To hate new builds?

[Sello]

This will likely be controversial, but my brother and his partner moved into a new build and now my parents are also moving into one.

I find there is something soulless about them.

The one my parents are moving into is in the process of being built and so they’ve put an offer in and been accepted, even though they’ve never seen it, only the plans.

Our house is Victorian and although it does have some problems with damp and insulation, I loved the character as soon as we walked in.
My in laws house is around 500 years old, it’s an old farmhouse and it has so much charm and character.

I know it’s each to their own, but I just feel like they’re uninviting, like Lego houses and like a hotel or something.

I don't think it's wholly a class thing, many people seem to have lived in both at different times. I think the smaller ones are very accessible for starter homes, which may mean there is some truth to that but the large ones are often sold as 'executive homes' or some other pretentious wording.

Interesting how the Redrow homes have been mentioned here, we liked their heritage range very much, but the gardens didn't seem proportional to the houses and we wanted to feel more detached this time. I'd consider one if we ever need to move though.

On garages and drives, a friend in the business told us that in the last couple of years planning has often only been permitted with two spaces for houses over a certain size. There's also a minimum garage size too now (larger in Wales than England apparently!)

Negatives included being very overlooked by neighbours, small garden, tiny bathrooms, plasterboard, snags! Pros and cons..

There's a lot of survivor bias about older housing. The older houses still standing now are only surviving because they were slightly better built/maintained than other houses built at the same time. Or they are being propped up by their neighbours.

There were huge numbers of houses built at the end of the 19th & start of the 20th centuries. The vast majority were thrown up with poor building standards and materials. Cheap housing for the masses.

So many stereotypes of new builds here. We live in a one-off architect-designed new build, more grand designs than Taylor Wimpey. It’s not on an estate, it’s in the middle of a forest. It is unique both inside an outside because we were able to heavily customize. We have loads of the things people are saying new builds don’t have—high ceilings, good parking, very thick walls, tons of storage, large bedrooms, a pitched roof with a chimney, fireplace, quality finishes (wood floors, bespoke kitchen, stone tile, etc) bags of outdoor space, and best of all it is extremely energy efficient. It’s full of books and art and plants and lamps and oriental rugs. We have huge windows and get loads of natural light. We have an orchard in the back garden.

I dare say it feels more unique than, say, an identikit 2-up-2-down Victorian terrace where the gardens are the size of a postage stamp, there is no parking, and every single one has been ‘done up’ with the same grey or beige carpets, side return, and wallpaper feature wall with matching cushions in the front reception room. 🤷‍♀️

People need to grow an imagination and get over their snobbery about new builds. Every house was a new build at some point.

I don’t think anyone can dispute that there are some great new builds, just as there are some crap Victorian terraces etc. But sadly there are far too many lazy, poorly designed and badly built developments going up across the country. In this day and age we should be able to expect better.
This discussion reminds me of a post George Clarke did a while ago when he posted this pic of an example of a badly designed new build. It caused a lot of debate, as many people can’t afford better. But his point was, there is no excuse for crap design like this - planning and building regs should be enforcing a better standard for all at the outset.

I always get the song “little boxes”

^Stuck in my head (posted too soon)

You’re entitled to your opinion but personally I wouldn’t go into this as clearly you could offend people - someone mentioned this was your second thread on subject? Is that so?
My advice would be not to share this with family members as it could create big issues. My MIL slagged off my home no end behind my back which backfired because her own kids told me. I’ve never said anything negative about her home because it’s her home, her choice and I refuse to be that person.
There are pros and cons with both.

I love my new build. We moved here two years ago after 15 years in a Victorian terraced cottage. It needed so much work, constantly that it was a nightmare. It’s fine you don’t like them but we wee fortunate enough to be able to buy from a higher end builder. Snagging was minimal, mortgage is massive. It’s suits the point I am at my life. There are plenty things I don’t like but I don’t feel the need to slag them off. Not all new builds are the same and not all older houses are charmingly full of character.

We viewed a Victorian five bedroomed three storey terrace overlooking a park (with a gorgeous bandstand) but the house had all the old characteristics taken out: new modern style windows instead of sash cord, no fireplaces, etc. Such a shame. Parking was a huge problem, too.

We moved to a 20 year old house with parking for four cars, lots of external stone features, bay windows, large rooms, large garden and excellently insulated meaning cheaper bills!

My parents bought one in the early 90’s, still in it now. What I always disliked about it was the plaster board walls, my brother and I could have talked to each other in our rooms via the wall as there was zero soundproofing. Also whenever anyone is upstairs you can hear which room they are in as the floor boards creak so much.

I rented a new build 10yrs ago and it was actually really good quality, no plasterboard walls or creaking. The garden was huge. So I guess it depends on the quality of the builder.

A friend living in a Victorian end of terrace complained that one room was always cold. When she had some building works done the builders discovered there was only one outer skin of bricks, timber stud walling and internal plasterboard. No wonder it was freezing!

