issues with their new build (and we live in a town where there are lot of new builds!)

I think there are pros and cons to buying a new or buying an older house and nothing beats doing your own homework and asking probing questions.

All houses were new once.

I wouldn't go with any of the big volume developers - most use 'Modern Methods of Construction' with plywood panels etc for speed and economy.

I would buy from a smaller, more local developer, who use traditional methods, on a site too small for the big boys to be interested in.

I have a friend who only ever buys new build homes and swears by finding a builder who has put up a small development - ie. less than 10 homes. She has bought from bigger companies in the past, but says she never would again.

PS, not snobbish or jealous of new builds, I just prefer older homes as I find new builds a little bland.

We have a Countryside home and love it. Good build quality and what’s included as standard is of very high quality. No hesitation to buy from Countryside again in future if we ever decide to upsize. There were snags but they were pretty minor, I think it’s unrealistic for houses to not have any. And at least with a new build, the builder will put it good whereas if you have issues with older properties, it’s your issue to sort it out.
I’d avoid persimmon and bellway personally. My parents had a Barrat new build that was pretty good but this was 25 years ago! They’re now in a Countryside too :)

I wouldn't buy a new build either, I know friends who have had countless problems, they also seem to be small, with small gardens and paper thin walls. I remember saying to a friend once, crikey who's up stairs (there was a lot of noise) she said 'no one, its next door' :O

We're in a new-build Bloor house, have been for over 3 years now and bought off-plan. It's nice. I don't love it because I really hate living in such close proximity to so many other people, but that's more about me being a grumpy fuck than anything wrong with the house. We had a tiny snagging list, all of which they sorted quickly, house is freehold, and we don't pay any kind of maintenance fee or anything (Bloor sort all that). Garden is a decent size compared to most other new-builds I've seen. Overall, it's a lovely house but not the right house for me. No issues with its quality, though.

We looked around Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey houses and wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. There are other large house builders on the estate we're on and many of the owners them seem to have issues, but generally the people in Bloor houses, like us, seem happy.

Here's a site that may be of interest:

www.brand-newhomes.co.uk/why-buyers-avoid-new-homes.htm

Completely agree with PP that it depends on the site manager. We're in a Taylor Wimpey new build and have only had minor snagging issues, which were dealt with quickly. Room sizes are decent enough, layout is fairly standard and boring. We had to negotiate flooring as they don't usually do it but we part-exchanged so DH convinced them to do the flooring to make up the difference in value between what they gave us for our flat and what we could have got on the market.

The development isn't finished yet 6 years later and the newer homes have more issues; one person lost half her roof! There's a different site manager and he's nowhere near as good. The people in the newer houses are not as happy as the people in our part of the development.

I do agree about how crap the gardens are, though. And you can definitely see a lot of places where they've cut corners - BT included! - to get houses up quickly.

We're in an Abbey home and are pleased with it. Yes we have picked up snags but they are all manageable and they are being really good about fixing them promptly. Not like when we moved into our previous house where before leaving the owners had broken so many fixtures and fittings, not enough to bother solicitors etc but every light switch was cracked for instance. So we definitely value the protection that being newly built has given us.