I'm in a new build and had no issues. The house is air tight, warms quickly and holds the heat. The main problems I've noticed tend to be in the land per home. I'm in a 3 bed semi with a double front drive for 2 cars, but there are multiple 4/5 bedroom homes that only have a single drive and no off road parking; and because of certain rules in new builds often you can't convert part of the extra lawn in front to an additional drive. This results in terrible off road parking that could make it impossible for some emergency vehicles to get through. Other than that the gardens tend to be on the smaller side as well.

From the US…and they style and type of homes, as well as how they are built…is like another world to me! Not better or worse…just built different, windows are different…. also seems like there is a lot of continuity in regulations and designs. So I have learned an entire new world….as well as what things are called…where things are places…fascinating. I love your videos and explanations…and wojld love to have a yard like your gardens.

I’m in Durham, work for a regional house builder and love these videos. New builds have to adhere to very strict NHBC standards at basically every stage. So much so we had to dig up a freshly laid drive because the drain was 2mm out of tolerance. I’ve worked for the local water supplier and a water meter being fitted to new builds was law since 1997, helps work out supply/demand/resource issue and the regulator get accurate averages to stabilise and control pricing.

My house is in Scotland, 27 years old and timber framed, just like most other houses built in Scotland in recent decades. I’ve been in the loft, under the floor joist and even torn down the plasterboard to reveal the wood framing (insulation upgrade). There’s no rot. This house will outlast me without any bother. I like it. One cautionary note though - pay attention to the shower enclosure. I’m not a fan of tiles going on to green plasterboard. You only need one single point of failure (grout or sealant), and your timber studs are going to get wet. In Norway, they treat shower upgrades / tile work as being notifiable activities to building control. This precisely because shower enclosure leaks can cause such expensive damage to the building fabric.

The neatness of that garage converted workshop was the greatest thing in this video. In all seriousness, I am moving from an “older” style house to a new build and still deciding on developer. This video enabled me to make a big check-list 😎 thank you

Council pop, haven’t heard that for ages! Just waiting for the pop man to come round now so I can return the bottles for 10p.

There are a lot of differences though the UK and NL are neighbours. Next to the front door in NL you find a small closet where all utilities enter your house. Electricity with main switch, and group switches, with meter, gas with meter (no gas in new houses), water with meter, telephone, coax cable tv/radio, glass fiber, transformer for the doorbell, etc. Outside walls, out to in, 10 cm brick, 5 cm ventilation, 5 cm or more insulation, damp barrier, 10 cm inside block, plaster. Under ground floor 50 cm of space, insulation against the floor, 10 cm of clean sand covered with woven plastic, hatch to get in. Separate pipes for sewer and rain water.

I think you were very brave buying a Persimmon house off plan!!! This builder has had many problems with the quality of their builds. It is dangerous buying off plan because sometimes there are problems with the service roads plus conditions on the planning. Like Kier built an estate in Derbyshire and they did not have the correct permissions for the access road and no one could move in once the houses were finished because there was no legal access so they couldn't get mortgages. Ofcourse there is also the chance the builder might not be able to complete the build, a huge risk for any off plan buyer right now IMO.

5:40 The worst thing about putting ceramic tile over a new slab is that the concrete shrinks slightly over the first 30 years of its life and the tile doesn't, so unless the grout lines are wide enough and flexible enough (there are some very flexible grout mixtures) to absorb the shrinkage, the tiles will eventually bubble up in the center of the floor. PS: You can cut many flooring types around skirting boards and door frames; I grew up in a house with nailed wood flooring that was cut very professionally around everything.

Infirmative video. Born in a 4 story + atic Victorian house in posh area, smoke from neighbouring fire into ours due to floor board length, no 90° corners. Bought a 14 year old house in north Yorkshire. The bricks below DPC were exfoliating due to freeze thaw! Whole estate built with crxxx bricks. There were clean sewer inspection holes as the sewer was laid not to plan! Now live in stone/rock house with 18th century cavity wall😉. The mortar has crumbled and rats and mice move in in winter. Also part of house below ground level, 6-24 inches, now all tanked. Tiny windows compared to Victorian and upstairs ones 12 inches above floor. Window reveals nicely curved as the 18th century plasterer used his arm to radius the curve🤣. 1st floor joists cut from tree edge, dimensions fine on top, but tree curve produce points at the base! Found these were not supported by the stone wall, but the attached??? render. Add a cast iron bath 100 years later, and why is the floor not level? Australian houses have hollow walls, doors slide into them and heating is ducted through them. Many only single story so no residual warmth and heating goes on on cold days in summer. However the main aim is to cool them so drafty doors and overhanging roofs are fine. Put any home in a climate it wasn't designed for, will soon show it's weaknesses. Great video and fascinating comments. Keep safe

