Options in new build-what is the better investment?

Dan-Dan

DigForVictory wrote: »

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!

I think most peoples outside tap would be located in a back garden ?

andrewf75

If you think there will be people wandering into your garden and using your tap I'd suggest not buying the house!

jellie

Dan-Dan wrote: »

I think most peoples outside tap would be located in a back garden ?

andrewf75 wrote: »

If you think there will be people wandering into your garden and using your tap I'd suggest not buying the house!

My kitchen and bathroom are both at the front, so that's where any outside tap would be as it wouldn't be practical to run the water supply round to the back.

beachlou

Just a quick update. We went for an onsite visit today and 'meet the builder'. Due to the difference in levels from the garden to the garage, no side door can be put in
Husband now wants power to the garage instead.

2013yearofthehouse

beachlou wrote: »

Just a quick update. We went for an onsite visit today and 'meet the builder'. Due to the difference in levels from the garden to the garage, no side door can be put in
Husband now wants power to the garage instead.

How big is the difference in levels? Is there not room for a step or two?

Power in the garage is a good idea. Not sure if you have alternative outside power, but for us it is our only outside power so we use it for the lawn mower and also any workmen we've had doing various things to the house, have used the garage as a base when they needed power (option to give people a garage key, but leave the house locked if going out too).



In regards to the above about outside taps - we have 2 taps, one either side (side and side, not back and front), down alley between our house and neighbours - one side is fenced in, but on the other side the neighbour has removed the fence between the houses. A (rather rude IMO) guest of the neighbours used our tap once (as it had a hose pipe attached and the neighbours didn't) assuming we weren't on a meter (no-one else in the street is), not that that's an excuse to use someone else's property! Anyway, after that, we turned off that tap from the inside, so it no longer works. The point to my ramblings - (I agree with the previous poster) - make sure wherever your outside tap is, that you can turn it off internally.

beachlou

The level difference is a little over a metre. I did ask husband whether we could put in some steps on the inside of the garage-is this even possible? We asked about putting the door on the back but they've put a tanked wall in.

The outside tap will go in at the back and we have a locked gate down the side so I would think it will be secure.

pinkteapot

I can't stand laminate personally and I'd say it's down to personal choice. If you prefer carpet, stick with carpet.

I would say it's absolutely worth having the bathroom floors tiled. Tiling feels so much more expensive than lino. However, ask to look at the tiles first and make sure they're not too slippy. Tiles used on the floor should be suitably rough/textured. Glossy ones are lethal when wet. Also check you actually like the colour/design!

Depending on the square feet, £175 to tile three bathrooms sounds like a good deal. There's lots of fiddly cutting round the suite etc in bathrooms so it takes a tiler a while.

ahillsy

+1 for the outside tap (is a £115 option in the development I'm currently buying a house in as a comparison).

+1 again for making electrical sockets doubles. Again, for comparison, £30/£40 here for single/double (white).

Re: flooring, this was our biggest decision, being the biggest cost. Amtico was always our "we would love to have" for kitchen and hall, but initially were going to compromise based on cost by going for vinyl in the kitchen. One thing to bear in mind with vinyl is there *may* need to be a join in it depending on the size of the room (I believe usually, vinyl comes in widths up to 5m). In my case, this join would have been in a main/busy part of the kitchen and having seen a similar, newly finished house where the join was done *really* badly, it was the final deciding factor (yes, I would not have accepted it had it been my house, but it made us realise we were compromising on something that for us, would make a big difference). Warmer underfoot than tiles, waterproof, very hardwearing.