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?

We bought a used new build, so 5 years old. Traditionally built and I know what the land was used for.

I love the energy efficiency and the layout and the way all of the space is planned. Rooms a very decent size too.

Lived in an older house a builder built for himself before this, and a newer one from a small development and they both had more issues than this one.

Not residential experience as I would never live in a new build just because I need to be rural with land for our lifestyle.

I do however work in a Dandara new build office with flats above which is part of a large new housing development. We bought the office a couple of years ago unfinished as is the norm with commercial properties. Sound proofing is excellent but we can smell cigarette smoke from the flats above. The plumbing is appalling. We've had to spend a lot to change windows and sort the plumbing out. I wouldn't buy from them again.

Regarding space and parking etc, a lot depends on the price of land in the area...not surprisingly.

In expensive areas, you can find a house with lots of bedrooms on a much smaller plot and with less parking, and the roads are more windy and cramped and easier to clog up when people park their extra cars all over the place. So you could be in a 4 bed, 3 storey town house that has the plot size of a 2 bed house.

To get the house with the garage and the 3 parking spaces and decent sized garden, and a development layout which isn’t made up if lots of narrow roads and houses crammed in so they overlook each other, you’re either talking about buying in much cheaper areas where land is cheap, or one of the 5-6 bed houses which is tucked away in a prime spot in the estate.

People buying a typical 3 bed terrace or semi in the south-east, especially on larger estates are often looking at 1 parking space (sometimes not in front of house, but in a compound nearby which isnt so convenient fo taking shopping in etc) and narrow roads. They are designed by planners to discourage parking, but because many household have 2 cars, people do park all over the place and getting around on such estates can become difficult and it’s often impossible for 2 cars to drive along the road from opposite directions at the same time. In part it’s a traffic calming measure, but it is worsened by cars being parked in random places. Where car parking is in compounds, people often do t use those spaces but find closer non-official spaces nearer their houses which also create congestion issues.

Yes, it’s true that Victorian houses often have zero parking and might have smallish gardens. I think we understand that in terms of the fact they were built before people had cars so don’t expect car parking as standard. But houses built in the 21st century.....we know many households have 2 cars, so building estates which cannot accommodate all the cars without them being abandoned unofficially doesn’t make sense and isn’t comparable. There is just so much poor design in term so the development itself....all done to squeeze more in, rather than provide a good living experience.

To get the house with the garage and the 3 parking spaces and decent sized garden, and a development layout which isn’t made up if lots of narrow roads and houses crammed in so they overlook each other, you’re either talking about buying in much cheaper areas where land is cheap, or one of the 5-6 bed houses which is tucked away in a prime spot in the estate.

Or you have the budget. It's not true to say all estates in expensive areas are crammed in, and cheaper areas are sprawling. I have family living in a beautiful new build in Oxford but it did cost them over 3/4 of a million. I do live in a cheaper area, however I paid more for the nicer plot on the nicer development (all homes were detached and with plenty of parking etc) there is another new estate in the town that is much more crowded like some people here have described, that wasn't for me.

As always, you can't generalise!!!

All of them, tbh, I wouldn’t even consider a new build. Totally overpriced, low build quality.

It depends on the council too - my old city council loathes cars and so it's not unusual for them to not only permit but actually insist in developments with low levels of parking. There's a large new development close to the city centre (in a residential permit zone) where they've decreed that the residents of the new development won't be allowed permits. At all. And the development itself has something like 0.25 spaces per unit. They could easily have built more underground.

Sure, people will know that when they move there but another car free development just resulted in overspill nearby.

Fewer parking spaces for new builds is not a land price issue in most cases, it's almost always a planning condition.

I have a Redrow house and my DD has a Crest Nicholson. Both excellent and trouble free. The heating bills are so low thanks to great insulation. I have a family with four small children through the wall to me. I can't hear them.

Near us there are some lovely looking new builds. But I don’t understand why a 4/5 bed house would have such a tiny garden ... surely a family will buy it with that many bedrooms and they’d need more outside space!

I think there's a big difference between new builds in cheaper parts of the country and those in London or the South East.

Family who have bought new builds in cheaper areas have much larger plots, decent sized rooms, more spacious roads and room to park. Lots of 2 storey houses with 4 bedrooms on the upper storey and the extra reception room space you would expect below.

In the south east land values are high, so the developers are desperate to pack as many houses onto the site as possible. Most new builds are very small footprints - spread over 3 floors, with cramped reception rooms not commensurate with the number of bedrooms. Tradespeople cost more and are in short supply, so its hard to get good people.

Fewer parking spaces for new builds is not a land price issue in most cases, it's almost always a planning condition.

I think councils do it to absolve themselves of having to actually improve local traffic infrastructure when new housing is built. If you've only allowed 0.25 spaces per unit you can argue there won't be a big increase in traffic, when in reality people just park on nearby roads.

I agree about the fuel bills. I have a 7 year old large 4 bedroom house Redrow house and my fuel bill is £85 per month. I have a solar panel so hardly have to turn the hot water on in the summer. Even today I can hear it doing it’s magic.
This is my third new build and I think one of the lovely things about the house is the high ceilings. They really make a difference to the feel of the house.

Near us there are some lovely looking new builds. But I don’t understand why a 4/5 bed house would have such a tiny garden ... surely a family will buy it with that many bedrooms and they’d need more outside space!

