New build quality

[Redpathos]

I often hear people saying how they wouldnt touch new build with a barge pole , and that older house (before 1960s) are built to last.

Are there anyone here who is working in the building industry (better still if you work with/for one of those major housing developer) here who can enlighten me if indeed the new build houses are of a worse quality. Do they indeed have a shorter life span compared to older houses (assuming of course both are given regular maintenance)

I watched a small new build development go up at the end of my road. I wouldn't have touched it with a bargepole and I know a number of local trades who said the same. The timber frames went up and were left exposed to the elements for far longer than they should have been in the middle of winter. Can't imagine that did them any good. They just used whatever tradesmen they could get - all the quality local trades had more than enough work and the building firm was from out of area so only those desperate for jobs would work there. One of the houses has had a number of electrical firms there so many times since the people moved in, I'm pretty sure they must have had mega problems with the electrics.

Absolutely, what a silly complaint. I suppose a chrome bottle trap on a wall hung sink looks neat, but in a cupboard??

There's a huge new estate been bolted on to the village where I live.

It isn't even finished yet but the cream rendering on the first phase is already badly discoloured and the houses look really shabby.

DH's whole business is dealing with building guarantee (and that means structural, not snagging or cosmetic) claims on new builds. That he is frantically busy might tell you something about the quality of new builds - and that is right across the price spectrum as well

Regarding the comment from the plumber, this is the following reply.

Live in a Linden home - long list of snags, external doors hung badly, uneven floor, bad paint job, internal walls that can barely support a curtain pole. It is warm though. Kicking myself reading some of these comments as our other option was a Bellway home (we needed to move quickly in lockdown so completed new builds were the easiest option), and sounds like they're much better quality.

In short - depends on the developer.

I've worked in construction for 20+ yrs
New builds can really vary in quality but they have a bad rep for a reason.
It's mainly the larger volume householders that are a problem but even there you get variation between sites.
If you get a good site manager and a good team then it may be fine but there are huge shortages of labour atm so that's becoming more and more of an issue.
I've seen and heard through other professionals of some absolute shockers - I would say a lot of it initially goes unnoticed because it's not obvious stuff but will show over time.
Badly installed plumbing & drainage are common.
Cheap fittings - my mums Charles church house had to have all the radiators replaced within 10yrs because they all rusted through the bottom, my radiators are 50+yo and still solid.
A local development to here has had all the garages flood due to poor detailing and a lack of proper drains and seals to the garage doors, same estate has had to have all the driveway manholes replaced as they spec'ed the wrong ones (cheaper) so they cracked when cars parked on them.
Problems with roofs (we won't discuss the premium housing estate where they short ordered roof tiles so just stretched the placement on the roofs - not a problem except for the houses that faced the prevailing wind that all leaked - the overlap is there for a reason!!! - 30+ houses all with the same problem, house builder claimed it was storm damage - took a householder to get independently review where they worked it out and finally discussed with everyone else)
Badly fitted and incomplete insulation, wall ties, lack of weep holes or fake weep holes, poor quality flashings & brickwork.
I'm currently working on one where when we knocked though for the extension the 'insulated' wall seems to be lacking any insulation, the kitchen vent wasn't actually connected between the hood and the outside vent. We are solving all these issues and more with the retrofit and extension work but tbh although they are only the second owners, we are having to do the same levels of work as we do with much older properties.
NHBC guarantee will mainly spend as much effort as possible to not pay out so often doesn't mean much.

For everyone who likes their NB you will have another say how poor theirs is (or they know someone who has one and hates it). Don't forget, you generally only hear from the dissatisfied as good news is no news.

Been in ours since Feb and it is great.
Reserved 12-months before and watched it being built, definitely not thrown up!
A few snags but (up until now) they have been great about sorting them out. Definitely not fitted out using the cheapest fittings and anyway you can upgrade the kitchen, bathrooms etc (we did) to make it (almost) bespoke.

People moan about them being cramped with no privacy but are they comparing a 2-bed starter home with an older family sized home or like for like?
Ours is a generous 4-bed det and it has spacious rooms, high ceilings, traditional construction, private driveway & garage plus a more than adequate garden (more than enough for us in our later years).
Yes we have to pay for the public areas to be maintained (£160pa) but there are extensive open spaces, allotments and at least three separate kids play areas.
I wouldn't want a house in the first couple of phases as the road won't be made-up until work is complete and of course you have every vehicle passing by but we are mid-phase and tucked away.

Previously I owned a 1930's semi and it was not the brilliant build people often quote. It was solid but uninsulated and terrible to heat, also the layout needed work (internal coal-hole anyone?).
Also had 50's & 70's builds, both ok in their own way (50's had a massive garden) but of course needed bringing up to modern standards.
Our NB ticked almost every box and we couldn't find a reason NOT to buy it.

We have a new build as we couldn't afford anything else :( My dream is a 1930's semi.

It's been... ok. The house quality isn't terrible, there've been very few snags to deal with (all minor things) and we have a decent sized garden which looked really lovely this summer when we got round to planting the border. The rooms are well proportioned compared to some other new builds we looked at.

I do love my kitchen as we do a lot of cooking and our kitchen in our rented flat was tiny. I also adore my ensuite which I will almost certainly have to sacrifice when we move.