What I would like to add from a Scottish perspective, is that water supply to houses are usually unmetered and is billed via your council tax you regularly pay either yearly or monthly. The reason why Scottish water supplies are majority supplied unmetered is because its a nationalised unlike England and Wales where its privatised. However you can opt for a water meter if you so wish one to be installed, however the majority of Scotland opt for unlimited water via a set price according to the band of CTax your paying. However there is an exception when it comes to highlands and islands and rural parts of Scotland were you can get your tank filled up with water on demand and pay for it directly to your supplier which regularly is Scottish Water or you can receive water from a stream/spring and you would go through a dedicated pump house with added filters which can be your responsibility. Also on the matter of highlands and islands and rural parts of Scotland your waste water is collected in septic tanks and is disposed off by a tanker which comes on a regular basis.

Our 1967 home uses gas heated hot water stored in a tank for the radiators and hot taps, and we have an electric cold fed 9.5kW shower. We used to have the shower use the hot water, but got fed up with it running cold and giving us a literal shock to the system!

13:14 extraction fans were also standard in us buildings and homes starting around the year 2004 that really cuts down on moisture in bathrooms. It either vents out through the roof vents or a wall vent. Both have flappers that the air can push open.

In Sweden fiber is almost always delivered in yellow or orange ducting. Fiber is available in a lot of places, even in rural areas. I've got gigabit 30km from a fairly small city.

I am building my own house with my own architect and contractor but in a plan with more houses, all with different architects and contractors. At least the utilities are all the same. Electricity (3 phase, 400V), fiber for phone and internet (up to 1 Gbps up and down), water, coax for TV and district heating supplied from local power plants and residual heat from industrial complexes.

I know almost nothing about DIY or construction and truthfully I have little interest in it day-to-day... but your videos are GREAT and I always watch them! I’ve learnt so much from your channel and when I next have a project I know I’ll come straight here for advice. Thank you!

you will no cracking with metal stud walls because of the more than likely wet timbers that go in during build .timber moves and anything attached to it will move too . just my two cents

So funny, I found your videos after moving to a new build and needing to find fixings for dot and dab walls. Just like you i'd renovated an 1870s Victorian flat, a 1930s semi then had a family and decided I needed something bigger which was less of a money pit whilst they grow up. I used to be dubious of new builds but actually they're really warm, efficient, spacious where it matters, cheaper to run. I miss the character of our 1930s house but I don't miss the £130pcm utility bill or only having Virgin as an internet provider of note, or the lack of parking or constant maintenance and condensation every morning. Great video and youre spot on about the flooring, ours was done by the builder and we had them fixing every small issue with it. It's a shame they overlook really simple kitchen 'extras' though, like corner carousels, silent drawers, soft close etc. Symphony are good at supplying them, but I consider them standard.

The front door might have multi-point locking but it has a cheap euro cylinder might as well leave the door unlocked, unless the euro cylinder is 3 star kitemarked it can be broken into in seconds, it's very easy to change them definitely worth the one off investment

holy sh!t, forget about new builds... I'm amazed at that landscaping job you did. From dirt to a tropical paradise. Please tell me you did a video about it from start to finish, I'm going to have a look through your channel as soon as I hit enter on this comment. EDIT: Unfortunately the closest video I found was 'how to remove turf/grass'. Such a shame you didn't video the landscaping job.

Looking at this, I'm amazed by the differences in standards and new build approaches across the world. For instance compared with France, I'm amazed by how little insulation is being put in UK new builds and by how basic the UK electrics are. Standards in the US are also quite different, as everything has to be bigger, but not necessarily built to last (and with significant regional variations of course)...

I’ve been watching your videos since I bought my first remodel here in the U.S. it’s always interesting to watch and see how things are done there. Nice yard!

Also on the matter of highlands and islands and rural parts of Scotland you can also receive your heating via oil tanks which is filled up by a tanker which comes regularly.

You can tell how new a house is in the UK by how small the windows are :). Thanks for the video.

Couple of things, if your concrete floor slab moved AT ALL you should contact the house builders insurance company as zero "settlement" should occur, Secondly, that gas boiler shouldn't be in a cupboard because if there is a gas leak it can build up without being noticed.

And lastly highlands and islands and rural parts of Scotland sometimes receive their telecommunications by Satellite and 4G or 5G routers.

