What do/did you love about your new build?

Silvertabby

We bought our house as a new build in the early 1990s (still here, so we chose well!)

Before we started house hunting we made 2 lists - one with the things that we absolutely had to have plus anything that we were willing to compromise on, and another list showing the pros and cons of new build versus old.

Top of the second list was the fact that no-one will have smoked in a new build.

Gycraig

Cheap electric bills, well designed bedrooms / en-suites. Front room was a “front room diner” I don’t have a dinner table so it’s just a massive room. 

Small low maintenance garden, only issue in 4 years has been a slight leak from a pipe coming loose in the bath, and boiler breaking due to them leaving chemicals in, luckily covered by boiler cover. 

scottishblondie

• The fantastic insulation and the resultant low bills.
• Being able to choose things myself - I altered the kitchen layout and spec, appliances, tiles, electrical layout etc. and fitted all my own flooring.  I loved being able to put my own stamp on it without having to justify getting rid of "perfectly good" things chosen by the previous owner.
• The layout was designed for modern life - for example ensuite bathrooms.
• The utility room.  This might fall under the above point, but a utility room is such a boon it deserves its own bullet point.
• No history of bodge jobs (DIY or otherwise).  I appreciate many people feel that the build quality of new builds is "lesser" than old houses, but as the years go on more and more changes get made and suddenly a small change you want to make leads you down a rabbit warren of issues caused by people bodging stuff in the past.

New builds get a lot of hate, but I genuinely did love ours.  We bought it in 2012 and only sold it in 2018 because our dream property came up for sale.  Had it not been for that we would probably still be very happy there.

lincroft1710

The fact that both newbuilds I lived in were detached and probably also that they were new and fresh with no dodgy DIY attempts

lookstraightahead

I don't dislike new builds and I would gladly have one. It's where they are built and what they are built on that I wouldn't like (in general) and the inevitable expansion of houses going on for years.

ftom the perspective of having a house 200 years old I can imagine the niceness though of starting with a clean slate in a new build, but I have to choose actual location for me. The best of both would be nice.

RelievedSheff

lookstraightahead said:

I don't dislike new builds and I would gladly have one. It's where they are built and what they are built on that I wouldn't like (in general) and the inevitable expansion of houses going on for years.

ftom the perspective of having a house 200 years old I can imagine the niceness though of starting with a clean slate in a new build, but I have to choose actual location for me. The best of both would be nice.

Ours is built on what was a farmers field surrounded by open countryside and woods.

We liked our plot because it is nicely tucked away, close to the edge of the development so that we won't be affected by future phases and on a quiet road with very little traffic.

pxxls51

New builds exactly are my cup of tea

Joyful

I love the space and not having a neighbour through the wall. I also have a garage although it seems they are too small as most people leave their cars on the driveway( including me). I was upset at no drainage in the garden and scratched windows. The pandemic meant it took a long time to get things resolved and I paid for drainage,

pinkteapot

Having previously always had 20-30 year old houses… I love not having to repair things! And we’ve had to redecorate our old houses as not to our taste at all. Walked into our new build and have done nothing besides putting curtains up. 😃 Not having to spend time finding trades to fix things that have gone wrong. At least for the first few years. 

tinytiddles

Things we love about our new build are:

- the build quality is excellent and far better than the house we had before. 

- our gas bills are only £16 a month during the winter (although will go up soon!).

- we have high ceilings because the houses built here are Georgian style, and they give an incredible feeling of space. 

- our house is a really good size (not the so-called rabbit hutch).

- our garden is flat and we have turned it into a wonderful place of calm.

- the soundproofing is excellent.

- everything is new.

- the developer have been nothing short of excellent at dealing with snags even during the pandemic - this is one of the large national house builders by the way. 

I would buy another new build in a heartbeat if we were ever considering moving again.