Anyone Happy with their New Build?

The_Magnificent_Spoon

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

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

Frightens the hell out of me too. It's one of the reasons I've turned down the landlords offer to buy the place. I had to spend two days in a hotel last year because I had no electric or water (there is no gas). I would have sworn there should be some sort of regulation against it.

Furts

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

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.

None of these problems, and many more I have not mentioned, were on the purchasers "snag" sheets. All were hidden breaches of good practice.

But even "snag" sheets are part of the deception with purchasing a new home. We all expect them, myself included. But the reality is man has been building houses for centuries. The learning curve ended long ago. However, builders cannot produce a suitable finished product in 2013.

Cars have been available to the average person for perhaps 80 years. Todays car is light years ahead of one made forty years ago. Nobody buys a new car armed with a clipboard and writing pad in order to produce a snag sheet. Why? Because car manufacturers care about their products, and care about their customers.

bouicca21

So how does average Joe recognise poor build quality? I was a bit taken aback to discover that the new build I rather like has its rafters held together with nuts and bolts, but presumably this meets building regs? I'm weighing up snags and faults of the new build against possibly better built older houses that have not had careful owners over the past 70+ years - compromised damp courses, bodged repairs ...

Swizzle1066

I've been in my new build flat for over 5 years now and can't say i've had too many problems to be honest. The only ones i've had were settlement cracks, but that is to be expected and the builders came back twice to fix those and gave the whole place a re-coat of paint at the same time! Other than that it has been great here, very well insulated so fuel bills are cheap too.

I'm about to move into another new build house as well now, so can only praise them really. There may be some horror stories out there (always quick to publish), but there is just as much risk in buying an older property - just look on this site!
As long as you get a good surveyor who's worth his money then most items should be picked up. At least you get some form of warranty with a new build.

I've bought 6 new cars in my time, 4 of those had issues with them when I went to pick them up - nothings perfect in life!

Chlorine7

Thanks for ALL the replies, they've been a great help.

I don't think I'll be trusting Barratts home anytime soon but once I seriously start looking I'll know I'll have to really keep my eyes open if a new build is all I can afford.

makeyourdaddyproud

I rented a cracking (colloq) Bewley home.

Build quality was the best ive seen in a NB.

Furts

x_missymoo_x wrote: »

It has been great to hear some positives about new builds - I have reserved a new build myself, original completion date was Nov but has now been moved forward to Oct. Reading the majority of comments on the forums it seems all doom and gloom and we would be stupid to even consider buying new, however as posters here have said, people are quick to talk about bad experiences and you don't really hear of the good experiences. There must be lots of people happy with new builds, we just don't hear from them, so it's pleasant to read these experiences

Has anyone had any experiences specifically with Bloor Homes?

Not recent experience.

Historically Bloor were good, with effective procedures and control. Indeed, one of rthe better builders. I have not heard anything that questions this opinion, but I would add I have not done any research on this.

chanz4

Just don't use their recommended FSA as you might as well do it yourself

x_missymoo_x

chanz4 wrote: »

Just don't use their recommended FSA as you might as well do it yourself

We have used their recommended FSA and solicitors, purely because we got all the flooring included. I received quotes from the solicitors and found they were only slightly more expensive than others I had seen, but the saving of getting the whole house floored much outweighed the slight saving from using another solicitor. Our FSA has actually been really helpful and we've had no problems as yet. Maybe we are just lucky!!

gazzabboi

What development are you buying on?