why avoid new builds?

[perplexedandbemused]

DH and I are looking at houses. Over the years I've come to completely disregard new builds based on a feeling/tone from others, without ever actively questioning the opinion against them.

So, I'm questioning it now. Please can someone explain in simple terms why a person might avoid a new build property?

Lack of character, small plots, close neighbours, overlooked gardens

Add lack of parking to the above.

Often small rooms.

By definition they are on an estate which some people don't like.

Car parking can be a major issue.

Proximity of neighbours. Even large houses are often squashed together with small gardens.

They value profit over quality.

So quite often, they are have poor build quality, squashed close together with small gardens, small rooms, low ceilings, no or little storage, poor sound insulation as they used cheaper materials.

They may look pretty, but they also lack any character.

Lack of storage, lack of privacy mainly. The footprint of a new build 3 bedroom house is much smaller than an older property, even one from the mid 60s. However, better insulation and less quirky plumbing and electrics may balance that out!

We looked at a couple but they all had tiny bedrooms. Also the living room wouldn’t have fitted our 2 two-seater sofas. These were the five bed executive detached so god knows how tiny the 3 beds are. The furniture in the show home is deliberately small to make the rooms appear bigger, for example 3/4 beds instead of a double.

New builds are poor quality with paper thin internal walls.

I bought my new build flat brand new 3 years ago.

It’s on a peaceful estate at the edge of the town centre, big rooms with lots of light from the big windows. It gets a lot of compliments from visitors.

I hardly ever hear the neighbours and the insulation is good enough that I very rarely need either the heating or the fan on.

Parking is practically nonexistent, yes, but I don’t drive & I knew that when I moved in.

The build quality. Will it withstand the decades?

The sought-after village I used to live in suddenly had three large new developments I was worried would mean I got little interest in my 1979 house when I put it on the market. EA was optimistic, and in fact we sold quickly, for well above asking price. I understood why when I went and looked around a show house and one of the new developments — houses were small, on small plots even when they were five-beds, crammed together, raw landscaping etc. Mine in comparison felt spacious, solidly built, generous hallway, not overlooked, biggish garden, mature trees etc.

Yes, there’s that, the house I used to live in had stood up well since the 70s. The one I live in now has been up since the 1860s. There’s someth8ng to be said for that.

Unfortunately every single person /family I know who has brought a new build has had so many issues (usually one of the major developers)
-Gardens are tiny and mostly just turf laid over rubble.
-Stagging lists are endless and take years to complete.
-One of my friends only realised her toilet wasn't plumbed in after she moved in
... completely missed by the sign off
-most developments sell as they go which means you could have up to two years of new roll.outs on your doorstep. Heavy site traffic passing every day amd continuous building and road works.

• put up fast which means with all the will in the world the care and attention to detail just won't be there.

There's a new dev by us and it's been going for three years. I feel.so.sorry fpr the people who moved in during phase 1 because they've had literally 3 years of constant construction traffic, noise and disruption.

That's not to say that some people get zero issues and love their new build. I think it depends on the size of the development tbh.

Personally I would avoid.

This is not true, I have a new build which has four larger bedrooms - main bedroom -we have a super king bed with still plenty of space, one King bedroom with en-suite, and two doubles with plenty of space for a desk and wardrobe. Ours looks like Tudor style from the front. We lived in 1980 with a very small hallway, and only one bathroom. The garden is on the small side but we had a massive garden in our old house and we never utilised it. We have better parking situation and have big front garden which we did not have with old house. Both houses - detached 4 bedrooms

Meant to write we used to live in 4 bed-detached house previous which was built in 80s

As someone who has lived in a new build for the last couple of years my opinion might help? Firstly it's what we could afford, young family with a small deposit, if we could have afforded a more characterful property we would have. However, we have loved our property, we're detached with a smallish garden but everything is fresh and new, had very few issues and developer has sorted everything promptly. House is very efficient energy wise and our neighbours are all lovely. So if it works for you then go for it.

Many people live in new builds so they clearly don't put off everybody.
My house is now almost 9 years old, we bought it "second-hand". Its a good sized house, not overlooked front or back with forest views, with a decent south facing garden, nice size windows so lovely and bright and so well insulated that our gas bills are very low, also has 3 car parking spots and a double garage with plenty of extra places for visitors so never an issue with parking. Negatives are that we hated the kitchen (not chosen by us and now changed) and it was cheaply made, plus character is a bit lacking but that depends on your style. Not all new builds are built the same, there are some excellent builders out there, and some good plots, just do your research.
One thing I love about the new estate is that everybody is in the same new(ish) house situation so we have built some lovely relationships with people who are also new to the area.

