AIBU - new build houses are AWFUL

[hooplahooper]

I am currently living in a BRAND NEW Bellway home - renting while I renovate my childhood home. I was excited to live in something new enough to be zero maintenance while dealing with my own big Reno project...

But holy HELL it's been an awful eye opener for me. I've lived in 11 houses across three countries as an adult - 5 of which I have owned + sold - and I have never come across such bad build quality before. Some of the (many) entry level issues (which the landlord has repeatedly
flagged with the builder to no avail) include:

• The walls aren't plastered, just painted plaster board - so zero internal sound insulation,
• the tiling is wonky in all rooms
• the windows don't seal,
• half the doors don't catch on the hinges without considered effort.
• the laminate kitchen counters aren't sealed at any joints
• the front door hinges are loose
• the electric car charge point doesn't turn on
• The stair railings aren't secure
• there is black mould everywhere from a leak (now stopped, but mould not attended to)

I'fe lived in new builds before overseas - I know there are always snags, but everything about this house feels like corners are cut + quality is compromised.

I'd let it go - I don't really care for me, I'm moving into my own home in 8 weeks - but I'm raging on behalf of my lovely + hard working neighbours here - who have got enormous mortgages on these poor quality structures.

I posted about it on my personal stories and have heard all sorts of even worse horror stories about new builds by Baratt Home, Persimmon + Taylor Wimpey as well. It seems universal that these huge developers are building low quality, parasitic dormitory towns on (often) greenbelt lane - and making astronomical profits from them (650m for Bellway last year..!)

With such gigantic profits - they could be building better quality homes if they wanted to. But they don't. And the government is clearly so caught up in meeting housing targets they are turning a blind eye.

I am RAGING. I am grateful I don't have to live here forever - and furious on behalf of the millions of people that deserve so much more.

YABU - let it go, they're not so bad you terrible snob. People are happy with their homes + can make their own judgements

YANBU - hard working people deserve more + there has to be a way of holding these big companies accountable for prioritising profit over quality homes

Hope the fence is sturdy!

Again, this is a very general comment which bears no relation to us on our development.
I am sure it applies to some but not all.

Our new house has larger bedrooms than our previous 1970's house, so much so that apart from one bed and a couple of cupboards everything had to be bought brand-new to make use of the additional space. No need for new wardrobes though as they are (sensibly) built in.

Certainly with our developer I think a lot of it has a lot to do with the site managers.
There is a FB group called "Don't buy " yet none of the issues I see on there relate to our site and I think it is down to the tight ship that our chaps run. After we moved in they would knock on the door to see if there were any issues and if there were, they were all over it.
Unfortunately, now they have moved on we have to go through Customer Service who seem to do everything they can to prove their job title wrong.

Hope the fence is sturdy!

Probably unlikely 😂

Similarly to you we rented a new-ish build whilst renovating ours. I hated the plasterboard walls and the fact that you could anyone upstairs having a wee at any time!
Everything was done to a very basic level but not overly shoddy.
The only thing I liked was the wide hallway.

They have a bad rep and it is sometimes justified. It obviously isn't the case across the board however.

We have a new build as we wanted an easy house while we had our first child. We chose carefully. No issues at all, we have a corner plot overlooking trees and fields (can't be built on due to archaeological reasons), 3 bed detached with a garage and utility, driveway and ample parking. £330k on South East border. No one overlooks our garden too. Great transport links, surrounded by fields but only 10 min drive into our town. Which is lovely.

By comparison, I know 4 couples who bought older, period homes and are sinking money into them constantly as they have so many issues. None of them are detached, only 1 has parking and a garage.

Broadly speaking, yes there are many issues with many new build developments. But older houses can also come with issues all round.

I'm in my third and aside from annoying snagging, never really had any major issues. I love the house I'm in now - based on your one experience I think you're being a tad dramatic about all new builds.

Someone we know is a builder on new build estates. He said with the huge hike in cost of materials the last couple of years, the cheapest of everything possible was being used, which I can imagine to protect profit margins.

However low quality fittings and materials doesn’t mean poor workmanship which is also what you’re describing. I guess post-Brexit there is also a shortage of skilled labour?

New builds are soulless. They’re just thrown together in the quickest possible timeframe, the walls and ceilings are paper thin, and are generally far too close to the other new builds on the plots. Awful. I prefer homes with more character.

There are good new builds and bad ones.

