Buying a new build - things to watch out for?

[ahar]

We're looking at moving to get the catchment for a good school in the area and there is a new development about 400m from the school (2016 furthest distance was 1400m so well inside). We've had a few places before, 2 of which we've done relatively extensive renovations to with a lot of the work done by us. While I'm pretty happy with things to look out for in general , my research (thanks to various threads on Overclockers and the wider internet) as thrown up a few things around new builds specifically and I was wondering if anyone had anything else I've missed:

Price - we've been watching the market in our area for months and visited quite a few places and believe it or not, this isn't bad value given where it is. The plot is smaller than others, but not hugely so.

The house is actually finished and ready to go so will be sold as is, with carpets, appliances, flooring, turf, light fittings etc. No hidden extras I can see (famous last words).

Garden - Read the horror stories about how shocking the grass will likely get and what to do in order to try and save it. Given it is a new build the garden is small anyway so if it dies I may just swap out for artificial stuff anyway. My current garden is big and takes lots of maintenance - a small garden with no trees that have giant thorns on them will be very welcome

Broadband - apparently they have Virgin Media installed. Will need to push hard to check this will be available from day one. Also need to check if they have installed BT lines.

Freehold / Leasehold - Apparently freehold. Solicitor will need to check. Which leads me on to....

Use my own solicitor - Seems like I need to avoid using their one if they offer it

Common areas - Apparently it will not be adopted by the council, with the freehold to the common areas (road, grass verges etc) owned by the maintenance company. Cost per year will be £395 (at the start anyway). Need to dig into this to find out who the company is, what rights residents have over replacing them, how price increases are set etc etc.

Snagging - Seems to be a bugbear in every new build ever. To be honest, I'm happy to so some minor stuff myself anyway as I know it'll be done right. If it goes ahead I'll go round with a clipboard and examine every little thing before we move in.

What have I missed? Want to make sure if we go ahead (we're offering our current place part-ex, so some hurdles to jump yet) I go in with my eyes open.

 

[nutcase]

Plasterboard walls, flimsy frames, cheap paint and general low quality build.

 

[acake]

Every new build is built fast and cheep so use common sense when you look around it .hopefully if you buy they will still be building houses when you move in was with mine.So any issues you can just pop down to the site managers office every day till it fixed or send in the wife as they dont seem to like that in frount the workers.But you need to keep up the pressure if you do this

As nutcase says ,Plasterboard walls, flimsy frames, cheap paint and general low quality build.just check check check get on your hands and knees, look in different lights you'll all ways find some thing.AND take with a pinch of salt any thing they say to say its good.

Broadband ours came with 2 wires either side of front door hanging out 1BT and1 for virgin just make sure the cable guys booked soon as you no the date your moving in.

As for the solicitor i used one of theirs had a choice of a few but it worked out very well.Price was not that bad and all issues dealt with well asi was over 200 miles away from the new house.If you trust your own go with them.

Common areas not being adopted by council but by a maintenance firm
sounds like a easy way to print money its bound to go up every year.
This alone would make me think twice and even walk away from it unless its in stone it stay the same for life of house.

Parking make sure theirs enough like your drive is big. Mine fits 2 cars luckily as this new estate the roads seem narrower than norm so cars park on pavements etc and most familys have 2 or more cars so it can be a issue

 

[Shoza]

Just don't buy anything from Bellway and snag the property as much as possible - check how the heating has been installed. Don't use their solicitor, don't pay a professional snagging company (waste of time) and keep on the builder to fix issues (Twitter, emails, calls daily).

 

[ahar]

Plasterboard walls, flimsy frames, cheap paint and general low quality build.

Are you describing my current house

1930 bungalow extended to a house. The core 1930 bit was okay but the rest? We've made decent money on it but it's certainly been fun !

 

[Dynix]

Ask what the plans are for the rest of the site. Are they only going to be there for the next 4 months or 4 years? It won't be an issue for us as we were the 4th to move in but I've heard horror stories of people moving in as building is finishing and have had a real hard time getting them in to fix snags.

Check everything - I thought I did when we snagged twice but I clearly didn't! Turn everything on and off. Heating included. Carpets, skirting boards, plug sockets, handles, any wobbles, any creaks, marks on the ceiling, floors, walls.. anything!

Get friendly with the site manager/deputy manager. Ours has been amazing and is round in 5 minutes if I need him. We've only had one or two snags fixed so far but they were all fixed very promptly.

You're quite lucky on the broadband front. Our estate is served by IFNL only which meant we were limited to 3 small ISPs when I first looked. Took almost 3 months for them to sort out the Internet for the estate after we moved in but it was an issue with BT connecting them to their fibre network.

 

[glitch]

Plasterboard walls, flimsy frames, cheap paint and general low quality build.

All of the above plus stairs which flex when you walk on them, windows with trickle vents, fancy-looking but dirt-cheap fixtures and fittings and general cost-cutting at every turn.

Get a full survey at the very least and triple-check every single little aspect before you sign on the dotted line.

OP; I'd recommend seeing if you can view any existing properties that have been built by the same developer in the area that are up for sale on the open market. You'll get a far better idea of what to expect from your home in the years to come from one that has been lived in.