Very informative

We were very lucky that the house was almost done when we reserved. We couldn't add or move switches so the developer agreed to put floorings throughout. They did the downstairs vinyl twice as they feel it didn't level first time round. I think it is important for us to have the floor done before we move!

Really interesting to watch, thank you 😊 I totally agree with your comment about avoiding timber framed properties. I used to work in the mortgage industry, the amount of problems our customers had with them.

Love this , and your accent is just fabulous 😀

Modern builds: tiny plots, homes squeezed together like sardines, tiny gardens, nowhere to park (garages not actually big enough for a car), tiny rooms, built of cardboard (badly), everything nice - or even basic sometimes - is an extra cost option - and then they’re overpriced by a huge margin. About the only thing they do well is insulation and that’s because it’s mandatory these days.

Been looking forward to this! Thanks for the video. Would love to see a step by step on what you did with that garden. Think I’ll always stick to old houses, based on profit margin (and a preference for character). But buying off plan does sound fun!

Good review, we lived in 2 and were broadly happy. Yes pros and cons.

Really enjoyed watching all of that Andy! Made me feel a bit proud of myself with realising how much I knew! My current (and previous) property have been new builds, so I've learnt a bit over past 8 years. I'm interested to find out if my current house is constructed with the steel stud setup in places. Any obvious way to work this out? (I know it's dot and dab on most of the ground floor rooms, but floor 1 and 2 I'm thinking about)

Building/materials quality aside, much of the aversion to these new build development is due to the abysmal urban planning they are sat within

Hi Love the videos Andy. One idea for another video is properly securing the access holes in flooring the plumbers had cut when working on the central heating. I have heavy duty 80s Brown Chipboard flooring that has been butchered. No noggins and not on any joist in places with screws put in at an 45 degree angle to try and reach a joist. I bet loads of people have the same problem. Cheers John

You should be able to tell if a new build has block and beam as there will be a course of air bricks around the property.

Just a heads up, you should always check with the providers to see if you can get fibre the sam knows website just that it is avaliable "in some areas" meaning you could get zero fibre like myself

Completely agree on bathrooms, people seem to have an obsession with all being able to go at the same time! One full bathroom and a downstairs toilet is all that is needed for the vast majority of people.

Another question. In the US, post tensioning is a common feature in slabs-on-grade where soil conditions could result in slab cracks. Steel cables are embedded in the concrete along with the reinforcing bars. After the concrete cures, the cables are tensioned to about 33,00 pounds each to put the slab in compression making the slab much stronger and less likely to crack. Is this a practice in the UK too?

A few questions here: I was under the impression that all new houses were built on a concrete raft. Are brick walls built on strip foundations unless the ground is unstable when they will use a concrete raft? With regard to brick cavity brick or brick cavity block construction. Is this really the best we can do? Just stick insulation in the cavity and that'll do mate. I realise homes built now are better insulated than previously but how do our homes compare with homes built in countries that have bad winters year after year? Scandinavia and Northen Europe. Why don't you like timber frame homes? It was a good video very clear and informative. I would always opt for a new build but I take pains to select the builder.

Hello, I just moved to Ireland from NYC; with my wife who happens to be Irish. We’re looking to buying a house in an estate. We’re looking at SemiD with 4 rooms. I prefer a Detached but they are more expensive. I’m really weary of Semi D’s but we lived in an apartment in NYC. How would I be able to tell whether the house has good soundproofing or bad. I would hate to buy a house where you can hear any sound your neighbors make.

mdf is blown when the gaff has a flood it is sawdust and glue shite end off.

With how things are going on in the world right now, a faraday room with metal studs might come in handy!

We had a small 8 plot development put in next to us. I watched the whole build from groundworks to sign off (and got to know the contractors in the process). HUGE foundations put in, the ground works foreman told me he'd not seen that much concrete go in one development. Block and beam, rock-wool type batts for insulation. Insulation in the party walls as well! Excellent brickwork and good internal finish. But the architectural firm they used made a few fundamental design errors, which kinda stand out! All minimum three beds, but not one has an ensuite! All the bedrooms are in the eaves, so sloping ceilings...which means very little space for furniture. No structural complaints after 3 years.

Great video, really enjoyed it!

New build estate outside Bristol here & we have FTTP but BT were the only company that would supply internet - no virgin. No complaints so far though with them, pay for 50 mbps and every test I’ve done has been bang on 50

They never provide enough parking. Some new estates the cul-de-sacs are just littered with cars half parked up on the pavements.

People say about the north/south divide but from watching your videos the north east seems to be booming. Undoubtedly there are deprived housing areas just as there are in the south

Big fan of solid built concrete houses. Will never build or buy timber frame homes, higher insurance costs and I want a house that last centuries not decades. By the way Byson slabs for first floor are phenomenal for sound and heat insulation.

