Opinions please - newbuild houses

[Poo2]

Morning all. DH and I are considering buying a newbuild house, maybe already finished, maybe off-plan. Has anybody had any good / bad experiences with any particular companies? I've noticed that lots of the estates don't seem to have anywhere to go (shops, park etc) unless you leap in the car, and am a bit worried I will go peculiar walking the baby around identi-kit houses. I open it to the floor...

Your house sounds gorgeous, kate - I'm glad you are happy there

No experience of new build houses, Poo2 (this one is 160 years old) just being nosy and now wanting to move to Florida

Think I should change the name of this new thread to 'Move to Florida'! Sounds lush. Have sent off for a few brochures, so will investigate further. Will be a bit sad to leave this place though - its a victorian job with fireplaces and ceiling roses. But would rather have a living room you can sit more than 2 people in, and a driveway. Thanks for all the responses folks.

I think it's much of a muchness for the actual house (assuming you're happy with the area and services.) When you buy someone else's house chances are you'll be making major changes anyway or at least painting it, so you may as well start from scratch and get the colours, tiles etc. right.

sorry, Poo katg is a mn treasure nad we like to lok aafter her.

sorry havent read all posts, but even though new would advize you to check 'what' houses are being built on top of!!!
sil and bil bought one from v.big new house builder in hartlepool and found that whole estate built on landfill..not major problem, but it was builders waste which was dumped on top of lake/pond, basically foundations are shifting all over place cos house it built on something like quicksand...it wont harden or settle. we also checked and ours is built on landfill, but that must have been a good 50 years ago and already owned another house on this estate with no probs..but would strongly adixe looking into it!HTH

I had a rant recently about the 800 new houses about to appear near enough on my doorstep. The far away fields are above what was the old mines so good luck to whoever buys them without checking!

We have a new build. I would buy a new build if we could afford to simply for the first in the house feeling. The workmanship is really what you have to look out for as the finishing touches can sometimes tell if the person knew what they were doing (particularly plumbing, plastering etc.)

If I had the choice I would love to build my own home - there is someone near the town who has bought a field to do just that and it is interesting watching the foundations take shape. They are living on site in a large static caravan and are, from what I can see, enjoying the whole experience. That would be my wish in a new build.

poo2
I recntly remember reading an article about new builds. I can't remeber where from..probably the evening standard
I'm afraid the opinion was not good. They said that most new builds are substandard- I think the figure was quite high.
Having said that my sister lives in a new build and is very happy with the house. They bought it very early on in the estate build and have had to put up with alot of noise from developers.
Personally, I'm not convinced about all of the new estates, I think you have to make sure that thy have shops etc or it does become a bit wierd.
HTH

I have lived in two new builds.

First was a 3 bed detached on a new estate, but close to the older area for shops, etc. We bought the house already built, but chose everything inside. There were no problems at all and everything was lovely, clean and new. The garden wasn't done, and if I buy new again, I would definitely ensure the garden was done before I moved in, especially now we have a child.

Second was here in the new apartment I live in. The apartment itself is lovely and fab but we did have a massive delay in moving in. Bought of plan right at the start of the development. Had expected a 13 month wait to move, which finally turned into a 2.5 year wait! Quality inside is good on the whole; one or two teething troubles but nothing drastic.

Currently having to look at older houses simply due to lcation we want to move in. Have to say hat I don't find the quality a huge lot better.

BIL is a building surveyor and he simply says it all depends on the builder. Even in the past you had shabby builders and poor quality materials. Most of that on older houses is now hidden under plaster and furnishings though.

Make sure the house is 'snagged' before you move in - my sister lived with a house that had millions of things wrong with it for ages and had to keep nagging the housebuilder to come back and fix them. Others on the estate had things like baths not plumbed in (ceiling fell into the kitchen in that house because of flooding) and similar nightmares.

Builder was Wilcon (now Wilson Connelly). I'll let you make your mind up whether that's a recommendation or not!