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We're currently viewing houses.... Well, not right this second, but certainly 5 this weekend.
What's the consensus on new builds now ? One of them is a Charles Church build in Lydney.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/162073670#/?channel=RES_NEW
But interested to get perspectives on the new build thing
When I see my colleagues on Teams calls wearing a t-shirt in their new build houses, whilst I'm in multiple layers in my 'characterful' stone cottage, I can see the point of new build...
My main concern would be if there are ongoing management fees for maintaining communal areas etc - seems be a more common thing for new builds, sometimes baked into the deeds.
And, for some reason they get extremely hot in summer!
I'm sure you can build a new house that's well built etc etc, but overpriced identikit boxes built to the lowest quality they can get away with on endless overcrowded sites. no thanks.
mate of mine lives in one in swindon and I have to use the sat nav to find my way in and out of his estate.
I can see why they appeal (but they're not for me).
First thing that strikes me from your link above is the downstairs space isn't big enough for a four bed house. There's nowhere to get away from one another.
Ooooh me, me.
So we moved into a Persimmon home just over 2 years ago. This was from a Victorian semi. Made sense as it had 5 bedrooms and meant kids could stay in their current school.
Overall it was the right move at the right time for us but we'll be selling in a couple of years time when the kids finish school.
It's definitely not a house we're in love with.
The benefits are it's warm, has a drive and garage and enough bedrooms.
Estate living isn't for us. The general quality on the house is okay but we had an extensive snagging list, PM me if you want me to send it over to give you an idea.
Also nothing is included. Had to get flooring fitted and I turfed the back and front garden.
Finally the rooms on paper look okay size wise but the ceilings are quite low, so it feels pokier than it is.
Since we've moved in I've done the following...
- replaced the bath after one of the kids slipped in it and ended up putting their knee through the fiberglass one. Is now a steel bath.
- replaced the kitchen. They can't change the design but they will charge you a fortune to put lipstick on it. Google Symphony kitchens to get an idea of the quality.
- repainted the bathroom and shower room as the paint started peeling off. Even though extractors were run and windows open.
Like any new build it depends on the quality of the trades in and how many shits the site manager gives.
I think houses are like parachutes. It's better to know someone has had success with it first.
4 years living in new build on estate of 40 ish houses with small developer. Some normal niggles (mostly plumbing) but no regrets. Warm in winter. Not too hot in summer. Coming from 60's houses absolutely love the massively insulated floor slab, decently insulated walls and no damp. Heat pump just works and (surprise to me) wouldn't ever want to go back to a gas boiler.
Now prefer sorting minor builder issues to undoing decades of wallpaper, bodges, asbestos worries etc.
Lack of mould is a good shout. And being detached means I've been able to buy a sub.
One other thing, lots of houses on our estate withr the integrated garage have had it converted to living space. Well I say lots but enough to notice it. Think there are about 160 houses on our estate.
I can see why they appeal (but they're not for me).
First thing that strikes me from your link above is the downstairs space isn't big enough for a four bed house. There's nowhere to get away from one another.
I guess you could turn the garage into an extra living space easily enough, but then you wouldn't have a garage.
2 ensuites and a bathroom in a 4 bed house seems a waste of space to me though, you could lose one and make bedrooms 2 and 3 a much better size.
Simple answer to the garage is, it'll be remaining a garage. No debate on that at all.
Another of the houses being viewed at weekend is an 1840s build. So we're not set on the new build idea.... it's one of a few ideas
2 ensuites and a bathroom in a 4 bed house seems a waste of space to me though, you could lose one and make bedrooms 2 and 3 a much better size.
Yep - they seemed designed for the instant Instagram appeal when selling and not practicality.
The jack and jill en-suite robs at least one of the bedrooms a wall to put a wardrobe against.
First thing that strikes me from your link above is the downstairs space isn't big enough for a four bed house.
I thought that as well. The car (or junk room) gets more space than the family. I visited a few places like this when looking at houses last year. I finally decided that if there wasn't enough space to put a Xmas tree up then it didn't work as a living space. I'm not sure why I decided on a Xmas tree, because it was mainly spring and summer when I was looking, but it's as good a measure as any. 😀 It could have been .....Is there space to have a pet? Is there somewhere you could put a record player without everybody knocking it walking through the room. Is there somewhere I could leave a guitar in its stand without it being damaged.
Simple answer to the garage is, it'll be remaining a garage. No debate on that at all.
