Help - buying a new build

[6poundshower]

Can anyone help, I've never bought a new build but looking at the options in my area. If the price on Right Move or similar says e.g. £300k, is this what you would expect to pay or how much over that would you expect?

Are things like the kitchen 'on top' of that for a new build, so it could be thousands more?

Depends on the area for how much you'll pay for a new build

We bought our new build 2 years ago

Where we bought our house was 375k at the time but 15 mins down the road, the same developer and exactly the same house was 320 because of the area

Kitchen, bathroom is all included but you can upgrade your options. Depending how far in the build they are, you usually get the choice of 3/4 kitchen options with upgrade choices too, 3/4 options for bathroom tiles again with upgrade options too.

Wardrobes and flooring is usually not included however with new builds you can normally get extras thrown in

We got our LVT and carpets all fitted, and uograded downlighting in the bathrooms and kitchen diner done free though you may be able to get more if you can be bothered.

I know a lot of people hate new builds but we still love ours two years on and we've had no major problems.

What developer are you looking at and where in the country are you?

We spent 11k on extras - higher quality kitchen with quartz tops & appliances, carpets, spotlights, turf, bathroom tiles. We paid for our own flooring for downstairs.

Every housebuilder has a slightly different approach. The same housebuilder can even have different incentives for different houses on the same estate.

Do your homework, see if houses are all sold straight away or if they are slowing down. Often 'House of the week' is the one which is complete and cashflow is king. But if everything is sold and future builds are selling well it would be mad for the housebuilder to offer any incentives.

You then get down to included items. Some housebuilders dont even include a lawn. Some include everything and give a huge list of upgardes at extra cost. Some people will easily add £50k in extras making the new home 'different'. TBH its a case of asking what is standard and seeing what you are happy with. We had hardly any upgrades on ours because it was classed as a high standard builder to begin with. The upgrades we wanted we felt we wanted to do over the long term rather than a quick fix up front.

One word of warning is that i am seeing increasingly that house builders who sell future builds do not stand by the original price. You pay the deposit but when they come to the build 6mths later it is part of the contract that you pay the current sales price. I have seen examples of my house builder raising the price by £50k from the reserved price....

I’ve just moved into a new build - everything that’s included will be listed in the brochure. I paid a bit extra for a couple of things I specifically wanted, but offset the cost a little by getting rid of some things I didn’t.

For me, floor coverings were not included except in the bathroom and en suite, but in some developments they are. Go through your brochure carefully. There will be a base level of what you get anyway, and probably some options for things you can add.

£50k 😲

It's Strata, and East Midlands

seller will explain what is included in the price and you will get a list.

@6poundshower mine is East Mids too, and I paid exactly what the list price was plus around £1500 for the changes I made (adding electric car charging point, bigger patio, concrete base for shed…) It’s not with Strata but a fairly small development with a local builder.

Have a chat with them, go and look round a show home and at the site if you can - I was able to stick a hard hat on and come and see the two plots I was interested in when they were nothing but foundations. They’re still building the last few houses here so are sending the decorator down to touch up the scuffs from where my movers brought my furniture through, and the plumber came a couple of days ago to check out my underfloor heating as I wasn’t sure how it worked. You’ll get a good feel for the company and the kind of service you’re likely to get.

Thank you

If you’ve looked at a show home and that’s the spec you would like, you’ll probably find that you’ll have to spend money on upgrades. Some developers don’t include flooring, white goods, have basic tiling and basic oven and hob. Others include white goods, carpets and flooring.

Sometimes, a house that seems less expensive when you see the advert, can be more expensive when you add the upgrades you want.

Sometimes you can get a reduction on the purchase price if the property is one of the last remaining plots to be sold as the contractors are keen to pack up and move onto their next development.

Is your shock at the extra spend or the increase in price?

Extra spend isnt over the top.

Full tiling of bathrooms = £2-5k
Full flooring of rest of house can be £3-5k
Upgrade worktops - £5-10k
Built in wardrobes in each room - £6k
Upgraded Appliances - £2-3k
Full mirror walls in bathrooms - £4.5k

The list goes on and on

Is there a specific reason you want a new build? You generally get less bangs for your buck with a new house.