Personally I much prefer a modern house with all the benefits they have over an old place with "character" which usually means drafty as fuck and damp all over the place.

We've bought and lived in a Taylor wimpey and a Bellway newbuild. Both lovely houses, few minor snags that were sorted easily. Loved both houses just moved location. Now living in a 1980s self build and it is the house from hell. At least tradespeople built my previous houses whilst some useless at DIY layperson has done an awful job of everything in this house. And when we find yet another problem that needs sorting there's no warranty to cover it. It's been quite an eye opener.

And yes we did have a structural survey. The surveyor picked up some things but most things are stuff that you wouldn't have known until you started living in the house.

So you’re RAGING and FURIOUS but you’re only renting and moving into your Reno very soon.

Right.

If you go for very high volume developers, like the ones you mention, the quality is generally poor, plus you get a very basic product and have to add extras to make it liveable.

Small local developers, or the volume ones that are more expensive are generally better quality and have decent fixtures, fittings, carpets etc. You get what you pay for I guess.

Yes, it's an issue. We live in a new build on a very small development of five houses. Good quality workmanship; but we viewed several new builds when buying from big companies that were very shoddy.

Um yeah?

She's still paying to live there, it's going to be at least £1k per month of her money. For someone's shoddy workmanship.

Often they are impractical to live in and an eyesore, and the developers are so greedy. So even if your not living there, people still have opinions.

@Spaghettine

I mean yeah, people have opinions but to be so RAGING and FURIOUS when it’s not going to be your long term reality is a tad dramatic, but this is mumsnet after all.

My brother bought a new build a couple of years ago. When he was looking around it, he pointed out that the loft was nice and big and be lovely for a loft conversion. The building foreman said that they couldn’t as it would be too heavy and to not put anything too heavy in it! Now there’s a housing estate being built near to me and they are stupid money huge 4 bed detached but they haven’t got a garage or driveway. You have access to one spot under a carport and a parking space at the end of the road! They are over £550,000!

I’ve lived in a new-build and mixed experience.

Bedrooms aren’t small IME, in fact it was looking at older properties that seemed to always have 2 good bedrooms then ‘bedroom 3’ was like a tiny cupboard with no room for a proper bed.

They can never be bothered to level the gardens on NB estates it seems, our garden was a big slope.

The houses also felt crammed in and garden was very over-looked.

There’s a whole Twitter page dedicated to crap new builds if anyone’s interested!

I live in a small Redrow development. The houses are well designed, well built and problem free. It's become a very sought after area.

There is a regional developer near me called Pringle Homes and they are Gorgeous!! I drive past one of there developments on the way to work and love looking at it. I could never ever afford one though!!

Even a large developer new build i could never afford so i will continue to freeze in my 1920s damp bungalow that needs soooo much more work than I ever thought when i bought it and its one step forward two steps back on everything. But at least I own 100% rather than the 30%new build ownership i could afford… well thats what I tell myself when im having a breakdown about the house yet again!

@Onethingafteranother12 Argh don't say that! We're wanting to sell our new build and buy a bungalow to get a bigger more private garden, and don't have the energy or the deep pockets for a period property.

From 1969 to the 80s there were space standards for Council houses, based on being able to get the appropriate furniture in and move around it.Could do with the same for private developers’ houses.

She’s not raging on her own account. It’s better than the alternative of not giving a toss unless it affects you personally

Bellway! I'm not surprised you're having issues. I work in construction and they're awful. Well known for using the cheapest and thinnest materials especially for shared ownerships. Thankfully not many developers cut this many corners (persimmon do!)

I actually have a new build by another large developer and it's beautiful! I love it. Shock horror.

So YABU because you've stereotyped a whole range of homes. And YABU because you didn't research Bellway.

Hope it gets sorted though.

Bellway is the hard way. Your new motto for life.

@SomeCatFromJapan Neither do I haha, I thought bit of paint and good to go when I bought it! But no! I was told when I bought that the guy selling it his mum had died so was selling it. Turns out she did die but over 15 years ago and he has been renting it out on the cheapest he can since then. Alot of things in the house made sense since next door told me that! All botched jobs and rubbish DIY. The biggest issue is the floor, make sure sub floor is concrete, I dont know how me or the survey didnt realise but mine is timber subfloor and its a good job its just me living here as I know where to avoid, it all needs replacing throughout the bungalow.

@Onethingafteranother12 thanks for the tip, I'll look out for that. I hope you can get it all sorted soon.