An email i nearly sent to a new home builder... but wimped out...

poppysarah

SuzieSue wrote: »

Iit was the only detached house within my price range.

I love detached new builds.
You could hold hands with someone in the next one along almost if there was a hole in the wall.

SuzieSue

twirlypinky wrote: »

Hey SuzieSue, that's different then - where i am now you could buy a bigger house for the same money. I bought a new build in 2000, purely because it was the best around for that money at the time.

Yes, totally agree with you. But even back then I had reservations about buying a new build because of the poor quality but I had no choice.

The build quality has always been bad but is a lot worse now. I think you should send your letter anonymously to the local paper as others have said but they probably won't publish it as Abbey probably advertise in the paper and they don't want to lose their custom.

SuzieSue

poppysarah wrote: »

I love detached new builds.
You could hold hands with someone in the next one along almost if there was a hole in the wall.

Yes, but that's all I could afford or actually was willing to pay. I could have paid a lot more for a proper detached but I didn't want to because it would have taken me a lot longer to become mortgage free.

twirlypinky

mundibananas wrote: »

My Bovis Home has a fantastic layout ! Ground floor - open plan kitchen (with understairs storage cupboard) and family room (eg combined dining room/sofa and tv) opening out onto decking and garden. First floor has lounge with understairs storage cupboard, bedroom 2 which is double with fitted wardbrobes. Second floor has good size bathroom, 3rd bedroom with fitted wardbrobes (could squeeze a double in it but I use it as a combined office/single guestroom) and finally my master bedroom with fitted wardrobes and ensuite. http://www.bovishomes.co.uk/Development-Files/w/wpfob/wpfob_sw3022_fp.pdf

Where is your dining area? In the family room? I agree, that's a far better layout than most, if you don't mind it being on three floors.

jamsandwhich

A couple of years ago a nursing home and grounds in our village were sold to a development company and then the construction industry went downhill so the site was standing for a while before being sold to Taylor Wimpey who are now building some nice 'mews style' properties (translated as tiny houses in close rows with no gardens and enough space for one car to park within the boundary).

We were watching some building works with interest and I was gobsmacked to see them adding ready built chimneys from the back of a van but also made out of plastic!

Don't forget also that in a lot of showhomes the furniture is not actual size but 3/4 to make the rooms look bigger - we know someone who couldn't fit 2 x 2 seater sofas in thier new 3 bed house.

Also, when we had our ntl installed the guy told us he had done a house the day before on a new build estate and had been drilling a hole through to the outside to connect the cable to when his drill went 'loose' - he went outside to find a dozen bricks laid on the path as the cement was dusty and not holding the bricks together:rotfl:

sonastin

ILW wrote: »

You get what you pay for, want a bigger house with a bigger garden, pay more money.

I disagree. Its not the size that's the problem, it's what they've done with it.

That house isn't that different to the one I've just sold. But instead of an ensuite, the two main bedrooms and the bathroom were bigger, so you could have decent sized fitted wardrobes and a proper shower over the bath. And downstairs, the kitchen ran the full width of the property (at the back not the front) so that it could be used as a kitchen diner. Lounge was a little smaller so that the kitchen could be bigger but it worked well. A downstairs WC would have been a bonus but it certainly wasn't worth sacrificing a decent sized dining space for.

That sort of house is generally aimed at young-couple-starting-a-family, but my next door neighbours managed to fit 2 teenage girls and a young son into theirs! - I think they might have benefited from a bit more bathroom space

twirlypinky

We're a young couple wanting to start a family and we just laughed at that house. No way would we buy that to start a family in.

The walls are too thin
the rooms are too small
the ceilings are too low
the loft is too small (especially if you wanted the option of extending into it)
the garens are miniscule, forget the garden if you want a conservatory
they're regularly lounge-diner which i detest
there aren't enough parking spaces, most families have two cars, the roads are never wide enough to be littered with cars
the build qualitity is often poor, and getting the builders back to fix the items on your snag list is impossible
they depreciate in the first two years
they're overpriced in the first place
you'll need a 20% deposit if you want to get a mortgage on one
they're too close together


I could probably go on.

mundibananas

twirlypinky wrote: »

Where is your dining area? In the family room? I agree, that's a far better layout than most, if you don't mind it being on three floors.

Yes, my dining table is in the family room - which is big enough for a 3 seater sofa one end and a tv the other. It works quite well for me. And you can sit on the sofa and watch tv - the dinner table isnt in the way!!!

I enjoy being in a 3 storey house - it was one of my plus points when buying - but that's horses for courses! Some people may like not like it.

Riq

My parent's house is similar to how you explain the tiny bedroom, my sister had that room. Unlucky for her. Their house was built in the 40's so it's not just a modern phenomenon.

The other rooms in the house are quite large so the layout is rather odd.

ajfy2k

Couldn't agree more about new builds and their bizarre designs & poor use of space, it make you wonder if they even bother employing architects. Quite often they have enough m2 to be decent sized home but they insist on having the on-suite/downstairs WC / & a few random closets doted about. They don't seem to care about making the space usable!! In my opinion if space is not usable they there no point having & paying for it. Take small box rooms, they don't get used so you would be better off using the space to add to another bedroom, bigger bathroom or a on-suite that you can fit a fully grow adult in. Suppose they just think that their upping the value for each extra so called room they add on.