Yes I do have to concede our garden is small for the size of the house, it was a compromise that was worth it to us for all the other benefits but there's no denying it's small (relatively speaking).

My husband works in home insurance, he wouldn’t entertain a new build on an estate.

I bought a new build in 2018. The buying process was horrible as we bought off plan and it was delays after delays.
Once we were in and sorted out some snags its been great.
All rooms can fit double and most can fit king size.
The master bedroom is 18ft by 15ft.
The garden is tiny yes but im on the edge of a massive park with acres of spaces.

All snags fixed within a few days. No issues there

I understand things aren’t always perfect but every person on this thread said their snags were fixed straight away. Fair enough, but as a new build, surely you’d expect no snags?

I understand things aren’t always perfect but every person on this thread said their snags were fixed straight away. Fair enough, but as a new build, surely you’d expect no snags?

Of course I expect snags, the houses are built by humans, snags can be as small as a nick on the wall or a scratch on a kitchen cupboard. You have multiple trades people coming in and out of a home doing heavy duty work, of course accidents happen to previously done work. Trades people aren't infallible, it's all down to how they are dealt with, not whether they are there in the first place.

Try this Facebook group

www.facebook.com/groups/384022348622653/?ref=share

@Ilovemycat13

I understand things aren’t always perfect but every person on this thread said their snags were fixed straight away. Fair enough, but as a new build, surely you’d expect no snags?

It does suggest either a lack of checking in the first place or a policy of hoping that the customer doesn't notice everything that's wrong.

A lot of the "snags" I've heard from family & friends have been pretty obvious things that the subbies should have noticed themselves and even if they didn't, the person doing the final checks should have spotted such as skirting boards with unfilled gaps, wonky plastered corners, etc.

I can understand some other things aren't quite so obvious, such as an electric socket not working or a cold radiator, but even then, the person doing the fitting should have done their own checks as they're qualified jobs.

I expect snags too - but I've done a big conversion/renovation project too and know that there were little issues. We've got a great decorator who we have used several times but I've still had to get him back once when a wall which looked fine in artificial light needed another when daylight hit.

There are thousands of individual little jobs in the building of a house and numerous different tradespeople. I think it's unrealistic to expect zero issues.

@user1497207191 as @StatisticallyChallenged just mentioned it's completely understandable snags happen, and as a buyer, given a choice, if I had to wait for the property to be completely quality checked (which in itself will never guarantee results anyway as it's one thing checking and another living in it in all lights) then waiting for the trades people to go in and rectify, or get into my house by the set completion time with some snagging done after, I know which I'd go for.

@WombatChocolate

Regarding space and parking etc, a lot depends on the price of land in the area...not surprisingly.

In expensive areas, you can find a house with lots of bedrooms on a much smaller plot and with less parking, and the roads are more windy and cramped and easier to clog up when people park their extra cars all over the place. So you could be in a 4 bed, 3 storey town house that has the plot size of a 2 bed house.

To get the house with the garage and the 3 parking spaces and decent sized garden, and a development layout which isn’t made up if lots of narrow roads and houses crammed in so they overlook each other, you’re either talking about buying in much cheaper areas where land is cheap, or one of the 5-6 bed houses which is tucked away in a prime spot in the estate.

People buying a typical 3 bed terrace or semi in the south-east, especially on larger estates are often looking at 1 parking space (sometimes not in front of house, but in a compound nearby which isnt so convenient fo taking shopping in etc) and narrow roads. They are designed by planners to discourage parking, but because many household have 2 cars, people do park all over the place and getting around on such estates can become difficult and it’s often impossible for 2 cars to drive along the road from opposite directions at the same time. In part it’s a traffic calming measure, but it is worsened by cars being parked in random places. Where car parking is in compounds, people often do t use those spaces but find closer non-official spaces nearer their houses which also create congestion issues.

Yes, it’s true that Victorian houses often have zero parking and might have smallish gardens. I think we understand that in terms of the fact they were built before people had cars so don’t expect car parking as standard. But houses built in the 21st century.....we know many households have 2 cars, so building estates which cannot accommodate all the cars without them being abandoned unofficially doesn’t make sense and isn’t comparable. There is just so much poor design in term so the development itself....all done to squeeze more in, rather than provide a good living experience.

Oh god, the squeezing more in thing is infuriating (& can be short-sighted). The land behind us was privately-owned allotments when we moved in, but was eventually sold to a developer who crammed in 17 tiny houses (c 5-700 sq ft). There were 2 rows of 3, and some semis, but immediately behind us they decided it was just wide enough for a row of 5 instead of 2 pairs of semis. The 3 middle houses were only 12’ wide at the breezeblock stage (I measured!) It bit the greedy buggers on the bum though. 2 of the 3 middles stayed empty for a very long time until a HA eventually took them on - I presume the developers got a lot less in total for the 5 row houses than they would have got for 4 semis.

And, re build quality, at the shoulder-height stage one of the internal walls fell over one night
They were incredibly shoddy.

So helpful, thank you everyone. Persimmon definitely off the list (they were never really on it).

David Wilson and St Modwen are looking most likely here. Not sure if there is a Bloor development in the area.

I would go for redrow, especially the heritage range as they actually look attractive and I’ve heard good things about quality.