I wouldn't get another new build though. The goal for three years time is to have built up enough equity in the house that it makes a decent profit and we can move to an older property which can become our forever home.

The thing is you do get issues with old houses as well. However with new builds you pay a premium for them to be, well, as good as new.
You wouldn't buy a new car and have the radio break every few months and be like "oh it's no worries i would have the same issue with an old one so I'm just fine with it."

My reasons are: (this obviously applies to where I live...around £350k for a 2/3 bed semi)

• Cramped estates and small gardens and overlooked.
• Small to no driveway to park 2/3 cars
• Location- may are built on flood plains and brown fields. I don't fancy potential flooding or pollution in 10-20 years time.
• labour is paid as "piece work" it feels like quantity over quality.
• one very personal issue: we have literally 1000's of homes popping up, but only a tiny % is social or affordable housing.

I don't want to pay premium prices and line someone else's pockets.

Even older council flats ( built just after the war) are superior in quality to those built in later years.
Older properties do have their issues ,,but these issues are mainly due to the age of the property and the normal wear and tear.
I would rather spend money fixing up an older house than buying a new build that I have already paid a premium for and which still has issues with snagging, plumbing etc

My new build was all fake. The skirting board was mdf/composite (?) for wet and swelled up and couldn't be repainted. The doors were awful. And you look out the window and see hundreds the same. The garden soil was awful. Not great

I work for a (high-end) developer. Yes I wouldn't buy a new build, for the following reasons:

• The fire stopping in apartments is questionable. After Grenfell the regulations are continuously changing and so even new builds from a couple of years ago probably don't have the latest firestopping standards.

• The materials are mostly style over substance. Particularly in kitchens.

• the sizes are mostly ridiculous.

• a lot of work is bodged - so many bodged items were well hidden from the buyers.

• M&E is often poorly designed and therefore needs changing during build process. Which can leave poor quality. M&E is always rushed at the end which leads to leaks.

• Acoustic properties are very poor. Even when achieving the required level.

On top of quality you also have increasing service charges and usually a lack of parking, proximity to amenities and public transport.

• Too many quality issues - I know of two people that had to have their kitchens replaced within the first year of a new build.
• Small rooms, hidden by the fact that they put small furniture in a showhome
• Often lack of parking both for residents and visitors - so many say "space for two cars" but the spaces are one behind the other meaning a constant juggle of swapping cars around.
• Weirdly often seem to attract snobby residents who think they're better than others purely because they could afford the new build.

Give me a house in with a bit of time to have settled the snagging issues and settlement any day, especially when they're often bigger and cheaper.

In my life I have lived in

House 1 60s ... so newish at the time ...dire , running water in one bedroom

House 2 new build 70s no issues , but cramped estate . Remote garage for parking

House 3 60s - been loved by a DIY enthusiast , significant safety issues , not sure what use the survey was there

Series of houses from 1850-1900 period -dreadful - cold and damp and mould in all , no straight walls - doors had to be shaped to fit by hand and eye ...stairs dangerous steep ,no car parking

90s house - tiny - luckily I only needed one bedroom as the second one was the only storage

60s - great , ( hated the layout so not gutted when the ex refused to move )

50s - lots of maintenance required , tricky to keep dry and warm

New build - minor snagging , better layout than the great 60s house

@midgetastic what you have said but my garden is a good size, the estate has space I've got a driveway and a double width path between my house and the house next door. There's a lot greenery and trees. The house I'm joined onto I never hear them. I've recently extended my house which involved knocking the back of my house out and no structural issues at all. The windows are good quality. The bathrooms also. I'm in a 3 storey house so the doors are solid fire doors.
My estate is smaller than other new build estates. The builder is a regional builder rather than national. Yes the walls are stud walls. But it's energy efficient! A lovely warm house! Love it!

Also there no lease or maintenance charges

I want a big kitchen and even the biggest new build houses seem to lack surface space. A lot are lacking in cupboards too. Once you factor in a kettle, toaster and stand mixer you're left with a chopping board amount of space to prepare food. I'd rather rip a kitchen out and start again in an older property.

Oh yes! And all the new builds around here have service charges too.

No service charges here

Got to design the kitchen layout ourselves - plenty of bench space and plenty of cupboards

Can fit 3 cars on the drive and there is extra parking bays also

It's not all new builds - and if you did what we so nearly did and discount all new builds you might make a big mistake

We bought extra cabinets from the kitchen supplier and put more wall cabinets up (there were two singles wall cabinets and two floor cabinets), added more drawers (there was only one!) and a breakfast bar/extra worktop space in the corner where our house builders suggested we should put a dining table 🙄😂The layout of the kitchen makes far more sense now.

@midgetastic and @Dougieowner , who did you buy from and if i may ask what type of house? Starter or bigger family homes? To be honest i have never heard of allotment in new housing estate, that sounds fab

It's a smallish local builder - we all know where he lives

Smaller and larger 3 bed semis so family homes

Well I work for a house builder

You get what you pay for - I work for one whose average selling price is well over £400k. Yes does build low cost / social homes as part of CIL/S106 but we generally build big family size homes but we are a volume builder with sites of several hundred homes at a time

Also a 5 star house builder in terms of customer service

We bend over backwards to make sure we keep the 5 star rating

Yes we use contractors but they are KPId within an inch of their lives and scored against number of snags on handover - anyone falling below the criteria loses work