To sometimes think we should just move to a new build

[velvetmagicalnight]

DH and I bought our dream home to raise our children; a beautiful cottage on the edge of meadows rich in wildlife and flora and fauna. At this time of year it’s idyllic, with brambles and wildflowers and bees, circling birds of prey, owls, foxes, hedgehogs, even stoats. We have rabbits in our garden and the odd rat but ignore that pheasants, squirrels and every bird you can imagine.

I love it. I love our garden and our rambling hedges and all. But … it’s a hell of a lot of upkeep. The house itself is awkward to keep clean in a way that new builds don’t seem to be. Dust collects, it needs work doing, the carpets need replacing …

I am on my own now

i know new builds don’t have the same soul but they are easier, aren’t they?

I’m sorry to hear that you’re on your own now. I grew up in a series of Victorian terraces than needed constant attention. The first house DH and I owned was similar, and as you say, got dusty in ways new builds don’t. When we wanted a bigger house, despite ambitions for a bigger, older and needier house, we had to buy a newish build to stay in the same area. We love the area. We’ve been in our 27 year old house for 23 years. I just needs a wipe and done decorating from time to time. Its character is all our stuff in it, pictures on the walls etc. I hated it and its beige boxiness when we moved in, but that soon evaporated as we lived in it and brought our babies home. Not an inch of beige left!

We are in a new build and also lived in old Victorian terraces. In one house the heating controls for the boiler was in the loft - that was really convenient when I was pregnant and needed to climb a ladder to change something.

after a few years of drafty, damp old houses we moved into a new build. I love it. It’s clean and warm. Stuff works.

we have wildlife though - squirrels, hawks, bats, etc. choose carefully. We are a new build estate but a small one and I have open wild land on two sides

Hell yes.

i used to live in a seventeenth century house with Aga and everything, my then husband loved it.

i’m divorced now and I live in a new build that is easy to clean and actually is warm in winter without burning half the world’s oilfields to get the temp up a degree

I'm moving into a gorgeous new build soon and cannot wait. My friend is in one on the same estate. Hers was one of the first to be built. She's been there a year with no regrets. Solar panels. Car charging. Spacious rooms. So easy to clean. Mine should be built in the next few months! She has also decorated it beautifully. Not painted yet as you have to wait a year though. Cannot bloody wait!

Was brought up in a beautiful old cottage in the country, but I remember my parents complaining about the extortionate heating bills as it was oil fired central heating with coal fires, I now live in a new build, been here for just over a year, car charger, triple glazed so amazingly low gas and electric bills, top of the range appliances, carpet on the stairs and in the bedrooms and Amtico flooring downstairs…previous house built in the sixties, freezing cold in winter and boiling hot in summer. Live alone so don’t have to share and I love that !

Your home sounds gorgeous. New builds still collect dust and they eventually become tired looking.

Well to start with they are, but things like doors and windows, cupboards, flooring etc are sometimes cheaply made and break after not all that long. Usually just after any warranties have expired, or with something that is strangely not covered by the warranty. I liked our newbuild, but it still needed quite a lot of regular upkeep to stop it from looking shabby and it was hust as dusty. Cottages aren't supposed to look pristine, the lived in feel works for them and so tends to feel more homely. Upgrading the cottage gradually will probably give you the better home in the end.

It depends on the quality of the new build, some are riddled with problems and you pay a premium for that not to be the case. I feel the way you do sometimes about ours, especially the dust, where does it come from?! But it was a lot cooler in the heatwave than my brother's house which is about 15 years old now

I don't actually think they're easier, sometimes a house that has stood the test of time is more reliable and all houses require maintenance.

They do tend to be warmer.

Sometimes it's time to move on. If you can find a newer house that ticks your boxes it might be worth looking just to see. But as someone said above, cottages are meant to be a little bit not perfect, maybe allow it that as you pause and take in your surroundings.

The heating bills in winter are what give me most pause for thought in our Edwardian house. It's full of lovely period features and blissfully cool in this heat - but it's so cold in winter and takes a lot of oil to heat. Even though we've insulated as much as possible and just put in ruinously expensive replacement double glazing.

I dream of a new build with insulation and a heat pump...

But for now, it works for us, I'd miss the garden which I've worked on really hard, the location is perfect, the neighbours are lovely.

I think different houses are for different stages in life, especially given that your body changes and cleaning a rambling old house is practically impossible when your back won’t allow it. x

From friends experience of living in new builds and other friends of building them. Beware! A lot of new builds are chucked up with little regard for quality or safety. Many large developers cut corners, care only about sales and keeping costs down.
A friend had a chimney problem on a 4 year old house built by a large developer..
They couldn't find the original plans for that design so the repair was more difficult and costly than it should be...plus not covered by warranty as nothing was actually damaged, it would be when the chimney fell but my mate didn't want to wait.

A very large developer failed to put the legally required fire protection in thousands of houses.

A customer of mine had massive subsidence in his garden, developer wouldn't even come to look. He moved fearing the house would be effected next.