British Homes - The embarrassing truth

[glenimp617]

It wasn't that long ago that Britain was well known for it's high quality, well built homes. The running joke was that the world was made up of something along the lines of....

Cars - German
Food/Wine - French
Electronics - Japan
Movies - America
Houses - Britain
Flat Pack Furniture - Sweden
..and so on

We were well known for it, so what's happened?

My family home growing up was a 1970s barker. Huge front and back garden, decent driveway, walls made of brick, water pressure which could literally blast you out of the bath, real floorboards. There was of course the odd drawbacks. Small third/fourth bedroom, lack of electrical sockets etc etc but the build was without question.

The first house we moved into was built in the early 00s and was pretty decent. It still had front and rear gardens (albeit a bit smaller), the walls were plasterboard, chipboard flooring, plastic plumbing etc etc but the build was still fairly good and we enjoyed our time there.

Our second house was built in 2008 and still fairly decent, with perhaps a slight quality downgrade on our last. There is no front garden, a tiny rear garden...and everything seems to have been done on the cheap, but at least the actual house itself wis ok (and by that I mean a gust of wind probably wouldn't blow it down). The locations perfect for us, and all things considered we've been happy for the last 13 years.

I'm not complaining about any of the houses we've been in. We feel we made the right decision. They've all be great homes.

We're now about ready to move. By that, I mean we're starting to look around whilst keeping our eyes on what's going on with covid, brexit etc etc. Could be a couple of years still yet, but we're starting to pay attention.

Prior to lockdown we went to see a number of new build properties as on paper they looked perfect. Great location, good plot size (at least on the plan), ideal layout and all the rest of it.

Here's one we had our eye on:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/83216137#/media?id=media2

In total we viewed three, from three different developers.

WOW! What the hell has happened since 2008?

They are complete, and total JUNK!

1. The sales lady had to do a little run up, elbowing the front door open. She said they are all like that and needed a little force. She made light of it.

2. The house has been fitted with light grey carpets, which were a mud bath. The workmen had walked all over the carpets with their muddy boots. She said this is what happends in new builds and they have a cleaning lady which gives them a deep clean before the sale.

3. Woodwork is the absolute cheapest you can buy. The door frames, doors and skirting boards are terrible. I asked when the house was going to be painted, and she said it already had A super thin layer of paint brushed on leaving streaks and drips. The light fittings, door hinges and spotlights were also covered in paint.

4. The internal walls shake. Literally, you can push them with your hands and the entire wall will shake and move.

5. Kitchen is symphony. The cheapest on the market. Wonky doors, two cupboards for actual food/pots and a chipped worktop.

6. Bathroom is made by Roca. Cheap crap.

7. The garage roof was about 6ft. I'm 5ft 10 and felt like I was going to hit my head on the wooden beams. She said the garages are quite low down. Then there's the issue with actually getting to the garage. You seem to have to drive over your neighbours drive to get to it.

8. New build developments are all subject to a yearly mainteance fee? £16 a month. Something to do with councils no longer looking after the roads.

9. Internet has to be from a supplier on the OFNL network? Twice as expensive as Virgin/Sky

10. Outside didn't feel me with much confidence either. Looking around I honestly wouldn't be surprised if some of the houses started to fall down. They look like they have literally been slung up in an afternoon.

The other thing I noticed, was how reluctant the sales staff were to actually sell you a house. Pretty much every sentence started with Sorry we can't do that or No, that's not possible. It was take it or leave it, as there's plenty of other customers wanting to buy. They kinda have a point.

Is there anyone building nice homes these days?

I'm not asking people to tell me to just go and buy an older house. That's obvious. This post is trying to make sense of what's happened to the quality of our houses. We've gone from building some really great ones, to building some....which I reckon, could probably be equalled with a good £5,000 worth of lego and a couple of pots of superglue.

It was a shock to be honest. I'd heard the jokes online and thought people were going a bit overboard with how bad they are. Jeez....they really are. I mean, they are really bad.

 

[glenimp617]

It’s the tradesmen who build them. I’ve had a couple of new builds and viewed many more. The quality was highly variable, even with the same builders. Having discussed it with many people I have concluded that it all comes down to the local site. Some are good and some are crap. If the site employs the lowest bidder then the quality at that site seems to suffer. Some sites pitch themselves a bit higher (usually reflected in price) and hire trades who work to a higher standard. For example, I looked at a basic Bellway house (semi-rural Hampshire, 4 bed detached) some years ago and it matches your description. Complete crap. More recently I looked at a Bellway house on a more exclusive development, priced at least double that of the prior one, and the quality was very high. I’m not talking about soft furnishing and eye candy either, mostly the quality of the finish and construction.