There’s the bathroom sink in front of that window again! Nobody would do that in America. I don’t even think building plans would dare put it there, and if they did, inspectors might not approve it. The big reason though, is no buyer would ever buy a house like that. I’m pretty sure I know why. We like looking at ourselves in the mirror. The bigger the better too. Set that eight mirror above the eight foot vanity. Seriously. Now everybody’s happy. 😂

They should have through bars on the handles

I wish they would have soft close on the doors in all rooms, including the doors to enter the house. It really makes you a nervous mental depressive wreck, living next to neighbours that smash or hurl the doors at the frame all day long.

Love all your videos ! Very well done, thanks a lot for all your insight, it is very useful to me x

Never understood the craving for so many bathrooms in new houses I would much rather have larger bedrooms.

I was chatting to a British Gas engineer who was saying that none of the new builds in our area are getting gas laid on as it’s being phased out as part of the environmental push.

An interesting video

How come you didn't board your main loft for storage? I'm in a 2016 new build and was considering doing that, but I'm unsure if these houses can take the weight as older houses expected to have 100L water tanks up there, whereas new builds only expect the roof.

Quick build , Quick sell , huge profit.

I am very interested by the comment, "avoid Timber Frame like the plague!" I am in the process of buying my first ever property in the UK and I can see all the new builds are timber framed, could you please elaborate and save me problems in the long run? also is there a way of telling at a glance if a house is timber frame or brick and blocks rather than going in and start knocking on walls?

I wish homes were built this well in the USA. We build ours on the cheap with wood that either rots or gets blown away with the first tornado.

Nice review

My slab pour wasn't leveled off, Taylor Wipey being useless, need to empty downstairs and level that off, after 12 years its falling apart, windows need repairng or replacing and its now drafty as hell, in the start it was great but once the 10 year warranty, lots of thing start to fail and need replacing. If I didn't have mortgage still on it would probably strip it and do the insides, better sound proofing, all the drafts fixed, new kitchen and loft conversion.

I am trying to find out how many or which compampanies install a utility room.

Steel clad doors and multipoint locking is pointless if the whole lot is secured by a cheap Eurocylinder lock. Those things can be broken in seconds with a pair of mole grips and a bit of brute force, which is why insurers still ask if doors are fitted with a minimum five lever mortise lock.

its weird that there aren't many utility rooms set aside for all the utilities in one room in the UK.

If new builds round me were of this quality I would seriously loook at one. Unfortunatley they are all persimmion timber frame houses so I am avoiding like the plague!

Most of the new builds around here. (Midlothian near Edinburgh) are falling apart and they are mostly only 5 or so years old! What they build around here is absolute crap. From foundation to eves cracks, back gardens flooding in even the smallest of showers, sink holes appearing due to the mine works underground. I have just bought a house (Ex 60s council) and like for like for new would have cost me nearly 3 times as much for 1/10th of the quality. It's crazy!

the rad valves look as though they were tightened with a set of pump grips rather than an adjustable spanner and the door handles are supposed to have affixing that goes through the door and clamps the handles together. Its a pain in the ass to drill but it does stop the handle screws pulling out

Holy cr@p, just looked at the prices for those houses. A 5 bed is less than half the price of a 3 bed down here in London :(

My only problem with new builds is the size, obviously the builders have to maximise the plots per acre so it's understandable as to why, mo money, mo profit. I'll just stick with my old terrace hoose with it's bong-eyed doors and offset windows , I can put up with that because of its large rooms and 10' ceilings LOL !!

i hope you are going to mention the rubbish left behind under floors and inside boxing in, including the bottle of wee...

4 bathrooms is def excessive

On Sweets

Wow, houses in the UK are certainly different than what we have in the US

Hi, all I can say is you have the same hatred of wood or stick built houses, back in 1991 when I moved to Scotland with my job I let my then wife choose the house as she didn’t want to go to Scotland in the first place. We ended up in a new stick build overlooking loch Lomond and although we had a garage near the house you could only use it in the summer as it was built on an incline that made it impossible to even walk round to in snow and ice without sliding into the other garage below and the cost of heating was astronomical, the walls were so thing you could hear everything that was said in the other semi-detached. There wasn’t dampness as much as a stream running down one wall and it was very difficult to keep the house warm even in the summer and the biting insects were the size of birds and no one went out between 6pm and darkness for fear of being eaten by these insects from hell.

