Options in new build-what is the better investment?

iwilldoitthistime

From experience, I wouldn't spend any money with the builder upgrading the flooring. They charge over the odds for the quality of the products they use. Also with small children (from experience again) you will probably want to replace the floor in 3 or 4 years, so can choose something a little better then.

Vampgirl

On ours we get all the things you mentioned as standard (except for the hallway flooring) - we are also on a budget so we're also having similar discussions.

What I have been doing - particularly in relation to carpets and wall tiling is trying get an idea of how much it would cost to do it ourselves.
For example: in the main bathroom only 1/2 height tiling around the bath and sink splashback is included, if we wanted the it fully tiled the developer would charge us £922. I've worked out that using the exact same tiles we could do it ourselves for around half the cost and as its not a critical job we won't be taking that option.

On the other hand, we are paying £450 to upgrade the kitchen units: it would cost a lot more than £450 to have the kitchen replaced in a few years time so we feel that this one is worth going for.

Its very tempting to fall into the trap of thinking your new house has to be perfect from the moment you walk in. And for sure, getting the developer to do it all is easier and vastly more convenient. But when I sat down and costed out exactly how much we would be paying for that convenience (and limited choices too), it really made me think about how much I actually value that convenience.....and I found that I'd rather be patience and put up with a bit of work when we move in.

andrewf75

I have to say I find it surprising that new builds are still being built to such a low spec. I suppose its a consequence of our crazy house prices that new houses are built as quickly and cheaply as possible. Compare to other countries and the difference in standard is huge.

jennifernil

beachlou wrote: »

Forgive me if this is in the wrong place but I was hoping to get some advise.

We are moving into a new build this summer and have to start thinking about the options we want to put in the house. Our budget is limited and we wondering what would be the better investment for whenever we come to sell.

In our hall we have carpets included, or we can upgrade to laminate (which I'm not keen on) or amtico (expensive! but like the look).

Kitchen-vinyl included or upgrade to ceramics for an extra £730.

Bathroom/ensuite/cloak-vinyl included or upgrade to ceramics for around £175 for all.

Outside tap-an extra £88-worth doing?

Side door to garage-£330 (pretty sure we have decided to do this as we have to go around the whole house from the garden to get into the garage).

What have others done when buying a new build? Thanks in advance.

Since the hall carpet is "included", take the wear from it, then when it needs replaced you can decide then what to have.

I wouldn't have ceramics on a kitchen floor, anything you drop will break, and if it's something heavy, you could easily break or chip the floor tiles. Tiles are also hard on the feet.

Bathroom etc, I would go with the vinyl, not a fan of ceramics where there could be puddles of water. Take the wear from the vinyl and decide later.

For both those areas, click-vinyl laminate is easy to lay later yourself, costs about £22 per sq m, and is waterproof.

Outside tap....yes, though we would do it ourselves.

Garage door......if useful, then yes.

Otherwise......extra sockets if needed, go for doubles, and change any existing singles to doubles.

Check for sufficient TV and phone points.

Concentrate on the things that cannot be altered/added later, or that would be expensive to do later.

Get what YOU want/need, not what would possibly appeal to others. It's your home, and you should not just think in terms of increased value or saleability.

AnnieO1234

I could be wrong, but isn't there something about not laying things like tiles or laminate in a new build until the property has settled? It may just be specific floors (e.g. Concrete).

FWIW I wouldn't do anything other than the basics, maybe add the door and tap for convenience, but your going to want to create your own space when you have the funds to do it which probably isn't when you've just bought the place.

Xx

robatwork

My quote for an outside tap was after I moved into a house that wasn't new build - to get a tap to outside would have involved running piping through the loft and down the outside or taking a spur off the downstairs toilet, but that option would have meant lots of plasterwork, or boxing in of the pipe.

I got about 4 quotes, one of which was £350. Safe to say he didn't really want the job.

I stand by my recommendation to get it done at build time rather than after the OP moves in.

Ethernet cabling = network cabling = cat5/6 cabling = patch cabling.
It's the way to connect your PCs, TVs, games consoles without relying on wireless, which can be patchy depending on how far from your router you are and what is between your device and the router. If I was buying a new build I'd get them to put a wall plate in each room to allow me to connect the above, going back to a central "comms" area eg under stairs, loft, spare room......but I admit that's a bit geeky.

jennifernil

Not really geeky! Our daughter has that in all the rooms in her new-build, I think she paid about £375 to have it done. All the wires end up in a big cupboard on the ground floor.

Hintza

robatwork wrote: »

Ethernet cabling = network cabling = cat5/6 cabling = patch cabling.
It's the way to connect your PCs, TVs, games consoles without relying on wireless, which can be patchy depending on how far from your router you are and what is between your device and the router. If I was buying a new build I'd get them to put a wall plate in each room to allow me to connect the above, going back to a central "comms" area eg under stairs, loft, spare room......but I admit that's a bit geeky.

I got this done in our house, spent a lot of time thinking about the position of the wall plates BUT most are in diagonally opposite corner from where we really need them now..........doh! So difficult to know how you will use a house until your furniture is in place.

Router and NAS drive are in the loft which is fine and they stay a lot cooler.

beachlou

robatwork wrote: »

My quote for an outside tap was after I moved into a house that wasn't new build - to get a tap to outside would have involved running piping through the loft and down the outside or taking a spur off the downstairs toilet, but that option would have meant lots of plasterwork, or boxing in of the pipe.

I got about 4 quotes, one of which was £350. Safe to say he didn't really want the job.

I stand by my recommendation to get it done at build time rather than after the OP moves in.

Ethernet cabling = network cabling = cat5/6 cabling = patch cabling.
It's the way to connect your PCs, TVs, games consoles without relying on wireless, which can be patchy depending on how far from your router you are and what is between your device and the router. If I was buying a new build I'd get them to put a wall plate in each room to allow me to connect the above, going back to a central "comms" area eg under stairs, loft, spare room......but I admit that's a bit geeky.

Thanks for explaining that. TBH I don't think we will bother as we have no games consoles, 1 tv and a laptop-not a very techy house at all. My children are far too young to think about or even know about games consoles/internet. Chances are we could have moved before we need to think about that kind of thing.

Going to meet the builder next week so will have a good look at where the sockets are going to be and how many there are.

DigForVictory

Just a thought about the outside tap - you'll be on metered water if it's newbuild, yes? So politely insist on an internal tap/stopcock as well so noone can use it without your OK. Also protects you somewhat from frozen pipe related issues.

Any & every electric point - fit doubles. Tiny extra cost, massive extra sockets!