Anyone Happy with their New Build?

fart

Chlorine7 wrote: »

It wasn't made clear that you lived in one and obviously you have a lot of experience to share and have inside knowledge of the building that occurs.

Again, I have not dismissed your views and I have found them very helpful and they back-up the stories of issues that people have published online. I also think getting the good points from people will not only help me but others in a similar situation and I shouldn't be looked down on for that.

Am I not exhibiting caution by getting advice, knowledge and experience from happy and not-so happy people? I'm not going to run out and buy something tomorrow. I am still researching the pros and cons of new and old.

Although, what I am noticing is that those who have actually worked on the new builds are more against than for them...

I worked on one where the property failed the noise test (i think they make noise in one part of the property and test in another part how much the machine can hear. It was double the amount of decibels that a pass would have achieved. 30 minutes and one private meeting between the sound company and the agent, we've passed it.

The other problem is tradesmen can often be on 'price work' which means the faster they get it done, the more they get paid. 'Thrown up' doesn't describe half the stuff i've seen. Shoddy at best.

GwylimT

fart wrote: »

I worked on one where the property failed the noise test (i think they make noise in one part of the property and test in another part how much the machine can hear. It was double the amount of decibels that a pass would have achieved. 30 minutes and one private meeting between the sound company and the agent, we've passed it.

The other problem is tradesmen can often be on 'price work' which means the faster they get it done, the more they get paid. 'Thrown up' doesn't describe half the stuff i've seen. Shoddy at best.

I think my son could have done a better job than the fools who built my brothers Barratt house and I wouldn't trust him to knock a picture nail into a wall without disaster. Thats the problem with contractor work, you can have a set of builds that are fantastic, and others that are about sturdy as a tent.

RenStar

We're on our second new build house. The area we live in makes them pretty hard to avoid as we're in a 'new'(ish) town. We have not had any major problems come to light as yet and we moved in at the end of April. The minor ones we did have Persimmon sorted them out as soon as we reported them wit no hassle. The site manager pops by now and again to check everything is ok as they're still on site. I have found no issues with their customer care.

We have 4 decent double sized bedrooms, a large entrance hall with a cupboard in the hall way and another under the stairs. Our downstairs loo is much bigger than I have seen in some 5 and 6 beds. We have a very large kitchen diner (over 25feet) and a separate dining room which the kids use as a play room. We have three bathrooms upstairs (2 ensuites and one family bathroom) which with two daughters we reckon will come in handy when they're older. We have a attached garage and like most new builds probably will fit the car but would be a pig to open the car doors and get out (we havent tried, it's full of junk ) We also have ample parking (we specifically targeted the plot as it was the only one with 4 instead of 2 parking spaces plus the garage). It is 2 storey as I can't abide with the 3 storey town house trend.

Downsides are that we are pretty overlooked, they seem to really pack the houses these days but we knew that before we bought it and we're happy to accept it for the extra space inside. Our garden is an odd shape and small in comparison to the house but big enough to have decent sized patio for the table chairs and the kid's Wendy house plus a grass area. I sometimes pine for the mature garden that some of my friends have but they also started as new once so I can wait!

We did have to wait three years to find a development in an area we liked, the house size and layout we liked and in our price range. The builder only built 4 of the house type we have and they all got snapped up fairly quickly. We haggled hard and managed to bring the price in-line with what we were happy to pay (this was was really nerve racking at times!).

We're the lazy type I guess and can't be bothered with the work that goes with some older houses, so we stick to new but we research like hell and go in with our eyes wide open. Our mind set is that the speed at which new houses get built plus the fact that human beings are not infallable ultimately means that mistakes will be made. iIts how the builder deals with those mistakes afterwards that matters to us and for us, we asked around what Persimmon was like before we reserved. Our last house was by David Wilson and we had no major problems of note with it, though the third bedroom was too small for a growing child and living room diners didn't really suit our family set up.

I have heard horror stories but amongst my peers, I can count on one hand the people who have actually experienced significant issues with their new build. The most significant I can think of was a colleague who had the heated towel rail in their ensuite fall on to their lap mid poo!