Timber framed houses are much more efficient than traditional brick. Better for the environment to produce and build and much more airtight. Personally think timber beats brick. It’s much more precise than brick so rooms etc are likely to be square.

Cup of tea time! Thanks

Cheap products, lack of access, lack of new facilities for new estates, it is a shower of shite. 5 bed houses with postage stamp back gardens so the kids have nowhere to play. And allegedly there is a shortgae of house. A bit strange that because when I last went into an estate agent, he had plenty to sell.......

Should be illegal to not include ground source heat pumps for all new build estates, gas heating needs to stop

Would be interesting on utilities to know whether rainwater goes to general sewage , soakaway put in the garden or runs out to street stormwater. Also as others have said, it's surprising there is no compulsory PV, solar water heating or heat recovery ventilation, but all seem to feature ludicrous lack of garden area.

Thanks for the video. Do you know how David Wilson Homes/Barrat are built? I went to their construction site here in Edinburgh and I saw that they are using breeze blocks to build walls, but I also heard that their houses are timber frame so I'm confused by this.

Be interested to know more about your aversion to timber frames.

"on sweets... on sweets...on sweets...on sweets...on sweets...on sweets...on sweets...on sweets...on sweets..." ? Sorry, I'm not from UK.I generally understood you. But what does it mean "on sweets"? You use this expression so often! I understand that this is not about candy. How to put it in other words? Thanks in advance for your reply. P.S. The English teacher who teaches my children could not answer me.

At 1:20 either the bottom panel on the fire is upside down, or mine always has been which wouldn't surprise me, haha...

Glad to see that Gas is being banned in new builds, however it would be great if builders made each ne estate self sufficient with solar and ground source heating. Only needing the water and Internet/TV connections being externally supplied.

Question: why are they not installing solar panels as standard in new houses? I know you don’t make much money any more, but our electric bill has literally more than halved. Also I have granite worktops after begging for them, but never again. They chip, they go dull despite polishing, drop food on them and it goes stone cold as do your plates! The ones that are a mixture of granite and composite stuff are so much better. New houses are fine these days, but the way they build tiny houses and pack them in like sardines reminds me of the back to back terrace house my Grandparents owned in in Leeds, but without the wide roads! Just my opinion.

It's interesting to see the differences between UK new built homes and those in the US. I've mentioned to you before that single-family homes (we aren't big on "semi-detached") here are most commonly timber-framed, perhaps because we still have a lot of trees. Natural gas in the US is found mostly in the cities and larger towns, with propane or oil furnaces further out in colder parts of the country. Ground-source heat pumps have been deemed too expensive for most, but air-source heating/air conditioning pumps have been used in the south for many years and are gaining popularity further north as the technology improves. Both the UK heating boilers and electrical "consumer units" are much more compact than in the US. Practically nobody here has exterior doors with such security! Most building codes require two off-street parking spaces per dwelling unit. I think we have a few things to learn from you on our side of The Pond.

Not convinced about council pop... tastes nasty in some places, not too bad where I live, but in the next town it's nasty. Same supplier but different sources maybe.

Block / Beam floors will always have brick vents under the DPC .. around the house .

You mention you upgraded to tiled flooring in the entry. As someone in Canada, tiled floors are ubiquitous due to the snow. Couldn't imagine using residential grade carpet, or, lord forbid, hardwood. What do you usually get in your entry as standard?

Great channel and content but must say am very surprised someone pretty much in the know and being very handy would buy a new build house

Moved in to our new build in July. Happy to share our experiences around the process and snagging if you wanted to message me

Mate the house across the way is still available... come on over. 100 mils of insulation LOL I wish, is on the low twenties in my office in the afternoon. Fascinating insight. I despise metal studs with a passion.

Generally an easy telltale for beam and block is if there are air bricks just over the damp proof coarse Beam and block floors should have a ventilated cavity, ground bearing slabs don’t

Why not timber FRAMED?

New build houses should all come with FTTH, it's specified as standard these days, OR *will not* install copper to new houses; as in they'll refuse to do it. Keep an eye out, obviously, but I'll be shocked if anybody buying in the last few years managed to find an estate new build wasn't FTTH/P.

14.11 i miss that place!!

Eventually standard UK light circuits will be led based so no need for embedded transformers in the led bulbs thus be cheaper to make

Just the fact that you can by a new built home in the UK and may or may not come with coax service or grass in the backyard blows my mind. I'm in Canada and if a home builder told me that the house wouldn't come with a coax service already installed and no grass in the backyard, I'd tell him what kind of a builder is he and how long has he called himself one? If that was the case I'd want 20 grand at least of the price of the house.