 

[ahar]

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Some houses on the site are finished and people are moved in and some are still being built. If we go ahead I'll have a chat with the people next door to see how things are going. Not sure if they have built anything in the area but will check.

Of to see another place this afternoon (not a new build)that is much cheaper but will need an extension built on it. They have planning permission already, but it would mean a year of hassle getting it sorted.

 

[glitch]

A year?! How have you arrived at that conclusion?

 

[Mattitude]

I think build quality has something partially to do with the developer/builder. My new build apartment had a few minor snags but they were sorted next day from reporting and the overall build quality is absolutely fine and no problems after 4 years my place is with Berkley/St James so i expect any under that group will be the same. You might pay a little extra compared to others in the area but i think its worth it. Size of my place is better than most and goes against all the common negatives associated. Bloor Homes also has been highly recommended to me as i am now looking for a house.

Try obtaining one off plan you have a lot of say over what you want it to look like at the end. Could even ask them to lay artificial grass for the garden.

 

[Maccapacca]

I think build quality has something partially to do with the developer/builder. My new build apartment had a few minor snags but they were sorted next day from reporting and the overall build quality is absolutely fine and no problems after 4 years my place is with Berkley/St James so i expect any under that group will be the same. You might pay a little extra compared to others in the area but i think its worth it. Size of my place is better than most and goes against all the common negatives associated. Bloor Homes also has been highly recommended to me as i am now looking for a house.

Try obtaining one off plan you have a lot of say over what you want it to look like at the end. Could even ask them to lay artificial grass for the garden.

The attention to detail and the customer service from any part of the Berkeley group is fantastic. The effort to finish an apartment or house properly is massive. The build team hand over to the snagging team a month before you move in to generally snag snag and snag some more.

They are the John Lewis of house building with the price tag but you get what you pay for

 

[LeeUK]

Use your own solicitor. I bet that wife that got stung with the £13K leasehold used the developer's solicitor who probably conveniently forgot to mention that'll sell the freehold to another company.

 

[DHR]

Plasterboard walls, flimsy frames, cheap paint and general low quality build.

Agreed.... although 10 years old when we bought ours the partition walls between the kitchen and living room aren't even studded it's essentially 3 sets of plasterboard glued together.

 

[ahar]

A year?! How have you arrived at that conclusion?

Amendment to planning permission (inc new architect's drawings) as it is not quite what we want. Then finding the right builder and scheduling them in. Then the build time. It would be a double height side and rear extension so about a year end to end doesn't feel wrong assuming some hassle along the way.

 

[the_r_sole]

...windows with trickle vents...

Why would that be something to avoid on a new build?!

If I had to buy a new build, I would want to be buying the showhome as they are generally the best finished ones, after that you want to get the ones that have actually been inspected by building control!

I used to have to snag new builds and the builders will do the bare minimum to get it signed off, try and effectively document all snagging issues as soon as they appear.
Covered with an nhbc or something similar?

 

[glitch]

Why would that be something to avoid on a new build?!

The question was not what to avoid, it was what to look out for.

But with all things being equal, would you choose a property with them over one without?!

 

[the_r_sole]

The question was not what to avoid, it was what to look out for.

But with all things being equal, would you choose a property with them over one without?!

Yeah, building regs for insulation and air tightness are getting pretty strict on new builds so unless there was a whole house mhrv it would be something I'd want on my windows

 

[jpaul]

I am not sure how you confirm installed insulation is correct;
there were some recent problems on the Cambourne new builds west of Cambridge, I could not find the link, but this older link about David Wilson homes describes a similar problem I believe

...as an architect, I have some knowledge of the requirements of the Building Acts concerning thermal insulation. Seeking further information, I consulted the local Building Control Department and subsequently, the NHBC Inspection Department in York. I was staggered to learn that David Wilson Homes circumvent the usual requirement for a U-value of 0.45W/sq.m/deg C through the walls by using the ‘trade-off’ method of calculation rather than the usual elemental approach. In other words, you avoid the need to insulate the wall cavities by (theoretically) improving the insulation elsewhere. As a result, the U-value through your walls is only 0.7W/sq.m/deg C – the standard requirement of the 1976 Regulations – hardly a modern standard of insulation. The word ‘cheapskate’ springs to mind.

 

[img]

i bought a new build and it was far better than my rented places that were older. much warmer which is a big plus. i had a page of snags but they were minor apart from that had not installed the toilet cap from behind wall so it smelled terrible which was fixed within a couple days. the person a few doors down though had people out most weeks for the first year including replacing the celing and bathroom.

any issues i had i just asked the site manager whi got it done and was excellent. when they left and trying to deal with customer service who nevwr return calls or answer the phone was the problem. it took them 9 months to get me 2 internal doors as they were a bit different. came out twice with broke. ones in van.

 

[psd99]

new builds.. don't do it!

Very cheap materials everywhere but they hike the prices up for a considerable amount of profit.

Plasterboards on every single wall- just feels like a wendy house.

What really irritates me is these new flats that have an extortionate service + ground rent charges. These people RAKE the money in every year with very little work being done. Easy money. Hate leasehold with a passion.

Nothing like a solid brick 1930's build!