Buying a new build - things to watch out for?
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GinG;30498691 said:
My issue with personally:
- Noise, you can hear everything and the sound travels easily from downstairs to upstairs. Probably not a problem if you life on your own, but if you have or plan to have kids, you have to be very quiet.
- Hanging things from the wall that weight more then a couple of KG's need over the top wall plugs, or you need to locate the uprights in the stud wall to screw it to, limiting your positions.
I looked at lots of new builds (David Wilson, Bloor, Redrow) and all exhibited the same issues. Older house for me, gave you more space (inside and out) and a much more solid feel.
i have a new build made in 2007. By all accounts the workmanship is a little shoddy in places but internally all of the walls (bar one or two in awkward places) seem to have cinder block construction with plasterboard skins.
This was a Taylor Wimpey home. I'm not saying it's well made, the more I decorate the more shocking workmanship I find (the amount of places tiles are just smashed where the plumber has run a pipe after the tiler is amazing... always in places you can't see of course so their foreman didn't notice.
In terms of general building fabric though it's all fairly sturdy.
This was a Taylor Wimpey home. I'm not saying it's well made, the more I decorate the more shocking workmanship I find (the amount of places tiles are just smashed where the plumber has run a pipe after the tiler is amazing... always in places you can't see of course so their foreman didn't notice.
In terms of general building fabric though it's all fairly sturdy.
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psd99;30498085 said:
Most have had their damp, subsidence, wiring, uneconomical heating and drafty single glazed windows repaired, replaced or renewed by now. Shame there's not a lot you can do with zero wall and floor insulation so you're right yes there's nothing quite like a 1930s house.
Having worked on a modern building site for a few weeks last year I would never purchase a new build on a generic new estate where everything looks the same.
Rush jobs, gardens are going to be scrap building rubble that they just dump top soil on and there will be all sorts in there from bottles of urine because the roofers can't be bothered to climb down to pee to random tiles, bricks and nails.
Rush jobs, gardens are going to be scrap building rubble that they just dump top soil on and there will be all sorts in there from bottles of urine because the roofers can't be bothered to climb down to pee to random tiles, bricks and nails.
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A friend of mine bought a new build of the shelf without looking at it before completing. The quality was absolutely shocking with significant defects throughout (windows, doors, floor not level etc etc).
From her experience I wouldn't buy one without having my own surveyor report on it prior to completion.
From her experience I wouldn't buy one without having my own surveyor report on it prior to completion.
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I am also buying a new build property and am due to move in in April. So interested in what words of wisdom people have. My friend recently bought his and the developer doing his recently lost their 5* rating (or whatever it is) so they were working to get it back so his was perfect. I think he had 2 faults in total which i hear is a small number for new builds. So I think it largely depends on developer and the individual sites themselves. Though going by the sales team I'm dealing with I'm going to be having some fun with this one.
It's funny you say that. My girlfriend's Dad makes the same complaint about their place when we discuss housing. My GF says she'd prefer an older house but he always pipes up and says you won't when you get the heating bill.
It's funny you say that. My girlfriend's Dad makes the same complaint about their place when we discuss housing. My GF says she'd prefer an older house but he always pipes up and says you won't when you get the heating bill.
30 years? Try hundreds of years in it's various forms. Lath and plaster was used before plasterboard and it was just a sheets of wood attached to a stud wall, covered by a layer of plaster. You don't get many solid brick interior walls unless it's a very old house (say 18th century), it's a load bearing wall, or it used to be an exterior wall before an extension.
My house was built in 1937 and has had no extensions since its initial build. Every single wall is brick, there isn't a plasterboard wall in the house.
I bought a new build last year - very happy with it. Yes there were (and still are 
) some snags and the builder's customer care dept are mostly useless and all but the most urgent issues. I love how warm my new house is compared to the old one, and how the heating bill is even lower. Other advantages - abundance of bathrooms, plug sockets.
) some snags and the builder's customer care dept are mostly useless and all but the most urgent issues. I love how warm my new house is compared to the old one, and how the heating bill is even lower. Other advantages - abundance of bathrooms, plug sockets.1950s house here, brick walls through out the entire house. Great for hanging heavy stuff off.
Yep last of the single cavity houses to be built in the 1950s Solid Brick everywhere + Big rooms, Tall ceilings (granted not Victorian like my old house), nice garden space front and back and detached 
While I understand new builds are the only option for some people I would never purchase one unless its part of a very small exclusive development which I couldn't really afford. The only benefit you are getting is a thermal efficiency everything else just is lesser quality of what we have done in the past. Stupid really.
While I understand new builds are the only option for some people I would never purchase one unless its part of a very small exclusive development which I couldn't really afford. The only benefit you are getting is a thermal efficiency everything else just is lesser quality of what we have done in the past. Stupid really.
This is what we found when we were looking. We had a look at multiple sites from developers including Taylor Wimpey, Barratts, David Wilson and Persimmon and the quality did vary from each site massively. The site manager of the site we ended up buying on has won some top awards so knew we'd be in good hands and hasn't disappointed yet.
My 1969 house says you are wrong.
Which means it probably depends on the builder like now. I've smashed down walls in several 1910's and 20s houses with mostly lath an plaster on internal walls, especially upstairs.
But, when adding the extensions and new walls we generally used breeze blocks, which isn't that common as already discussed in the thread.
I wouldn't necessarily disagree with many of your points but in my experience older houses of the same or higher quality do not always give more inside space. Modern design tends to try and maximise the internal square footage relative to the land area so 3 floors etc are quite common. Generally in areas that have a decent stock of new build properties the only older properties I see that offer a lot of space for the money have some other flaws whether that be condition, location, layout etc. I think the market equilibrium means that if older houses really had that much extra internal space the prices would converge - certainly the way I look at properties online (probably at least a couple of thousand over the past couple of years) the first thing I do is go straight to floor plan for sqmeterage (and layout) and some new builds make the cut.