Check you can actually fit a modern car in while you are viewing! Don't take the developers visuals as being to scale! 🙂
Edit - EG the lounge is showing as 5.05m long (and that will be into the window recess) - so the garage is shorter than this. A typical BMW 3 series is 4.7m long so would barely, if at all, fit into that garage.
Simple answer to the garage is, it'll be remaining a garage. No debate on that at all.
Check you can actually fit a modern car in while you are viewing! Don't take the developers visuals as being to scale! 🙂
LOL who cares, it'll be full of bicycles/workshop.
I wouldn't look at that one based on the jack & jill bathrooms - no need for it. Location not great either, there's only one way in and out of that estate by car though you can walk into Lydney at least. Rooms do seem VERY small 🙁
LOL who cares, it'll be full of bicycles/workshop.
A better designed house and a decent shed would be better though! 🙂
Why buy a garage that massively robs you of living space.
This one is better - and cheaper!...
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/167638187#/?channel=RES_NEW
Check you can actually fit a modern car in while you are viewing! Don't take the developers visuals as being to scale!
It looks like it's 3m x 5m. My Dacia Duster is 2m x 4.3m so there's not much space to actually get out of the car or lift the boot. And a Duster isn't huge by modern standards. Also, garage door opens to the outside and not into the house, ie no direct access from the house, so
LOL who cares, it'll be full of bicycles/workshop.
will be burgled while you're in bed
LOL who cares, it'll be full of bicycles/workshop.
A better designed house and a decent shed would be better though! 🙂
Why buy a garage that massively robs you of living space.
Well that particular one is only one of their development.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/152571203#/?channel=RES_NEW
That one for example has the garage externally.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153525500#/?channel=RES_NEW
As does this one.
Check you can actually fit a modern car in while you are viewing! Don't take the developers visuals as being to scale!
It looks like it's 3m x 5m. My Dacia Duster is 2m x 4.3m so there's not much space to actually get out of the car or lift the boot. And a Duster isn't huge by modern standards. Also, garage door opens to the outside and not into the house, ie no direct access from the house, so
LOL who cares, it'll be full of bicycles/workshop.
will be burgled while you're in bed
Thanks for the optimism. why would it be burgled ?
When I see my colleagues on Teams calls wearing a t-shirt in their new build houses, whilst I'm in multiple layers in my 'characterful' stone cottage, I can see the point of new build...
and the friends who seem to have what I like to call 'a life' at the weekends whilst I patch our lump of 'character' together again.
I don't want one with all my heart...but my head sometimes thinks differently.
Thanks for the optimism. why would it be burgled ?
I wasn't all that serious - that's just what I thought when I looked at that design in real life. What's the point of sacrificing space in the house for a garage that you have to go outside to access? You can't carry your shopping directly into the kitchen, you will get wet doing it. The burglary bit (in my head) is just that it's only as secure as an external shed.
Integral garages are less likely to get burgled, as the penalties are stiffer than for external ones.
That's what the bizzies told me after my external garage got burgled years ago anyway.
They are lower quality than some older houses, but they are cheaper than the equivalent characterful stone cottage IMO. And whilst the execution is poor, the spec to which they are built is higher than ever. For example you get way more insulation than in older houses, BUT you get bodge jobs and shortcuts by builders. In our house, they'd drill a hole through the wall for an extractor fan but didn't seal around the hole on the inner wall so wind blows through the soffits, through the holes and into the gaps behind the dry lining. It's not that difficult to seal them up, once you know what you are looking for, and is a damn site easier than e.g. fitting a new roof like my sister had to do on her old house. Another was the hole in the floor to the cavity under the house where the kitchen drain holes came in. Big gaps there let in cold air and also slugs into the kitchen waste bin. It was easily fixed by removing the kickboard and spraying foam in the hole, but still. That said, old houses have plenty of issues, sometimes with the original build but often decades of cowboy tradespeople, bodged DIY or just age.
So I would (and I did) but I'd go prepared, particularly with a can of expanding foam with one of those lance nozzles for squirting into gaps.
Just for reference, I had a heat pump fitted in May with no extra insulation required, it cost me £3k or so after the grant. It runs at super low temperatures because the house is well insulated, so far we've spent about £20 on heating this month. It would be a different story in an old house without significant upgrades.
We have a whole bunch of new builds near us and I often walk through the new streets with my dogs. I have noticed some really shoddy workmanship – several with guttering that has partially fallen off (I noted that many houses seems to have some missing supports so I assume in heavy rain, the weight is pulling them away). A roof partially blew off one house (ironically the show home) in a storm, lots of the the boundary fences have also been affected by wind (not a surprise as they all just have 3 inch posts rather than 4 inch). Also, due to poor design and limited parking on drives/garages, the roads are littered with cars parked all over.
