Barratt Homes New Build - Optional Extras & Advice

cjleigh

brownn said:

Ask the sales advisor for a copy of the "BARRATT BASE SPECIFICATION OF FINISHES - ENGLAND, SCOTLAND & WALES" document and to which spec the plot you're interested in is being built to. It will list absolutely everything, the make/model/supplier of the taps, bath panel, kitchen cabinets, appliances, you name it.

Thank you!! I will ask them! I'm going to email them today with a load of questions so definitely worth asking for this! 

cjleigh

isplumm said:

2bFrank said:

Things like outside tap, towel radiator, flooring (apart from vinyl in bathroom and kitchen), landscaping (you have to pay extra for turf) are all extras.

Oven is the cheapest oven available, same with hobs. Unless the fridge is integrated, then you will just get a space to put a fridge, same with washing machine. The whole kitchen will be quite a cheap kitchen.

You can get upgrades, but will be honest they are very overpriced for what you get. Anything structural, then maybe it will be worth it (tiling, tap outside etc). Anything like appliances, carpet etc, I wouldn't bother and just buy from ao or similar when you move in.

We bought a Bloor new build a few years ago - very happy with it - once the snagging had been resolved.
To the OP - remember that if you don't get carpets etc fitted by the developer, you most likely will have to wait till you actually own the property before you can measure up - so you'll end up having to have bare floors for a while.
For us, the whole point of buying a new build, was that it was all done for me - I didn't want to move and then have to lay carpets, or change electrics. Otherwise I may as well have bought a 2nd hand house.
Mark

Thank you Mark. I will keep this in mind. We wanted everything to be done too. That's why we aren't afraid to pay a little extra to get the keys and unpack our boxes sort of thing! 

Carl2510

I am currenrly buying a new build, but Rowland Homes. I have opted to use them for carpets, what I did was look at the price they was giving for full house with vinyl included for kitchen/diner and all bathroom/en-suites and went round my local carpet people and compared they was coming out with roughly same estimate £100 here and there difference and for that I’d rather have it done for when I get in than wait and get it done after I’ve moved in. I used floor plans for estimate

cjleigh

RelievedSheff said:

robatwork said:

I have no idea what your development is/will be like.

I bought a Barratts house once.

I never would again. Stressful and shoddy.

If you do proceed, try to watch the build at least weekly, and make sure it's being built to plan.

I think it is pot luck as to how good the site manager is on a development. 

Both the Barratt and David Wilson site managers are on the ball where we are and it shows in the finish of the houses.

We had possibly the smoothest house sale ever. We part exchanged our old house for a completed plot and from reservation to moving in was just 3.5 weeks. It could not have gone any better.

Thank you for your comment. We want to keep all of our options home. I will watch the build as one of our good friends are working on our actual site for Barratts. My cousin is a solicitor for Barratts too. 
We shall see what happens. But thank you for all advice, much appreciated!

cjleigh

robatwork said:

I have no idea what your development is/will be like.

I bought a Barratts house once.

I never would again. Stressful and shoddy.

If you do proceed, try to watch the build at least weekly, and make sure it's being built to plan.

Thank you. I will be able to watch as a friend is working on the actual site and my cousin is one of the Barratts contracted solicitors.

RelievedSheff

cjleigh said:

RelievedSheff said:

We bought a David Wilson Homes house last year who are part of the Barratt Group and Barratt Homes are also building on the same development.

You won't get a choice of oven or hob. They will be standard to the house type that you are buying. But you will get a choice of kitchen cupboards and work surfaces and tiles etc. Our house has the standard white gloss kitchen which we really like. Our kitchen was prewired for under cupboard lighting but it was not fitted by the developers. We installed that ourselves.

You will probably find that the bathrooms are specified with towel radiators. They all are here.

You will probably be able to get the flooring thrown in as part of the deal. I don't think anyone has paid for standard flooring on our development. The standard here has been vinyl to the kitchen and bathrooms and carpet to all other rooms. You will be able to choose the finish of your flooring and the carpets if you reserve early enough.

