New build properties

Scottland

Scottland

Scottland

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,713
Location
North Wales
Hi,

We're looking at moving house within the next 12months or so, and recently I've looked at the idea of a new build property, the likes of RedRow and Wimpey etc.


Just wondering if anyone has any experiences from these properties at all? It's not something I'd considered before - but the idea is appealing at the moment but I'm not aware of any pitfalls of doing this etc. Just after some opinions reall :)


Cheers
 
Scottland said:
Hi,

We're looking at moving house within the next 12months or so, and recently I've looked at the idea of a new build property, the likes of RedRow and Wimpey etc.


Just wondering if anyone has any experiences from these properties at all? It's not something I'd considered before - but the idea is appealing at the moment but I'm not aware of any pitfalls of doing this etc. Just after some opinions reall :)


Cheers
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I haven't purchased a new build my self but have many friends and a few family who have and the majority of them have complained about the quality of the build.

Maybe those I know have been terribly unlucky, but a large number have had issues with the plumbing.
 
isonomicjedi said:
I haven't purchased a new build my self but have many friends and a few family who have and the majority of them have complained about the quality of the build.

Maybe those I know have been terribly unlucky, but a large number have had issues with the plumbing.
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this is the same as me, one thing i will say from a lot being built here they seem rather small and over priced for what your getting.
 
A lot of them are built by monkeys and cowboy. You also pay the price for having a new house. Upside: usually very efficient.
 
Cons:

Size (they're often tiny)
Shoddy build quality (they're thrown up as quickly/cheaply as possible)
Typically small plots
Often limited parking spaces

Pros:
.....
 
They are better than they were and gave good finance options available at the moment.

They've been interesting me too, though we're not ready to move yet.
 
Whilst they always look nice, a lot of people I know who bought new build houses recently, wished they hadn't.

As above - build quality, finishes etc etc are very poor and over the first few years, numerous problems have crept up. Whilst most of these are covered by builders guarantee, it's just time and hassle getting them sorted all the time that would put me off.
 
Two family members just bought one, wasn't cheap either, it's a 4 or 5 bed in an estate of a village, it's a very decent size with a drive big enough for 6 cars, the garden is humongous, we'll leave it at it's big. However it's just so not worth it none of the sockets match, some have chrome some are plastic, there's very limited networking done (you have points in some bedrooms but that's it), the painting is awful you can see hand prints all over the place, they wanted the curtains that they had in the show home however they have been told they can't find any, they put a pelmet up however they put it in the wrong place to they used pollyfiller on the holes and then turned around and said we have no paint left and have no clue what it was called so you're going to need to repaint all the rooms with this colour if you want it to match.

It's pretty darn awful tbh, I would not be happy with it. I'd go for an older property around 10 years old.
 
we bought a new build 4 years ago. there are good things and bad things about it.

good is you get deals like newbuy so you dont need as big a deposit.
good is they are very efficient
good that if you buy early enough in the build process you can spec it how you like.

bad is that they can be thrown up
bad is that they can be higher priced than similar old properties.
 
I bought a new build apartment in 2006 from Wimpey. It was almost twice the size of some apartments I'd looked at previously.

The noise insulation between apartments is pretty good and the outer walls very solid. Inner walls are all plasterboard without noise insulation which can be annoying but was useful when wiring the place up with CAT6.

Wimpey sorted out any problems I had noticed after taking ownership (snagging list). A short while after moving in, one of the pipe joints under the boiler and inside the wall started gushing water down the wall cavity and out into the kitchens of the 2 flats below. Wimpey sorted out the emergency plumber, clean-up of the flats below and repair work on my wall including painting it in the new colour I'd put on.

You typically get a 2 year warranty for inside and 10 year outside but this may not cover cracks appearing in the walls.

The houses seem to attract more complaints than the apartments though.

Edit: forgot to add, it's very well insulated and has low ceilings so easy to heat. The boiler is bog standard though and plenty of people have had issues with the model. It gets VERY hot in the summer and stays hot well after it's cooled down outside.
 
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Thanks for all the responses, I knew that new builds weren't that highly thought of but I didn't think it was that bad.

In terms of space and price, the ones I've seen so far seem comparable to older properties. Quality and finish is an issue though, I'll investigate a little more on this. I wonder if it's a regional issue or a developer issue.

I must admit in terms of size and layout Taylor Wimpey were miles ahead of redrow - although you obviously can't just quality on a show home...


Size of plot is a big concern for me, not only do we need a double driveway - I also want a garage and a bit of privacy at the front. Most new estates seem to have the houses built right on the pavement, so that alone could make it a no-go.
 
