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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU - new build houses are AWFUL

262 replies

hooplahooper · 26/08/2023 19:36

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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Original poster
hooplahooper · 26/08/2023 23:33

Y'all - I hear you. The disdain is way too generalised. Lots of lovely new build houses that are individual / small developers etc.

It's clearly the huge developments that have the most significant control issues. I'm off to find the new build snagging TikTok PP mentioned and whip myself into further fury... Hmm

OP posts:
mumda · 26/08/2023 23:38

There's a brilliant bloke on YouTube who shows how bad they all are. How many plumbs they're out. It's horrific to see knowing these companies are still allowed to build houses.

Friarclose · 27/08/2023 00:01

Mine is beautiful, its my dream home

Babamamananarama · 27/08/2023 00:10

The build quality on a lot of new builds is so shoddy you wonder if the house/flat will last as long as the mortgage used to buy it. I reckon some of them won't be standing in 30 years.

ItsASnag · 27/08/2023 00:22

EvilElsa · 26/08/2023 19:50

YANBU at all and I've worked for a company who carried out site inspections on new build estates. Some of the construction is shocking. Cost cutting all the way, shoddy workmanship. It was rare to find a decent build, hand on heart. A recent (very expensive) new build estate had turf laid directly over rubble in gardens.

If the lay turf over rubble is that an issue they have to put right?

BaaCode · 27/08/2023 00:51

I once went to look round a new build show house, just to be nosey because they had been thrown up in three weeks from start to finish!
I was shocked at what I found.
The master bedroom had fitted furniture, but a cupboard door opened out over the dressing table, so you couldn't put anything on it. The bed space was just about big enough for a double bed, you certainly couldn't have got anything bigger in the space, and the bedroom door banged into the end of the bed, so you had to close the door to get to one side of the bed.
The second bedroom had a wardrobe, a chest of drawers and a single bed in it. No room for anything else.
The third cupboard, sorry, bedroom had a smaller than average single bed in it, like a toddler bed, a small bedside table and absolutely no room to put any other furniture, not even a small chest of drawers!
Outside, a very narrow path between you and your neighbour. By narrow I mean you had to walk sideways and I'm not the world's biggest woman.
As I walked crab like down it, I noticed that if you opened the kitchen window, it would hit the neighbours kitchen window. Then I noticed that the window opened inwards, except it only opened a couple of inches because the tall mixer tap on the kitchen sink was in the way.
The floors felt springy and I asked what floor covering was planned for the kitchen as it appeared to be the only floor not done, it was like a chipboard, and the man said it had been done. How? It's chipboard!
The rear garden was the size of a stamp and the front had a driveway that could only fit one car.
Three bedroomed rabbit hutch for sale, starting at £288.000 and that was around 20 years ago!
I feel sorry for the mugs who bought those.

stevalnamechanger · 27/08/2023 00:52

This is why everyone buying new build needs to use independent snagging companies as part of the purchasing process :(

TimeFlysWhenYoureHavingRum · 27/08/2023 00:56

Yanbu. The Tories have decimated local authority budgets so Building Control is just another service that no longer functions as it should. Plus the regulations are minimal at best thanks to Cameron's "bonfire of red tape". Hate to say it but we voted for this.

ImNotWorthy · 27/08/2023 01:04

I've noticed new housing estates to the north of Newcastle, and also near a relative who lives a few miles south of Edinburgh. They look, well, odd, as if someone has reduced their cost and design to the simplest and cheapest, and they also look very small. The ones I've seen have sprung up like a strange crop of mushrooms.

sheworemellowyellow · 27/08/2023 01:13

Over 500k for under 1000sq ft, into which 3 bedrooms have been crammed, in a location with no public transport beyond a sporadic bus service is OUTRAGEOUS. Living like this would impact quality of family life, and family choices, dramatically.

allthegoodgirlsgotohell · 27/08/2023 01:27

I just feel like new builds are for people with zero imagination.