I’m not in the trades so it could all be a load of guff, but it is what I have deduced from my conversations.

There are people who view houses from another development, then buy at another one off plan

 

[glenimp617]

I think a lot of it comes down to the quality of the local contracters.

Most of these large house builders usually just hire local trades, they'll do as basic of a job as they can get away with. Unfortunately that results in shoddy workmanship.

I would say for a new build you're normally better off going with a smaller independent house builder where they'll usually have their own tradespeople.

Well there is one we love....our dream home. Thing is, it's £65k out of our price range That's a small developer. It looks stunning.

 

[glenimp617]

I work in the sector and new builds nowadays are a disgrace. I’ve seen so many build issues and complaints about lousy construction. I don’t know if it’s fixable anymore because everyone is only interested in fast and cheap.

Maybe house builders should be de-listed and run not for profit or profits only reinvested into the industry..

the latest disaster I was unfortunately involved in related to a lack of drainage in the houses. Turns out they’d forgotten to install most of the drains! Full excavation entailed.. this was a site signed off by NHBC for warranty purposes and the Local Authority for building control - how that happened I do not know.

Also things aren’t built to last at all and when they do go wrong NHBC refuse to step in. I’ve seen 3 year old new build roofs leak and destroy the interior and NHBC refuse to step in and fix as loose roof tiles are a home owners responsibility. Why those roof tiles came loose after 3 years no one could answer.

That's disgusting. The housing sector is unregulated.

 

[glenimp617]

Between 1940 and 1980, you will find a raft of shoddy construction.

Post war there was a serious lack of man power and so local authorities experimented a lot with construction that was quick and cheap.

Wimpey no fines, Steel frame, in situ concrete, hoop iron etc etc - so many issues.

It’s fair to say that a cavity brick built house with a proper DPM should be sound at its core but it’s the floors, internal walls and joinery which tend to let houses down. It’s easy to build the frame but it’s the stuff inside it that costs so much. That’s why high end houses tend to be cavity brick with reinforced concrete floors - that way you get good insulation, sound proofing and strength.

As has already been mentioned, stud walls throughout a property is a plague and sadly the norm with new builds.

I’m a surveyor and visits hundreds of new build sites and the standard of workmanship ranges from shocking to decent - it depends on the construction method, the site and the developer.

I have found Redrow to be fairly decent and linden homes in the past too but it is site dependent.

my mother and father in law bought their current home in 1999 from David Wilson homes and its lovely. It’s in a very quiet road, has a perfectly decent front and rear garden, double drive way and isn’t positioned with 2 foot of the neighbours house.

these days the same house would likely have a smaller drive, smaller gardens and would cost three times what they paid for it. It would also be about an inch from next door.

There was a linden homes next to the taylor wimpey site. They had all sold, but looked quite good from the outside at least.

any thoughts on Jelson homes? Not visited them yet, but the website says they are solid brick internal walls, oak doors and what looks like an half decent kitchen. The development near us also has Virgin media on site so all the cabling is done to each room with faceplates which is quite good.

 

[glenimp617]

never heard of them - although oak doors a d solid brick internal walls is certainly a positive

Sounds decent

https://jelson.co.uk/built-the-right-way

"Jelson still builds the traditional way, using bricks and blocks for its walls - even upstairs. Gently tap a wall anywhere in a Jelson-built house and you'll hear a reassuring thud from the solid internal walls, which provide great heat and sound insulation."

 

[glenimp617]

Is it just me that finds it odd buying a new house every time you move?

Not sure if this was directed at myself or someone else in this thread. We've only ever purchased one new build, but after looking at the state of some of them these days, it may be our last

 

[glenimp617]

Think I misread your OP as I had thought that this was due to be your third!

No, although our first house wasn't old, we purchased off a couple who split up. They were desperate to sell, and took a low offer. Just very lucky timing on our part, especially since it was just before the boom.
God knows what would have happened had we not got on the property ladder. That house tripled in value in seven years. No wonder first time buyers struggle. We paid £46k for it lol

 

[glenimp617]

I've had a look at land prices, and they aren't much cheaper than actually buying a house on some land

although I have come across 1 acre in a great location for £125k. It's an old paddock at the back of a row of houses. I guess the risk is not getting the required planning permission.