Are You Vibing With The New Build Home Vibe?
Not everyone can vibe with the new build-home vibe, and we can understand why. You're either on the side of the fence that wants a home with character or you're on the side of the fence of wanting a cheaper home that's untouched. Depending on the size and location, you can get a brand new home in the UK for as little as £130.000—we can see why people do it.
Still, there's no denying they all look the same, inside and out. Read on to learn more about them.
Why Do New Builds Look the Same on the Outside?
Essentially, they're doing it to save time and money. It makes sense to use one or two design drawings, using pretty much the same materials, built pretty much in the same way. The only time it'll be different is if it's on new build plots where buyers make the purchase before the build of the house and customise it along the way. Those are far more expensive.
Using this approach, all brick choices, rooflines, and window styles are made exactly the same. Local architectural requirements can also often be met with a conventional design, as newer buildings tend to resemble the existing ones.
There are benefits. They're usually more energy-efficient, easy to style, and have a lot of space. We wouldn't go as far as to say newly built homes don't have issues because they do - often more than older homes. A 2023 BBC report found that 32% of newly built homes were 'poor quality.'
And Inside…
The sameness continues.
Most new constructions come with the same neutral colour palette and uniformised interior fittings and configurations. It isn't always a bad thing, but some people don't like it. And that doesn't mean you can't make changes anyway.
You can still go to the best builders merchants and buy high-quality products and make the house into anything you want. You'd do this with an older home, wouldn't you?
The modern look, like wall paintings in white or grey hues and neat trim without much decor, may as well be a start that allows room for customisation.
One of the reasons the interiors tend to look similar is because the home builders opt for neutral paints and materials that will be acceptable to most buyers, like carpets in beige, cabinets in white, and chrome colour for the handles. These options guarantee that the interiors provide flexibility and that the potential buyers can picture their image inside the house.
Essentially, they're easier to sell.
How Do You Make Them Your Own?
You can make a newly built home into anything you want - that's what some people think the beauty of it is. They're almost always unfurnished and a blank canvas (as we've been saying) so you can do with it as you wish.
If anything, you can make it more of your own than an older house. Although it might seem like an effort, you can repaint, add new carpet and flooring, tiles, etc.
So yes, we will say that newly built homes lack some character - but you're the character that will add to it. If you want a cheaper home that shouldn't need as much work doing to it, a newly built home is the way to go.
Jenny Kakoudakis likes to blog about interiors. She launched award-winning Seasons in Colour in 2014 and the luxury interior design blog All The Pretty Homes in 2024.
