New house build - Luxembourg

New house build - Luxembourg

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VX Foxy

3,962 posts

242 months

Friday 29th August 2014
quotequote all
dxg said:
I just wish UK housebuilders would have the balls to offer something (in suburbia) that's not the brick (or pretending to be brick) detached.
^This.

Or is it the dinosaur planners? Not enough self build opportunities in the UK either.

House looks great.

mikebradford

2,483 posts

144 months

Friday 29th August 2014
quotequote all
VX Foxy said:
^This.

Or is it the dinosaur planners? Not enough self build opportunities in the UK either.

House looks great.
I feel its a system that appears to favor the selling of land to the big commercial developers. They in turn churn out generic house types, that joe public then buy.

We all miss out on the opportunity to build singular houses, or even a mix of different houses styles and sizes.

Mainly due to overall planning policy , and a nation that appears to not look at sensible options to allow the redevelopment of brownfield sites, and releasing greenbelt to anything other than the big name developers.
Then some individual, built for profit houses are so poorly detailed and constructed. That you see these anomalies like a sore thumb. They neither blend in, or add anything by being significantly architecturally different.
They tend to look like one of big houses builder house types built on the cheap.

Another problem depending on the area, is that thise selling single plots or small scale parcels of land. Seem to massivley over value them.
And would rather sit on them (makes sense financially i suppose) rather than sell and release them.

Not sure if it would work, but policy could be changed such that any land granted planning for single or small scale residential. Should by default go to open market / auction if not sold within a set time period such as 1 to 2 years.

This would force people taking the gamble on getting planning for profit, to accept they cant then just sit on it
Ive not thought this through though! lol

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Friday 29th August 2014
quotequote all
Interesting points on British planners. I've mates who work in planning and another who's a land director for a major UK housebuilder. They've also commented similarly about our house!

I hasten to add that, whilst it's entirely possible to buy plots of land here and build unique houses**, mine's part of a development of ~60 houses and 2 low rise apartment blocks. The apartments are finished as are about 22 houses.
I'll take some pics of the others on site that are finished and underway, so you can get a sense of the area.





- **plots the same size as ours to build unique detached houses on were 3x the price of our plot from the developer, who's the largest construction company in the country.

VX Foxy

3,962 posts

242 months

Sunday 31st August 2014
quotequote all
5potTurbo said:
I'll take some pics of the others on site that are finished and underway, so you can get a sense of the area
Thanks, would be interested to see that.

LouD86

3,278 posts

152 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Well your almost 6 months in now, hows the house faring up? Hope your loving it

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Monday 26th January 2015
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Firstly, the pics I mentioned ^^^^ above, I took on my BB, then stupidly deleted them without posting them up here. silly


Actually, we've been in the house 13 months now, having moved in a few days before Christmas 2013.
It's quiet, warm and less than half the energy cost of our previous place - maybe even less than that, in fact. We're currently waiting on the local electricity supplier to do their meter reading and close out the 1st year so we can see if their monthly DD € amount is right or not. We're not used to the noise the heat source pump makes sometimes, it takes some getting used to, but other than that, it's all good, thanks.
Our neighbours, for the most part, are friendly too, which helps.

Whilst my wife is annoyed at having 3 bathrooms + 1 WC to clean and keep supplied, it's a godsend for us now our daughters are older. The previous house had 1 bathroom, so we'd never get a look in now!

Development and release of the remaining plots in the zone continues, and some of the larger plots with slightly different designed houses on are up for sale between €940K & €1.3m now (we didn't pay anything like that!) so we did well, I think, to get this when we did. We simply couldn't have afforded it on the newest offering prices.

One point I am rather annoyed about, and it's specific to the planning guidelines on our residential zone, concerns a garden shed. The construction company orignally quoted us something like €13K for a block built, rendered and painted shed, with a dark grey zinc roof, etc., which matched the style of the house. Having baulked at the €13K, we said no to them and decided to apply for permission to build one of these in the large size and painted dark grey, which we thought would be in keeping with the house style. Modern too.
OK for the planners?
NO!
We MUST have the pre-approved design the construction company offered to us. NO negotiation! Since they've completed our house, I can't get that shed built for the price originally offered. So, €20k now. fk right off! I'm not best pleased as you can tell.

I really need the shed as we've 5 bikes and tons of gardening stuff in the garage which I'd like to put in the shed so both cars can go in the garage. Do I need it at €20K though? Time will tell.

