New builds - love or loathe?

[CharlotteSometimes2020]

I currently live in a 5 bed new build.
Everyone that visits says how lovely it is etc
And it is nice and practical- double garage, etc
But I hate it!
I can't put my finger on it. I crave a normal street.
With New builds I always find they are on 'estates'. Everyone knows everyone's business, parking always a nightmare. I feel I'm surrounded by houses.
The only good thing is that with new builds is that you can make friends easy because everyone is 'new' to the neighbourhood.
What's other people's opinions about New builds vs old houses?

Obviously they are not tiny 😐 Some are. Some arent. My brother's new house is about 200 sq metres bigger than mine but the layout so much better. Feels a lot more spacious.

This thread is eye opening . I didnt think lower middle class british people were still this concerned that their new build would seal their class!!

So are new builds really cheap in the uk?!
I dont think they are cheap in ireland. If anything, location and size factored in, you pay more for a new build.

So are new builds really cheap in the uk?

No, developers charge as much as they think they can get away with.

I moved from a Victorian house to a new build and my new build is better in every respect.

When people ask what type of property i live in I usually say new build in an apologetic tone as I'm aware that they are looked down upon.

The snobbery in the UK is something else.

I move my new build but I’m in the midlands and they are all a good size. I looked at them on the south coast and they were tiny with no storage space. They also don’t all look the same here as there’s a few different developers and several different styles. On most residential streets you find the houses look pretty similar. Parking does seem to be an issue even though most people here have 2 spaces; I’m not entirely sure why that is.
I love that everything is new and we got to choose our kitchen and bathrooms, flooring etc and even where to put plug points.

*love

Not keen on new builds generally. Small rooms, small gardens, boxy, soulless.

However our current house, while beautiful and characterful, is a nightmare to keep clean and always freezing in the winter. The floors may have lovely original tiling or parquet but it's cold! The gorgeous original leaded windows are warped and the single glazing is useless in cold weather. The central heating needs replacing, the extension is falling down, the garden is glorious in the height of spring / summer but too big and a bit of a mess when not in full flower.

A warm, clean, low-maintenance new build does seem tempting at times!

Subjective preferences aside, the quality of average estate new builds in the UK is a real problem. Check out videos on YouTube from tradesmen; plumbers, electricians, builders etc. Whenever the subject of new builds comes up it's unanimously "I would never buy one"

I think you do pay a premium for brand new, which is understandable. When we were looking for a 3 bedroom house we ended up going for an older house to get slightly bigger rooms and a bigger garden for the same money.

The cheaper end of the new build market are definitely designed and built to an efficient price point but that's what affordable housing is about. The late Victorian/early C20 terraces that have "so much character" were the cheap new builds of their day and many have next to no storage or outdoor space.

Our new build is beautiful and all the houses on the estate are different but the same. Different sizes, different finishes etc. We are on a small private road off the estate with only 3 other houses. Front the front we have fields and a stream and a mountain. The rear of the house we have loads of trees. We have a large garden in the back and a small garden in front. The house is warm and cosy.
I do agree with a pp about the walls though, I’d love to drill into brick instead of worrying if something may be too heavy and leave a massive hole in the drywall.
You can’t label all new builds the same, it’s all about location.

Buying our 2nd new build. 1st one was intentional, financial planning meant it was a good 1st hop. Never meant to be our forever home. Has all the new build flaws like no storage, overlooked garden. But 2 years later and we've now made enough in equity over renting to move to a better home. We hadn't planned new build but we couldn't find the same size house and a layout that works for us in an older property, in the time frame and area. Yes we are getting a tiny garden, smaller than I'd like, but realistically I want a beautiful garden to enjoy but don't have the time to maintain it. A small one I can do beautifully. It's also not overlooked as our boundary is mostly garages, which may sound awful (I thought it would be) but it makes it private and cosy. I much prefer it to the fence we have in the place we're selling.

Also list price is extortionate, but behind the scenes we negotiated hard on our deal that the incentives mean the real purchase cost is a lot lower. If we compare it to buying old and remodelling to same sort of standard, we're looking at like for like cost. So the less stress of things to patch and repair is better.

I think it depends. I don't see the point on new build snobbery. Buy what works for you.

The materials used are the cheapest so they get the most profit. There are certain developers most tradesmen would say are worse than others; Taylor wimped, persimmon are known for being very cheaply built. People usually think because they’re to regs and have NHBC warranty they’re fine but the threshold is very low and most of the time they’re finished in a rush as the plot has sold.
DH is a builder and my BIL is a site foreman.

Plenty of tradesmen live in new builds, what bollocks to suggest they don’t.

I’ve had a character Victorian house which was freezing and needed endless coddling. The bathroom was downstairs and it had a slug problem. I was born and raised in a seafront property and the majority of my childhood seems to have been absorbed by endless maintenance.

My new build is massive, warm and doesn’t need something doing to it every few weeks. I’ve got a big garden and space to expand into the roof or out back.

I do love character property but at this time in my life I’d rather have a nice house to raise my kids in.

Where I live new builds are usually tiny with one open plan living kitchen area. They are also mostly built next to railway lines. As long as I have any choice, I would never live in one.