My BIL lives in a new build and it's so tiny I can't believe it was allowed to be marketed as a family home. It's so small I find it hard to visit them because we stand around as there's nowhere to even fit us in to sit.

However he wouldn't have been able to buy at all without the help to buy and possibly the fact they cram as many houses on a patch of land as humanly possible which slightly lowers the price making them more affordable than any character home will ever be!

I think a lot of the people being defensive about new builds and talking about their huge rooms, long driveways with plenty of parking, big gardens etc etc are not living in the vast majority of the new builds that spring up on estates, they are much higher end, much more expensive, bespoke/one off or very small estates of a few houses.

The vast majority do look like the picture above where there is little thought, little space and all hemmed in together.

Merryclaire that one is hideous yes but I've seen older houses that also have no kerb appeal and tiny windows. Admittedly jamming it right next to another house like that does seem to be a new build developer trick.

I'm genuinely not getting defensive but anyone can find the worst (or tbf best) examples of a style and post them.

I have grass and a tree in front of mine as well as the driveway, and I'm not jammed in next to the next door house like that. I also have proper windows!

And I should add, mine is a fairly standard "exec style" detached new build, really common in my region. That is the norm, not the hideous house pictured above.

@Scianel as I said in my post there are some great new builds, but this is the type that I believe people are moaning about. Sadly they are much too common and should never get through planning. The point I am making is, in the 21st century why is this kind of poor design allowed to be built? People at every level of the housing market deserve to be able to live in a well designed, well built home even if it’s small or not in the best area. Developers shouldn’t be allowed to get away with anything less.

I go to lots of people's houses as part of my job and there are nice and not so nice houses of all ages. We have a new build as it suits us with time, or lack of it, with little maintenance. I really appreciate the lack of draughts as I feel the cold, and this was noticeable from the minute we moved in having never had a draught free home before! I was shocked at a really posh new build area I went to on a private estate, with the terrible fixtures and fitting. I can't park round lots of areas of older housing, which is frustrating. Some older houses I like, some I don't. There's actually very few places that I feel drawn to, and really think of a home as functional place for the family to live.

So don't live in one. I love mine and I hate the pokey terraced Victorian houses with the small kitchen and weird narrow hallways and gardens.

Of course I'd love to live in a big barn conversion or quaint cottage but don't have the money for that.

I’m in the middle here. I agree that (some, not all) period properties have more character than (most) new builds. A lot of new builds do also have small gardens.

However, the house we currently live in was a new build when we bought it 10 years ago. At the time we didn’t have much choice as it was all we could afford using Help to Buy. We bought off plan and hadn’t even seen a show home (well, we saw a show home but not the type of house we were buying). So it was a leap of faith but as I said we didn’t have a lot of choice. It’s been great though - our garden is an OK size (although others on the estate are small) and we’ve had no issues with the house. Energy bills have been low - we don’t have the heating on much.

We’re now buying a new build. It’s not perfect - the garden isn’t as big as we would ideally like. However, neither of us is remotely handy and we can’t be doing with the hassle of doing things to the house so we like the idea of a new build where everything is ready to go. It’s also much less hassle buying a new build - we’re doing part exchange so there’s no chain and no worrying that people are going to back out/mortgages fall through etc.

Is it my dream home? No. But it’s a compromise based on what we can afford.

My cottage is! A huge plus from my point of view. They make excellent house guardians. Anyone they don’t like doesn’t stay long!

I hate them (well, the unimaginative estates) because they are springing up all over our town and the neighbouring one, wiping out the small amount of greenery we have left. I feel desperately sorry for all the displaced wildlife.

I also think they are offensive because they don’t provide the inhabitants with the space or parking they need.

I rather like my modern house stud partition walls. Made it much easier when we wanted to create a dressing room out of DS' old bedroom.

I grew up in a 1920s 'modern' designed house. Draughty, cold with dreadful plumbing. The build quality of the internal walls (revealed when the house had to be underpinned) was shocking, any old lumps of brick and stone.

At least now we have building regs so you can check to see that major works have been done to a standard. Don't buy if they haven't as repairing someone's shoddily built extension is more expensive than starting from scratch.

DH and I lived in an old terraced house for a while. Single skin so it was absolutely baltic. No sound insulation so you could practically hear next door's budgie fart.

@Merryclaire yes true, things should be well-designed at any price level. I also suspect the worst offenders in terms of the jammed in boxes are in the south east. I'm in a much cheaper part of the country so I suppose it costs less to give people a bit more space around them?

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/116380904#/?channel=RES_NEW

This is an example of the kind of place I really like, I know some would think it's soulless but I just look at it and see non-crippling fuel bills and convenience. (And yes it's bullshit that you can get a car into that garage but it's a bloody handy storage area).

People need places to live and we're in the middle of a housing crisis.

Typical nimby