The outside tap has been standard on all plots here and the driveways here are all tarmac. Some developments have a mixture of block paved and tarmac driveways.

The loft will be insulated but it will not be boarded out. It is recommended that nothing is stored in the loft.

Just beware that some extras are really expensive from the developers. One example is 240v sockets with USB connections. The developers wanted £85 per socket to upgrade these. We did it ourselves for £13 a socket for the same front plates. Same with stuff like outside sockets. You can get them done by a local tradesmen much cheaper than the developers will charge you.

Thank you so much for your comment. That gives me much more information that is required! 
We haven't reserved the plot yet as it hasnt come up. Will try and go for free flooring. Don't want all fitted wardrobes, only the bedroom 1 (our room). 
Thanks again! Hope you enjoy your home! 

I would recommend that you get your own fitted wardrobes installed rather then getting Barratts to fit them. You will get far better quality items getting them yourselves. We have seen the Barratts ones and they are not brilliant if I am honest about it.

UnderOffer

RelievedSheff said:

robatwork said:

I have no idea what your development is/will be like.

I bought a Barratts house once.

I never would again. Stressful and shoddy.

If you do proceed, try to watch the build at least weekly, and make sure it's being built to plan.

I think it is pot luck as to how good the site manager is on a development. 

Both the Barratt and David Wilson site managers are on the ball where we are and it shows in the finish of the houses.

We had possibly the smoothest house sale ever. We part exchanged our old house for a completed plot and from reservation to moving in was just 3.5 weeks. It could not have gone any better.

3.5 weeks - amazing, was that with your own independent solicitor, Or the in-house recommended builders? 

BigD74

We are in the process of buying a new Redrow home, also using HTB. Not sure what Barratt is like, but with Redrow we could view and select all options & extras on their “my Redrow” website. This was really useful as we could see pricing before reserving, and allowed us to do some comparisons on costs. We got included in the deal additional & upgraded kitchen equipment, as well as additional storage, but no flooring. We looked at the Redrow flooring costs, and compared this with indicative quotes from three other flooring places using the floor plans. These turned out to be 40% less than Redrow, for similar flooring. 

We have ordered flooring for the wet rooms with Redrow (ceramics) and the rest we will have done.  And yes we’ll have to wait for flooring to be laid after we get the keys, but the savings are so worth it for us. And flooring is expensive! Plus some builders will allow contractors to come in and measure before the house is completed. 

RelievedSheff

UnderOffer said:

RelievedSheff said:

robatwork said:

I have no idea what your development is/will be like.

I bought a Barratts house once.

I never would again. Stressful and shoddy.

If you do proceed, try to watch the build at least weekly, and make sure it's being built to plan.

I think it is pot luck as to how good the site manager is on a development. 

Both the Barratt and David Wilson site managers are on the ball where we are and it shows in the finish of the houses.

We had possibly the smoothest house sale ever. We part exchanged our old house for a completed plot and from reservation to moving in was just 3.5 weeks. It could not have gone any better.

3.5 weeks - amazing, was that with your own independent solicitor, Or the in-house recommended builders? 

They gave us the choice of four local solicitors that they have worked with. As it happens one of them was local to us and on our preferred list to choose from anyway so we went with them. The turn around was fantastic, we could not have asked for them to do anything any differently. Both the developers and the solicitors were great.

Racky_Roo

My friend bought with Barratt last November in Milton Keynes way and I went with her to help with negotiations as she was torn between a David Wilson house and a Barratt house - both same layout and size but the spec for DW is higher and therefore way more expensive. Anyway, I was amazed at how much each rep was able to offer in "gifted deposit" and upgrades to get the sale. Now obviously it depends on demand but from Barratt she got £20k as a gifted deposit, upgraded kitchen, fully tiled bathroom with shower over the bath, outside tap and plug, turf and all flooring.  So definitely worth seeing what you can get for free before starting to talk about upgrades