Advice on buying a new build

[sylv165]

We are in the process of looking to move to our first new build and are finding the overall process a bit opaque. We have been given budgets for our kitchen and bathrooms and it is really hard to know if they are sufficient or not. The last thing we want is to spend what is a lot of money for us on a house, but then find the price is ramped up significantly because the budgets aren’t big enough. For anyone who has been through this before does this sound like a reasonable budget for a high spec house (the prices we are charged will be trade prices, so discounted from the list price):

£18k - kitchen and utility room
£5k - main bathroom, ensuite and cloakroom

Tiles and flooring are not included, but built-in appliances are.

also is there anything else we need to be cautious of when buying a new build?

I would look out for fleeceholds that are sold as supposedly freehold. Its very popular at the moment to have to pay management fees for the estate. Avoid these developments if possible as its much harder to sell in future and tend to be overpriced to the first owners. Plus you pay full council tax, hence the term fleecehold.

Who called it high spec? I don’t believe 18k would buy a high spec kitchen AND utility including appliances, I would expect budget end appliances and not very high quality cupboards for that money. Same for a 5k bathroom.

Flooring can be expensive. Ask for actual prices.

Will the garden be landscaped? If they are leaving you with a plot of mud, than can add £££.

And yes, google ‘new build leasehold’ and hit the news tab. So many horror stories out there at the moment.

Watch out for unadopted roads too.

Thank you both, this is interesting. I don’t think we will have the management fee issue, but the unadopted road is something I suspect might come into play. It is a small development of just 3 houses on land that was sold off from a local stately home so certainly not on an existing road or on a large new build estate. I’ll definitely be asking some questions there.

@KievLoverTwo in terms of what days it is high spec - the price for starters 🤣. It is expensive for the area, even taking into account the premium you would pay for a new build. The reason we were given to justify the price is that it would be finished to an extremely high specification and the brochure is full of works like “luxury” and “high quality finishes” which didn’t quite seem to align with the budgets we were then given. But not having done this before I didn’t know if trade prices would knock down the list price to the extent that it was actually more reasonable than it seemed.

Depends on the value of the house, if its £1m quid then I'd say the budget is on the light side.... If its £300k then about average.
Shortly before exchanging contracts or certainly between exchange and completion I would inspect the property and do a full snagging list, I would also think about employing a building surveyor if you are in anyway unhappy with the build quality, builders mark their own homework these days and frankly building quality has fallen through the floor as a result. On the subject of fleecehold it is the duty of your solicitor to make sure you understand what you are buying, leasehold is fine, but for a house unless in London should always be Freehold, they should advise you if not.

@ObserverNumeroUno it is £675k, in an area where an average 4 bed new build tends to be around £400 -£450k. This is a little bigger than others, and in a very nice location so the price isn’t totally unjustified- but only if the spec is very good!

but only if the spec is very good!

I don't think 15k on an almost 700k house is good enough for a kitchen and utility spend. But, call their bluff. Ask who the kitchen manufacturer is. Ask what brand of white goods will be installed. Ask what exactly makes the house high spec and above the quality of a 'normal' new build.

With the additional information, those budgets are very tight - you could easily spend double that kitchen budget on the kitchen alone, and a good quality main bathroom is £8k - £10k alone

Does the budget include labour? If so, I'd want a budget of £50k - £60k for a high spec for all of that including appliances

I’m glad to know it is not just me questioning the budgets. There is no labour included within those budgets, it is purely for the actual units, appliances and worksurfaces in kitchen and utility, and sanitary ware, taps, etc in the bathroom. No tiles or flooring either, there is a separate budget for that of wall tiles up to £50/m2 and flooring up to £65/m2 which seems reasonable to me.

I have gone back to the agents today and asked for increased budgets for both kitchen and bathrooms (asked for £25k for kitchen and £8k for bathroom which I think is more realistic on the basis that trade price tends to be about 35-40% less than list price), solar panels, ev charge point, fitted wardrobes to all bedrooms along with a couple of other things. If we get that, or most of it, then I think it is worth it. If we get totally knocked back, we are happy to walk away. Thanks for the advice so far!