Opinions on new builds

adhara

It depends on how much of a discount/good quality extras thrown in for free you can get.

You don't need to settle for a grotty old house, but you may still save money if you go for a slightly older house and redecorate to your taste.

Reasoning: There's an ex-new build (about 10 years old ish?) near our potential new build choice, and it's £50k cheaper with a similar footprint, room number and general quality. Since I'm sure we could redecorate for less than that, it's a very viable potential house.

It's all about playing with numbers unfortunately, so if the stars align and you can get a bigger new build with better everything for cheaper, I don't see why you shouldn't go for it!

PS, completely off topic, but remember to check if it's freehold or leasehold. Building companies may not give you the option to buy the freehold (in which case run far away!)

London_Town

The elephant in the room with new builds is always the plot size. Normally, you'll find that the gardens and parking are significantly smaller, never mind the rooms. Sometimes people gloss over this by saying they don't want the hassle of gardening anyway. However, a larger plot means greater privacy as neighbours and pedestrians are simply further away and less able to gawp in your windows.

Also, as adhara has suggested above, many new build estates are now attracting a service charge. Basically an extra monthly cost, for a mediocre service, that will rise and rise as the years go by.

A small plot size and service charges are things you cannot change and you cannot hide them when you come to sell on. An older house (pre '97) can be brought up to any modern standards in time. In my opinion, that is always the way to go.

dgtazzman

One of the biggest arguments against newbuild people bring up is that they are overpriced and you'll be in negative equity for years. I bought mine in May for 200k, the builder is now selling the house type for 220k and comparables are selling for around 215k, so the argument doesn't necessarily fly.

I'm happy with mine. Good room sizes, don't hear the neighbours (semi), low heating bills. Only one parking space, but a generous one. Only a few nagging points, namely no window in the staircase/upstairs hall, so no natural light there (knew this when I bought the place, but it's more of an issue than I imagined), lounge feels smaller than I'm used to as I am used to open plan or lounge/dining combo (it isn't actually small at around 15 m2, just feels it) and the garden is small, though this suits me as I'm often away for work and don't have time for a big garden.

I_have_spoken

The elephant in the room with new builds is always the plot size

And the number/position of the HA units on the estate

lindsaygalaxy

The 3 bed newbuilds I am looking at vary in size. The 2 storey 3bed semi has a garage and an average sized garden for any house built in the area in the last 20 years. They are about 850 square foot which again is sadly the same footprint as any 3bed built in the area in the last 20 years.


The 3 storey ones are bigger - around 1100 square foot but smaller garden and no garage. Parking for 2 cars. However, I worry about not sleeping on the same floor as the children and you get a smaller living space. The children would both get double rooms though instead of 1 of them being a box room.


There will be 76 properties on the site including 20% social/ affordable housing. Prices haven't been released yet but going by other developments I would say will be about £30-50k over a house that is 20 years older. This location is good though.


We have looked at doing up properties which I am quite keen on, but in reality I am not sure where the time or money would come from.

fairy_lights

A lot of new builds seem to have very small rooms, and ensuite bathrooms and downstairs toilets at the expense of living space. Also some new builds have really tiny windows, is it a money saving thing?
I've seen some lovely new builds that I could see myself living in but generally I don't live the way they are designed - there seems to be a standard New Build layout which just doesn't work for me.

pinkshoes

I am just staying with my parents in their newbuild, and it is fabulous.

Very well insulated, decent size rooms, built in wardrobes, plenty of storage, and surprisingly a nice size garden too. The bills are much cheaper than their previous late 1980s built house due to insulation. Parking is very good. Nice quiet and social housing in a different area (!).

All new builds are different. Go see them and make your own mind up.

ruggedtoast

I wouldn't buy a property off plan I dont think, but if you can check it out yourself and have a proper survey it should be ok.

That said I haven't seen many new builds I would want to move into. One a family member bought was actually very nice, well specced, solidly built with good sized rooms and a decent garden. But the majority are the complete opposite of this.

You also have to be careful how much of the site is ear marked for social housing. A friend of mine spent a miserable year running through a 12 month AST in Bedford in a new build estate that rapidly became so crime ridden, due to the council moving every single problem family in at once, that the developers eventually decided the remaining units were unsellable and didn't bother to complete the build.

Pixie5740

The first property I bought was a newish build (less than 10 years old) and the ceilings were about 2.5 meters high and the windows 2.2 meters high so not all new builds have tiny rooms and tiny windows.

I've lived in a property built by Stewart Milne before and wouldn't touch one of their new builds with a 50 feet bargepole. So many corners cut including the wired smoke alarms which weren't wired into anything and turns out they weren't even real smoke alarms, just empty plastic shells stuck to the ceiling which were discovered when Strathclyde Fire came round to do a free fire safety consultation in my home.

I like the look of Dandara new builds as they seem to be solidly built with decent sized rooms and ceilings but are more expensive than other new builds.

I do like older properties like the old sandstone tenements in Glasgow. Some of the granite buildings in Aberdeen are nice too but it depends how much they've been tampered with. The flat I currently rent in Aberdeen was built circa 1930 and originally there was a ground floor and first floor flat. Then at some stage the two flats became four which has left the rooms awkward sizes, there seems to be two different sets of electric circuits in the property and the soundproofing between my flat and the two newer flats is poor.

borkid

jennifernil wrote: »

I think so much depends on the developer.

DD bought a new-build 2 years ago, and it is a very nice property. Decent room sizes and very well insulated.

She was able to plan her own kitchen and bathrooms, choose appliances, move sockets and radiators. Doors and walls too within reason.

The garden is small, being a terraced, 4 bedroom townhouse, but probably big enough for her to cope with. There was a small patio area, and both back and front were turfed.

There are 2 living rooms, 3 bathrooms, cloakroom with WC, and good utility room. Excellent cupboard space. And 2 private parking spaces.

The build quality is good, almost no noise from adjacent properties, nothing has broken down. Some initial minor snags, but quickly sorted. Now she has been in 2 years, she has just had the 2 year snagging list sorted.

All in all, she is very satisfied. The property is in Glasgow.

Same experience I had buying in Norfolk from a small independant builder. Any issues however small were dealt with very quickly. When the builders were on site they were dealt with the same day. My neighbour even persuaded them to return to fix a small leak when the 2 year period was over.

Our house is a 3 storey 5 bedroom detached. It's well insulated, our fuel bills are 2/3 of our previous bills for about the same size house. The rooms are light and airy and the finish very good. We hadn't bought a new build before and did a lot of research into the company and spoke to neighbours to get their experience of the company before we committed.