My new build is of a decent size well built and is insulated well.

In addition to that I have a garage with a private drive and a decent sized garden.

Not all new builds are crap however avoid the nasty cheap mass market builders like barratt etc.
 
New builds are just a terrible idea.

They are built on dodgey groundwork (8 houses recently collapsed on a newbuild estate round here, and not so long ago 4 on a different one). And the estates are laid out as follows: Roads of the minimal width possible in order to cram as much in as possible, no usuable front garden - you may be lucky enough for a parking space MAYBE. And when you buy the house you'll be overlooked from every angle - invest in some net curtains because developers don't care if your neighbour can see in the bedroom. It's almost a certainty your garden won't be remotely private if you have a usable garden.

So thats the ground, from the ground up you have a themalite and timber framed house (not even close to being as durable as brick or stone) which has insulation and windows at the legal minimum limit. Often there is minimal soundproofing between houses and everything only just about meets regs. All of this is put together by unskilled polish builders who take a "**** it that'll do attitude" and work to a price making sure everything is rushed. Inside you can look forward to steel framed stud walls and dot and dob on external with tape and filled boards. Which you can't fix to and the soundproofing is next to zero, not to mention if you fix into the thermalite block you'll invalidate the terrible hom****** warranty. The finish will likely be low quality laminate, cheap timber painted in satinwood and magnolia walls throughout, oh yes, it's that tacky.
You'll also not be able to board your loft or us it for storage, one because it won't be built for it, two because it'll invalidate your warranty.

Now for finances, if you're buying a new build you'll almost instantly be locked into negative equity when you buy it because it will drop in value fast. What will aid in this is that social housing is required to be on the same estate - which brings less reputable characters and also the fact pretty much anyone can buy part buy part rent or on homebuy scheme so anyone could be moving in.

When pricing it up and comparing it, compare prices to the rough areas in your town, because the potential to develop into a rough area is very real. You have no idea what the area of the estate is like, and visual indicators are a no no, because they will have restrictions until selling the last house - not vans, no satellite dishes, nothing to make it look scruffy. All lifted when the last house sells and then the developer will bugger off never to be heard from again.

They're such bad quality, everyone I know who bought one, has regretted it.
 
You pay a premium for buying new, the house will depreciate in value the moment that you take possession of the keys. Ultimately inflation will cover any losses that you make, but still something worth considering.
 
Some of these new builds are poorly built & standard of finish could be a lot better.

I seen some new builds built by a small family firm a few years ago & the attention to detail & finish was first class.
 
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It will depend massively on who the builder is and probably where it is being built. Mine was a new build when I bought it almost 10 years ago and I haven't had to many issues since (touch wood). Make sure they have a good snagging policy though.

I have other friends and family who have bought new in various places and they haven't seemed to have any major issues either.
 
I moved into a new build just over 4 months ago, I went for a local small firm who build no more than 12 -15 houses on any one plot area.

the build quality is done to a very high standard even down to little things such as light switches, nothing was done on the "cheap" granted I paid a premium over your standard "built in 10 days and the size of a shoe box"

kitchen size for example: 5.870m x 4.590m

When I went to visit a Redrow build prior to going through the small family business firm I I sat on the sofa in the showroom and could physically touch the TV if I laid out straight.

I personally would avoid large commercial building chains.
 
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Massively overpriced around here.

160k for two bed flat, no garden, no garage, 1 parking space.
Or few hundred meters a way, 140k for a 3 bed ex council house, so massive gardens, garage, cavity wall insulated etc and a more substantial build in general.

I don't understand how they sell new houses in this area. Well I do, it's for FTP with no other choice but to pay 40k over market value to get a mortgage. Hopefully the new government scheme will put an end to these stupid new builds.
 
Live in a 3.5 year old Barrat Homes flat, bought off plan so got to pick all the fittings.

No complaints personally apart from the management company for the first few years being absolute morons (OM), the flat itself is a large 1-bed, that was priced very well for London when we bought.
 
kai said:
I moved into a new build just over 4 months ago, I went for a local small firm who build no more than 12 -15 houses on any one plot area.

the build quality is done to a very high standard even down to little things such as light switches, nothing was done on the "cheap" granted I paid a premium over your standard "built in 10 days and the size of a shoe box"

kitchen size for example: 5.870m x 4.590m

When I went to visit a Redrow build prior to going through the small family business firm, I sat on the sofa in the showroom and could physically touch the TV if I laid out straight.

I personally would avoid large commercial building chains.
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Exactly my point, the attention to detail, is very close to you doing a self build.
Well worth the premium in my opinion, if you can find a small local firm doing this.
 
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