R4ID · 27/08/2023 07:37

allthegoodgirlsgotohell · 27/08/2023 01:27

I just feel like new builds are for people with zero imagination.

My new build is gorgeous. I don’t know why people feel the need to come on here and make generalised rude statements like this.

As an example, what’s the difference in buying an older house and putting in a new kitchen and buying a new build and putting in a new kitchen? I’m

Spaghettine · 27/08/2023 07:43

It's true that a lot of new build estates are poorly designed and ugly. Some are ok.

I've seen some new builds (1-4 properties) by small developers DH at look really nice. Usually the ones styled to match traditional houses

Many of these new builds are now just like ali express and Shein of the property world they just churn the amount

Hungryfrogs23 · 27/08/2023 07:49

YANBU. Our first home was a Bovis home. Jesus Christ it was awful. The issues we and our neighbours all had were relentless and never got sorted. Some of the houses had to be rebuilt because the outside side wall was bulging, mains sewerage pipes not connected to mains drainage, extractor fans not connected so horrendous mould issues, ours flooded because the estate hadn't factored in enough drainage when it rained. It was a total shit show. Never, ever, again. Don't even get me started on the astronomical "management fees" you are swindled out of too...

Middleagedmeangirls · 27/08/2023 07:53

We've lived in our new build 18 years now. I love it. Of course there were a few snags but overall the quality is great, it's cheap to run and apart from upgrading the cooker and fitting a bigger boiler after 15 years we haven't had to spend much on repairs or maintenance. Our last house before this was a 30s detached and in the 18 years we lived there we had to replace everything - roof, floors, wiring, kitchen, bathrooms, windows, boiler, driveway etc. It cost a fortune.

Peony654 · 27/08/2023 07:53

YANBU, they’re generally flimsy and also most I’ve seen have been built in random areas with no pavements to link to local villages or towns. I’d only ever buy a mid 20th century house. Can’t be bothered with older and newer that that are poor quality

HelpMeGetThrough · 27/08/2023 07:56

FoodFann · 26/08/2023 20:03

They’re awful, ugly, depressing. The ghettos of the future.

One estate already is here and it's not finished. It's the go to place for drugs and people getting a kicking.

They gave it a fancy name, it's a shit hole.

User15387500 · 27/08/2023 08:00

A lot are put up on the cheap with a horrible little overlooked square garden, all crammed in.

User15387500 · 27/08/2023 08:01

Usually bought by families with young children that will grow up and have motorbikes and scooters to annoy everyone with

TheAOEAztec · 27/08/2023 08:06

Ibrefused to touch new build. So many potential issues and from what I heard, it's a lkt of luck to get good one. Plus they tiny

This is sadly hilarious. 5*insults
https://instagram.com/new_home_quality_control?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Instagram

https://instagram.com/new_home_quality_control?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

TheAOEAztec · 27/08/2023 08:09

Middleagedmeangirls · 27/08/2023 07:53

We've lived in our new build 18 years now. I love it. Of course there were a few snags but overall the quality is great, it's cheap to run and apart from upgrading the cooker and fitting a bigger boiler after 15 years we haven't had to spend much on repairs or maintenance. Our last house before this was a 30s detached and in the 18 years we lived there we had to replace everything - roof, floors, wiring, kitchen, bathrooms, windows, boiler, driveway etc. It cost a fortune.

The build today is not the build they did 18 years ago.

Guavafish1 · 27/08/2023 08:14

my friend lives in an amazing new build! she brought before the pandemic.

Guavafish1 · 27/08/2023 08:17

I agree.. you get what you voted for.. which is basic cheap and bland.

hdbs17 · 27/08/2023 08:19

I purposely avoided even looking at new builds when we were looking.

The only way I'd live in one would be if it was a self-build.

I have family in new builds and you can hear the neighbours so clearly and the room sizes are just so odd - stupidly wide hallway but narrow living room?!