New builds are "shamefull shoeboxes"

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

We paid the same for a Victorian five bed house as a friend did for a four bed new build.
We have a lobby leading to a huge hallway of 32ft by 16ft.
The lobby which is 11ft by 15ft is just wider than the size of their living room.
How are the amount of people living in a four bed house supposed to live in a tiny room like that.

pinkteapot

Best new-build estate ever is going up near us. Check out the exterior design of these bad boys:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-30708808.html?premiumA=true
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-26936641.html

The estate is next to the Colchester General Hospital site, and the hospital looks like this:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/132835

It appears they designed the houses to look like the hospital buildings.

Errrrr, why?

Bedroom 1 in the first house linked to above is exactly the same size as the master bedroom in the 2-bed flat I used to live in.

My other list of bug-bears about new-builds is the postage stamp gardens. Even if you manage to get a south or west facing one, it'll be shaded all day by the house built right behind your back fence.

LydiaJ

pinkteapot wrote: »

Best new-build estate ever is going up near us. Check out the exterior design of these bad boys:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-30708808.html?premiumA=true
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-26936641.html

The estate is next to the Colchester General Hospital site, and the hospital looks like this:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/132835

It appears they designed the houses to look like the hospital buildings.

Errrrr, why?

Bedroom 1 in the first house linked to above is exactly the same size as the master bedroom in the 2-bed flat I used to live in.

My other list of bug-bears about new-builds is the postage stamp gardens. Even if you manage to get a south or west facing one, it'll be shaded all day by the house built right behind your back fence.

From the site plan you can see that all the houses, whether 2, 3 or 4 bedrooms, or "affordable", have the same footprint and the same plot size. I realise the 4 bed ones will have an extra storey, but still there's no sense that the "bigger" and more expensive houses will be more spacious.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

mustrum_ridcully wrote: »

Perhaps it's time EAs and builders were forced to clearly show number or square feet/meter (with the same prominence as the number of bedrooms) and the price per square foot/meter (with the same prominence as the total price)? They seem to be able to manage it in continental Europe.

I used to teach English abroad, and my students found it incomprehensible that we didn't describe properties by floor space.

I grew up in a 70s newbuild- detached, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, huge garden- that my baby boomer parents bought for about £3.50. I estimate that on a modern development you could fit 3 3 bedroom (well, two small doubles and a boxroom) houses on the same plot.

Another thing that reduces space is open plan lounge-diners and kitchen-diners. Although they seem larger and more spacious, you lose wallspace for shelves and pictures and there are invariably fewer kitchen units.

pinkteapot

The 2-beds remind me of Butlins style holiday homes:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-26936632.html

I think it's the primary colours they're painting them in.

11'7 x 8' is an appalling size for the main bedroom. The second bedroom in my 2-bed flat was this size! They've tried to make both bedrooms a similar size but a couple would really struggle to get all their stuff in that room.

However, the country is more crowded than it was 40 years ago. My work has a Hong Kong office and one of the guys here spent 6 months out there. Apartments out there are absolutely tiny because they're trying to fit a lot of people onto a small island.

puddy

pinkteapot wrote: »

Best new-build estate ever is going up near us. Check out the exterior design of these bad boys:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-30708808.html?premiumA=true
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-26936641.html

The estate is next to the Colchester General Hospital site, and the hospital looks like this:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/132835

It appears they designed the houses to look like the hospital buildings.

Errrrr, why?

Bedroom 1 in the first house linked to above is exactly the same size as the master bedroom in the 2-bed flat I used to live in.

My other list of bug-bears about new-builds is the postage stamp gardens. Even if you manage to get a south or west facing one, it'll be shaded all day by the house built right behind your back fence.

im very interested in the size of bedroom 3 in your first link there

it states that it is 10 x 7 (ish) and yet shows 2 single beds. we have a third bedroom which is 9 x7 (ish) and yet only holds one single bed and a wardrobe/chest of drawers, bed side table, there is no way with one extra foot of space we would be able to fit another bed in there?

shar46y

When we were househunting recently, there were not many houses for sale in our preferred area so in desperation we looked at a new build development.

3-bed townhouses with low ceilings, tiny plots with postage stamp gardens, narrow roads and insufficient parking. But they were a 'premium development' because they had solar panels on the roof.

Oh, and 2 en suite shower rooms on the top floor, a family bathroom on the middle floor and a ground floor cloakroom. More bogs than bedrooms :eek: and at the expense of bigger room sizes or better storage??!!

However, people buy these properties despite the price premium, so why wouldn't the developers continue to build them?

pinkteapot

puddy wrote: »

im very interested in the size of bedroom 3 in your first link there

it states that it is 10 x 7 (ish) and yet shows 2 single beds. we have a third bedroom which is 9 x7 (ish) and yet only holds one single bed and a wardrobe/chest of drawers, bed side table, there is no way with one extra foot of space we would be able to fit another bed in there?

Assuming you take off the skirting board to get the bed right against the wall, a single bed (assuming divan) is 6'3 x 3'. So in theory you can get them in as shown.... There'd be about 6 inches between them....

LydiaJ

pinkteapot wrote: »

The 2-beds remind me of Butlins style holiday homes:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/new-homes/property-26936632.html

I think it's the primary colours they're painting them in.

11'7 x 8' is an appalling size for the main bedroom. The second bedroom in my 2-bed flat was this size! They've tried to make both bedrooms a similar size but a couple would really struggle to get all their stuff in that room.

However, the country is more crowded than it was 40 years ago. My work has a Hong Kong office and one of the guys here spent 6 months out there. Apartments out there are absolutely tiny because they're trying to fit a lot of people onto a small island.

I suppose in bedroom 2 you could put a chest of drawers under the window, if it was small and didn't obstruct access to the fitted wardrobe too much. But I cannot see anywhere in bedroom 1 where any drawers could go at all, apart from the tiny bedside thingies either side of the head of the bed. And yet there is an ensuite shower room as well as the "family" bathroom. Why? In what insane universe do the occupants of a small 2 bedroom house have a greater need for a second bathroom than they have for somewhere to keep their clothes?

I've lived in two new-build houses in recent years (rented). Both were supposed to be "executive" 4-bed detached homes, but in both cases the 3rd & 4th bedrooms were extremely small, downstairs wasn't big enough for everything I wanted to do with it, and the build quality left a lot to be desired, especially in the second one (Barratt). I am much happier in my 1969 house now I've finally bought it.

skylight

I seem to have a decent sized townhouse - 3 storeys and 4 double beds. The house is only 4m wide but it is a long house. Garden is tiny though but enough for the kids to play on.

On the same development there are 4-beds with the same footprint/3-storeys/outside look as mine but the groundfloor bedroom I have is now a garage on the other, plus it has a main bath, downstairs cloak and 2- ensuites. Where I have 4 doubles, the other place has 2 doubles and 2 singles (one is a cot single!). It does have the added extra of a conservatory (!) which reduces the garden to about 4m wide x 1.5m long! "Worth" around £40k more than mine because of the garage and conservatory. But they all sold.