I think houses are like people.

There is a lot of diversity.

Saying things like all new builds have poor walls is rubbish. I am sure some do. However a lot don't. I'm pretty sure in Victorian times there were not any standards for wall insulation in terms of noise transmission.I know people who live in Victorian terraces with appalling noise transmission. Whereas in my new build the insulation is really good.

I think like anything, don't take it for granted that a new build will be really good, any more than you should take it for granted that an old build will be really good.

And as regards "new-ish" builds, I think modern houses last about 15-20 years before they start needing refits. So if you are buying a house 20 years old you can expect a fair amount of work required.

I have 3 builders/carpenters in my family and none of them would touch a new build even though they have all worked on them..
During COVID when building was halted for months and months we had torrential rain and all the timber structures were exposed to the elements..
Everyone said that it should have been redone really but no...
We are all waiting for the rot in a few decades...

Some developers and developments are better than others. Read reviews, get to know which developments locally fare well and which developers have been associated with award winning developments elsewhere. Many of the features people describe as negatives aren’t unique to new-builds. The reality is that a lot of 19th century and turn of the century homes, especially those aimed at working and lower middle class households, weren’t intended to stand the test of time - and in many cases, they haven’t: there are plenty of poorly constructed, damp, badly insulated, poor sound dampened period properties, most terraces lack off street parking, and many have poky rooms.

I don’t really understand the “lack of character” argument. Most post-war houses are carbon copies of each other, with slight variations for the time they were built and the area. Also character can equal ugly as fuck like my old neighbour who had a horrible pebble dash all over their house. For our old house, character also meant knackered and is going to cost a lot of money. Give me lack of character any day!

New build estates can certainly have many problems. The numbering of houses is often completely non-sensical with 50 closer to 77 than 72 is! Car parking spaces can often be allocated and not near your home, you may only have one space. They can be really badly built and have numerous problems later as developers have focussed on profit. Gardens can be small and often overlooked. Rooms can be small and there can be a real lack of storage.

Looking at the new build estate near us, we would pay a lot more for a “similar” house. Except that new build is one parking space, single garage, less reception space, smaller garden, 2 double and 2 single rooms. Our current house has a double driveway, double garage, more living space and 4 double bedrooms. Also a bigger garden. Ours is about 20 years old. With a new build you pay more for the privilege of it being new and in theory nothing needing doing to it.

After owning an older, character house, I see the appeal of new builds. The layouts are often more suited to how you will use the space now, rather than forcing it with an older building. They can be more energy efficient, better insulated. Part of the development plans will often include an upgrade to roads and pavements nearby and some require community space like parks on them. However, I would be quite picky about a new build. I believe Redrow are one of the better big developers and obviously more expensive. Their rooms tend to be bigger and you do seem to be more spaced out with them. I would also consider smaller, independent developers because again they tend to not cram quite as many in, although you will have less community space on these developments. I would study the site plan very carefully and look at how far out of the town/village the development is and what is the likelihood of being in a school catchment (if needed). I would also get a full snagging report before moving in and knowing how developers drag their feet, ideally make it so we moved into one chain free so I could ensure all snagging was done without compromising the rest of the chain.

There's a newbuild estate near where I live. It's not a super expensive one, so the rooms are quite small and the gardens are tiny. But parking is not as much of an issue as with slightly older estates, as the developers expect every family to have two cars now. The estate is quite nice and the kids roam around and in and out of each other's houses. The houses are also much better insulated than my freezing cold Victorian house. However, I wouldn't choose one of the new houses - I don't like how the rooms are all designed so you can only put the bed or the dining table or whatever in one specific place, because that's the way they've been designed.

Having said that, some friends have recently bought a fancy expensive newbuild in a different village, and it's really nice. Still tiny gardens, but the rooms are bigger with more flexible layouts, and all the finishes are lovely.

It's not your only consideration though.

The Tower of London has been up for 1000 years but my guess is it is horribly draughty and costs a small fortune to heat.

For me it's about the qulity of the build. When houses were made 100+ years ago they were bult to last.

Just look

There are good builders and bad builders - a good one will have storage , great sound insulation, decent sized rooms, good build quality , parking and garden , decent plots etc

Poor ones won't

estates tend to lack visual character when very new because they are new but that develops over time and you might find it's not so important to you anyway

A good new build will be very energy efficient ( we pay the average bills for a 1 bed flat - it's a 3 bed semi )

It's easy to add your style and character to a new home and make it how you want it - but if you struggle with design and need something already to your taste then a new build will be less good for you

When house hunting it's worth trying to develop the knack of seeing past the paint and working out how to make a house your home as you will have so many more options if you have sone imagination