And, on top of all that, I agree with comments about small rooms and low ceilings.
Wouldn’t touch one on a big estate, but one of the ones on a small development? Yes. I’ve had both, though to be fair the one I’m in now was 10 years old when I bought it. Put together extremely well with at least double the insulation required by law and thoughtfully wired / plumbed.
Also meant that I could swap straight from the oil boiler to ASHP with minimal work (in fact the only radiator change was to make one of them smaller).
Only weird aspect is that the developers massively fell out with the landowner on one side of the house and in a fit of pique built the house as close as possible to their land, to the extent my garage has a bend in the middle to follow the boundary.
An aside. When I finished uni (design course) a friend's first job post degree was working for a company that specialised in making furniture for show homes. All a little bit smaller than normal in really sneaky ways - like a sofa that was just a bit too shallow to sit comfortably to give the illusion of a more space in the middle of the room and beds a foot shorter than normal. Wasn't just uniformly shrunk but subtly tweaked.
The crafty bastards.
Wheres the garden? It might not be the case with these but I don't understand 'large' houses with small gardens. I'd much rather have a smaller house and a massive garden.
Might just be me though...
Bedroom storage? seems to be a lack of in your new link
Bedroom storage? seems to be a lack of in your new link
Might just be me though...
Suspect it's all about the bottom line. A house of fewer bedrooms, more storage (I noticed the floorplans in the OP's first link had two small storage spaces and no wardrobes modelled in any of the bedrooms - inconceivable many families of 4/5 could live like it's being presented) and more space around it would be much nicer to live in and potentially hove more longevity....but less profit in the here and now for the developer.
Arguably though - if all houses were built as most of us would like to live we'd need to be using a lot more greenfield land to accommodate the amount of houses needed.
Wheres the garden? It might not be the case with these but I don't understand 'large' houses with small gardens. I'd much rather have a smaller house and a massive garden.
Might just be me though...
As long as the garden can fit a table and chairs i'm happy. The rest is not really my thing.
However, for example, this is the garden on another place we're viewing, the rear garden is bigger than that as well.
Thats more like it.
I get you though, I'm not a gardener, my wife likes gardeneing though, I just like space outside.
As above thought regarding builds, heating etc, the one with the 2 pics is 1840s built, so i expect likely to need 'stuff' as well as the garage being bhind those 2 sheds further up the hill, so pretty away from the actual property. The plus side is, I've not actually worked out how to get the car to the garage at the moment so it may be tough for thieves to even find it 😀 😀
Arguably though - if all houses were built as most of us would like to live we'd need to be using a lot more greenfield land to accommodate the amount of houses needed.
yep! our housing density (incredibly low by european standards) is yet another driver of out costly housing
Weeksy - I see those photos in your last post and unless there were some massive compromises (or a huge difference in price) I couldn't conceive of buying a new build over that.
Weeksy - I see those photos in your last post and unless there were some massive compromises (or a huge difference in price) I couldn't conceive of buying a new build over that.
Well, at the moment i'm not going to link to the other property as that's a private seller rather than a corporate. So wouldn't sit right with me. It's a lovely if a little weird place lol. But in some ways that one for example is top of my list currently. Waiting for confirmation on viewing time for that one.
However, for example, this is the garden on another place we're viewing, the rear garden is bigger than that as well.
I've just found that listing - buy that - don't even think of the new build!!! 🙂
Sticking to the important bit 🙂. Lathams doors are your first solution to detached garage security. But after that you need to look at access via the roof and how that can be beefed up.
If using as a workshop then the detached garage will be also be a cold single skin and uninsulated / unboarded trussed roof. Depending on exposure and brick type, you might find rain pushes through the walls in winter which quickly turns tools rusty. I've fixed ours with a generous coating of Stormdry masonry cream which works very well but £££.
With the integral garage you just need the doors.
However, for example, this is the garden on another place we're viewing, the rear garden is bigger than that as well.
I've just found that listing - buy that - don't even think of the new build!!! 🙂
LOL lets all not go finding or posting the house please... I wouldn't feel right doing that with a private buyer...
It's deffo on our list for this weekend.. But it's a pretty long list 😀
LOL lets all not go finding or posting the house please... I wouldn't feel right doing that with a private buyer...
I won't link - but it 1000% looks like a home already rather than a bunch of bland rooms.