If it wasn't clear from all that waffle above, we're new build advocates but with caveats. There are some shockingly bad examples out there (once saw a 3- storey barratts town house with the kitchen on the middle floor and the fourth 'bedroom' so small and oddly snapped that you couldn't fit a single bed in there but someone still bought it!!). Do what suits you and your family.

gaz141

I've been in my new build flat for a year now, and have not had any issues to speak of. This development has been built to some sort of high energy efficient standard, and I can honestly say in the year I have been living here, I have never once had the heating on, never needed to, it is so well insulated. The development has a communal hot water plant, this supplies my heating, showers, hot water for washing up, etc. Each flat has an individual meter so we pay for what we use, my bill comes to around £10 a month for this, so I've never had massive heating bills, even last winter when it was so cold. I'm single, no kids, so would obviously be more if I had a family to keep.

Furts

Chlorine7 wrote: »

Although, what I am noticing is that those who have actually worked on the new builds are more against than for them...

This is because they know the pitfalls.

If you look carefully at some answers to your post they are along the lines of"We have not had any significant problems so far". Then consider that those posting these comments are statistically unlikely to have any significant knowledge of what is, and what is not, a correctly built home. The industry relies on "ignorance being bliss."

I had a development of eighteen houses at Swindon. Plot 3 was happy until the second winter when rain was coming through her living room walls. Plot 4 was happy until the March winds started taking off all the hanging tiles cladding the front and side elevation. Plot 6 was happy until the November rain was running out of her garage doors. Plot 8 was happy until she found smoke from the wood stove coming out from below her bedroom carpet. I could go on. These were all hidden defects that would not be picked up by the purchasers.

All new houses are defective - this is a fact. The pragmatic concern is; how serious the defects are, and how many of them exist. This is followed by; will anything be done to put the defects right and, if so. will this be a bodged job?

I do not say "do not buy a newly built home". I do say "go into this with your eyes wide open".

makeyourdaddyproud

Except the plots you speak of do have the kind of significant problems the aforementioned posters experienced, and thus would be reported on their respective snagging lists? Your post alludes to nothing already known unless you really meant to list things the buyers never see such as inferior materials or regs violations.

kksweety

I just wrote an epic reply then accidentally closed the window

Anyhow, we bought our new build coming upto 18months ago.

Pros

• Massive house, 4 bedrooms of which only 1 is single. En-suite bathroom. Decent size garden. Attached garage.
• Any problems we had (doors sticking, dodgy hinges, dodgy patio doors, light working intermittently) were all fixed quickly. Everything has at least a 5 year guarantee and the actual building has 10 years)
• High quality electricals, boiler etc. We had our annual service and the plumber said it is one of the best systems he's seen.
• Economical. The house is 4 bedroom, 3 story and our gas/electric is £50 a month. The whole site have solar panels for water heating.
• No nasty surprises from previous owners. Started out as a blank canvas to do what we like with.

Cons

• New builds tend to be in rejuvanation areas, so while our estate is lovely a few roads over looks a bit crappy. We have never had any problems though.
• There have been lots of small issues. (but as I said got sorted quickly)
• The extras (if you pay for them) get a bit excessive. £1k for turf. £500 for the better kitchen. Carpets etc. We were lucky and got a great deal with everything included. Haggle!

We bought with Keepmoat. I wouldn't think twice about buying a new build again with the right company.

The_Magnificent_Spoon

I live in a new build (newly converted) apartment.

The bits that were the existing building, ie the external walls, are solid as they come. The bits added in the conversion? Shoddy and downright dangerous. The boiler Is located directly above the fuse box, which sprung a very minor leak, dripped all Over the fuse box and fried the electrics. There is no other storage, the plumbing is terrible (drains randomly blocking), walls aren't fit to hang a picture on, the flooring is uneven.

On the surface, it looks fantastic. Underneath, not so much.

kksweety

I think there is so much red tape and regulations they have to be built to a particular standard.

makeyourdaddyproud

The_Magnificent_Spoon wrote: »

I live in a new build (newly converted) apartment.

The bits that were the existing building, ie the external walls, are solid as they come. The bits added in the conversion? Shoddy and downright dangerous. The boiler Is located directly above the fuse box, which sprung a very minor leak, dripped all Over the fuse box and fried the electrics. There is no other storage, the plumbing is terrible (drains randomly blocking), walls aren't fit to hang a picture on, the flooring is uneven.

On the surface, it looks fantastic. Underneath, not so much.

Boiler above electrics? I'm sorry but that frightens the hell out of me. I'll stick to my 7-bed Edwardian pile thanks.