New build houses, yeah or nah?

[Cousin Jack]

My take on builders is that they lie.

It will NOT be ready when they say it will.
If they say they have 'fixed' it, check! Very carefully
The average "tradesman' in housebuilding has been on a 6 week course and is a bodger rather than a builder.
If you don't know how to check stuff pay a man to do it for you.
Fight tooth and nail to keep a BIG retention until ALL snags are fixed.
NEVER trust a word they say.

I am sure there are exceptions, but there are no exceptions in any of the big house builders.

[Yorick]

Fight tooth and nail to keep a BIG retention until ALL snags are fixed.
NEVER trust a word they say.

That!!!

[Mr Moofo]

I have never bought a new house - but the house we had in Brighton was 19 years old when we bought it - built in 1990.
It was the most shoddy bit of construction I had ever lived in. I have always had old houses - and of course they come with a raft of other issues.
I know of people who have bought new builds (difficult not to when I lived nr Milton Keynes) and the track record was not good ...

[Dodgy69]

So, what are the reasons our new builds are so shit. ?

[The Martian]

So, what are the reasons our new builds are so shit. ?

Same as everything that is modern and shite; too much greed, not enough pride.

Builders employ their own building control companies (they used to be overseen by councils) who will pass things borderline and beyond to keep themselves "in" with the big guys or just because they don't survey properly.

Builders are all about hitting targets and contracts are tight so things are often rushed and work often undertaken by barely competent people.

Site Management has a much lower percentage of ex trades who have "worked their way up" so don't have the experience to effectively monitor construction.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

So, what are the reasons our new builds are so shit. ?

They're built as cheap as possible to maximise profit

[ZRX61]

Not sure how it is in the rest of the UK, but Persimmon is a complete shit show in Cornwall. Avoid.

[Horse]

[Count Steer]

So, what are the reasons our new builds are so shit. ?

They're built as cheap as possible to maximise profit

That quest for profit wasn't helped by the loss of skilled and semi-skilled labour post 2020 which meant they started having to employ less skilled people for more money. That and significant disruption to building supplies caused a serious hiccup in the building programme and things went downhill rather in construction quality.

(But, as said above, houses weren't necessarily A1 quality before. I thought Persimmon were supposed to have been one if the better ones once upon a time though).

[MyLittleStudPony]

I've spent most of the last 30 years living in three modern houses. Not bought new, but nearly new (5-15 years old at purchase). All were excellent. I think we replaced one boiler and had a small amount of rendering redone.

The place I'm in now is a bit of a mishmash, dating back up to 300 years old. It's waaaaaaaay more grief than the nearly new places.

[Scotsrich]

Been in a new build Taylor Wimpey house (middle of 3) for 8 years without any problems at all.

The only problems on moving in we had were the fans in the bathroom and toilet needed turned down.

It’s well insulated and surprisingly for a new build very well sound insulated as well. One side has a Collie that barks and the other had a baby. Never heard a thing from either side.

Compare that to our previous High Steet flat that we had to sink £30k into. It still cost a fortune to heat and the roof was going to have to be done sometime soon.

If you’re young and earning decent money then go for something old. If like us you’re retired and sick of things constantly needing done then buy new.

[MyLittleStudPony]

From memory, anything built in 2017 or later has to have insulation which meets a pretty high standard.

My current place had virtually no insulation when I moved in. And dozens of wasps nests in the loft (and five disused water tanks), which made it challenging to insulate.


Yes, new build estates tend to have not enough parking and you're crammed in with all the other dickheads but they'd be my go to choice for an easy life if I was moving again.

[Tricky]

My major issue with the new builds we looked at (and we looked at a lot) was that they all felt squashed together, lots of shared driveways/weird unadopted cul-de-sacs and the like, and the gardens were tiny.
Felt like you'd be living in next door's armpit.

Nail on the head for me, and why I'd never consider it again, irrespective of how well specced the actual accommodation was.

Back in my previous life (with what we now call my "practice wife" ) , I bought a brand new one in 2001. It was a small development of just 5 detached houses in a semi-rural cul-de-sac, built by a small but outwardly up-market developer.
It wasn't my choice at the time due to what Sunny says above- although there was, for " modern" houses, a decent amount of privacy, a detached garage and a private drive ( albeit only really fit two cars on it) , the garden was tiny, and there were shared communal parking spaces.

As for build quality, I'd give it 7/10.
Most internal walls were just stud, which I guess is to be expected in newer places, and we had some doors drop and skirtings come away a bit, and they did address it when flagged, but the main problem we had (which was still existing two years later we sold it), was the foul waste system. As the close was built lower than the main sewer, at the top of our (private to us and the other 4 houses) road, there was what looked like a couple of BT cabinets, but they contained pumping equipment. It never worked properly, meaning that fairly frequently, waste backed up in the downstairs toilets and overflowed in the drains at the bottom of the close.
Not nice.
Anyway, I guess that is not a typical new-build problem, but I thought I'd include it for interest

[Nobby]

So, what are the reasons our new builds are so shit. ?

The Cart is pushing the Horse.
Money people pressurising the Sales department, who are pushing for x amount of units

[Rockburner]

IIRC i had to have the damp course relaid because they'd laid the flooring on it before it had dried properly and after a few months the flooring started lifting from the water ingress.

We did wangle a free week in Egypt out of that....

[the_priest]

I'm living in a Vicarage built in the 1960's. Got to say that it is very well put together and warm enough. The insulation in the roof is deep, the double glazing at the front is good and the triple glazing at the rear is brilliant. Huge garden too.

My own home up in Manchester is also 1960's build and seems to be solid enough as well. The only issue is the sloping garden upwards to the shed get water logged. I reckon a French drain will sort that out.

Finding the right home is not that easy anymore, and you have to accept new builds need a jolly good going over. A couple I know bought down in Thanet and it is nice enough, but not the forever home.

[v8-powered]

Only ever purchased 1 new-build but that was part of a development of 4 houses built by a local builder, built in the grounds of a large listed manor house so planning restrictions were pretty tight. Still wasn't perfect and after living in it for just over 10 years, did keep unearthing things I wasn't overly impressed with.

Current house was a late 60's build but has been extended several times - I knew as soon as we viewed that it had been well built and to a high standard, haven't unearthed any nasties in the years we've lived here now and is as warm as a modern build, guessing due to the previous works and changes in regs, not too bad on utilities either considering it's size either.

[weeksy]

Ours is an 80s build and in truth has been bloody great. But it's in the wrong location for what we want/need now. So i'm a little sad in a way but we'll be heading out of here..

A lot depends on todays valuation price as that will decide what we spend.

[Horse]

[Taipan]

My colleague bought a house with service history! Seriously, when he moved in there was a folder left for him, telling him everything that had been done, there was even receipts for things like new garage door springs and what date the sockets were replaced, loft insulation type and rating, list of paint colours for each room etc. Even the floorboards where all held down with counter sunk brass screws!