It depends on the development I think. I’ve never lived in one but often go in them. Some are well done with decent drives for 2+ cars and large gardens which aren’t overlooked and have the possibility of extending. Others the opposite. Inside I think as long as the floorplan is good you can add character. My friend lived in a 3 storey townhouse style and I didn’t like the layout of that as there was a bedroom on each floor.
My house is on an 60’s estate and is very quiet, trees are mature so there’s a lot of privacy and we don’t feel overlooked. There are actual kerbs so you can park easily on the road but the drive fits 3 cars. But it’s constant updating and fixing things and it’s exhausting.

Is it snobbery though? Really? There are new builds at all price points and in all areas. A friend of mine spent £2m on hers, in a very naice part of west London. She’s pretty posh; background, lifestyle etc etc. Her house is solidly built, spacious, high spec, a one-off design in a development of two houses. She loves it; it is everything she wanted.

I still don’t like it, because it has zero character. It reminds me of the big chain business hotels I used to stay in for work - it’s like a Hilton. I’ve always preferred small, characterful boutique hotels when I travel, and I prefer character and quirks in a home too.

It’s just personal taste isn’t it, surely? My friend likes places that are immaculate, shiny and modern. Nothing wrong with that. It’s just not my thing! Any more than my old house with it’s dark wood, damp cellar and constant maintenance is hers.

A huf haus then yes, they are wonderful.

A modern estate, no thanks. I’m sorry just not my thing.

Doing diy in our Victorian house has made me jealous of new builds’ straight walls and floors and right angles!
We immediately discounted new builds when we were house hunting though because the ones near us don’t have public transport and the gardens are tiny. I also like that our area is diverse with a mixture of renters and owner-occcupiers and we also have a lot of shops/takeaways etc round the corner. I grew up on a new build estate and the only shop was a supermarket, there wasn’t even a corner shop anywhere.

Ive never been a fan due to the issues you mention, plus, I'm a raging introvert and like quiet and open space, plus, the finish and build quality is always poor unless you choose a very high end builder in my experience. A few colleagues have new build houses though and I must admit that the interiors/decor are beautiful.

I'd rather have a bit of character and put up with wonky walls and high maintenance costs though. My house is a hundred years old and I love the fact that its age is evident in every aspect, plus, it has a large garden surrounded by open space/fields with only a few other houses. I love the mix of people too, from young singles, through families, middle aged people and retired people.

We have lived in more than 20 properties.
Currently buying a 3 floor, 4 bedroom, 2 en-suite shower rooms 14 year old house.
We have lived here for 4 years now and love it. We had never lived in a house newer than 100 years old.
My two issues are parking and the small garden.

Just read the rest of the thread. The previous land use issue also put me off new builds, a lot of them around here are on flood plains and an old landfill site. We previously lived in a maisonette built in the 1980s and the garden was all rubble not far underneath the surface so I wanted to make sure we would be able to have a decent garden, plant trees etc.

Re: energy use, our gas & electric bill for our 2 bed Victorian terrace is £45 a month (and not on the cheapest tariff either) so it’s not a case that they’re all cold and draughty. There’s actually one patch of wall which is really warm where our next door neighbour must have a radiator 😂

"Character"
As soon as you move in you strip and skim the walls to get rid of decades of wall paper. New floors. Neutral colours. Likea new build. Except with an older fireplace.

I never worry my house wont have character though. I have character.

@OwlOneAmorFati

"Character" As soon as you move in you strip and skim the walls to get rid of decades of wall paper. New floors. Neutral colours. Likea new build. Except with an older fireplace.

I never worry my house wont have character though. I have character.

Even if we did that here (and the floors are certainly staying because there are perfectly good floorboards under the previous owner's rancid carpet), you would still be left with very high ceilings, graceful cornicing, large rooms, a gorgeous, broad Victorian staircase, a (battered but lovely) wrought iron verandah, etc. I absolutely get the appeal for some people of new builds, but there's no way a new build could approximate this house. Even if I were to paint the entire interior Farrow and Ball Dead Salmon.

I mean, I absolutely also appreciate that what I love about this house isn't apparent to everyone, and that some just prefer the low maintenance and pristine quality of somewhere no one else has ever lived.

As soon as you move in you strip and skim the walls to get rid of decades of wall paper. New floors. Neutral colours. Likea new build. Except with an older fireplace.

Er, no. My floors are two and a half centuries old and won’t be going anywhere. No Karndean fakery is going to replicate those. There is a name etched into my bedroom window that a boy scratched there while staying with his grandparents in the 1880s; I suppose you could scratch your own name into your new build’s glass, but you’d have to go off and die of consumption aged 21 to be truly authentic.

Not everyone wants this sort of character and that’s fine. But you can’t argue that a new build is the same because it isn’t.

You're exceptions!

I know some old houses are beautiful and far superior. But a house is not superior just because it's "period". But in the uk, the fear of such an outward expression of your taste can tarnish you. A lot of middle class people will think that a new house will brand them as a lower class. I lived in the uk for a long time. Always in a drafty ordinary period house.