I have been having fun in the snow over the weekend though. My neighbours think I'm bonkers as they saw me racing up the empty street and handbrake turning in the empty cul-de-sac on Saturday afternoon. Big kid, me. hehe

I will get those pics up of the surrounding area, soon - ish. T'is fookin freezing outside at the moment. smile

LouD86

3,278 posts

152 months

Monday 26th January 2015
quotequote all
Jesus, it has been a while, my bad there! Glad your enjoying it, and nice to hear that the efficiency is looking good. Sounds like you bought in at the right time though, apart from that extortionate shed cost.

Ive been looking at houses recently, and going back through topics that inspired me as to things I wanted, so much of your house that I want to include!

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Sunday 8th February 2015
quotequote all
Let me know if you want any information, I've binders full of all the technical specs, even down to the type of cable and trunking used by the sparks, but also all the heating and ventilation makes/models, and our final certified EPC, if that would help?

The view to the front of our house has changed in the last couple of weeks as they're cracking on with a few more houses on the far side, but their back gardens will be east facing. Sorry for them.
Mind you, it's been well below freezing for the last week, so the brickies haven't been able to lay any more blocks.

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
quotequote all
A bit of a shock on our return from holiday this weekend ... the first year's electricity bill.

Having paid almost €1,000 during 2014 by DD, I've been hit with another bill for €1,500 for the difference vs. estimation in the 1st year.

I called the local leccy provider, Enovos, and a very helpful guy broke the bad news to me about heat pumps and air circulation systems .... they use a stload more leccy than you'd ever imagine.

The guy at Enovos likened it to the new BMW i8 ... promises very low consumption, but the reality's very different, and they've seen that a lot with these new "low energy" consumption houses with heat pumps/air systems in the last 2 years.

Usual house elctricity would be ~5000KWh/p.a. The heat pump/air system's added >10,000KWh to that! eek

It's far, far from the numbers we'd been quoted before signing on the dotted line, but I should have done more research.

As a result my DD will be increased from €175/2 months to €428/ 2months.
You live and learn but the high cost hurts, a LOT. frown

Muncher

12,219 posts

248 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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I knew they consumed a lot of power, but that's more than I thought. That puts your energy costs significantly higher than mine for a 5 bedroom house in the UK, we would be at about 240 Euros for 2 months for gas and electricity.

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
quotequote all
I know, I'm genuinely disappointed, and poorer.

We've only 1 supplier for either electricity or gas here, so there's no competition on prices, which doesn't help.

LouD86

3,278 posts

152 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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Jesus thats nuts. Can you not speak to the companies who provided you with the numbers upfront? If they are quoting bull, then you should be able to seek something back from them?

Ranger 6

7,041 posts

248 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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Ouch!! eek

You mentioned that the bill hadn't arrived, at least you've been on holiday...

herbialfa

1,489 posts

201 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
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Ouch!!!!!!

Great looking house though.

I live within a stones throw of a huge development with lots of large companies have parcels of land developed with planning permission already gained.

Only one (local company) has come out with something new & fresh in style (a tiny bit like yours) and all the rest (national companies) as said above are just boxes/ types!

herbialfa

1,489 posts

201 months

Tuesday 24th February 2015
quotequote all
Ouch!!!!!!

Great looking house though.

I live within a stones throw of a huge development with lots of large companies have parcels of land developed with planning permission already gained.

Only one (local company) has come out with something new & fresh in style (a tiny bit like yours) and all the rest (national companies) as said above are just boxes/ types!

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Wednesday 25th February 2015
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wavey Richard
Yes, it's good I've been on holiday and that was already paid for in advance, or this month would be doubly painful!

We've pulled out the folder with all the heating spec and instructions, and probably need to rethink HOW we use the system, and when. I'll call the system's installer and ask them to come over too to help us, since they're still working on other houses in the development anyway.

Still miffed though. frown

Thanks, Herbi. Even a mate of mine, who's a land director for a major UK housebuilder, says their own co build tiny boxes that all look alike - inside and out. They don't permit many changes/customisations to keep the overall costs down and margins up. The most recently finished houses on our development, also on our road, look very similar in turns of style to ours, colour's all the same, etc., but the dormers have been finished in a different way, so I'm noticing small things on each group of houses.

If it's not lashing down or snowing this w/e I'll get some more pics of those that I stupidly deleted before.


Edited by 5potTurbo on Wednesday 25th February 08:23

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Thursday 2nd July 2015
quotequote all
Err, OK, I've not posted up pics of the surrounding new builds, but now I've moved into the 21st century with an iPhone instead of a CrackBerry, it will be easier to do so.

However, despite the recent fookin' stupidly hot weather, Mrs.5Pot & I decided the square of grass with a Beech (twigs) hedge was a bit boring - so we killed the grass, dug it up and completely re-did it!


The grass was OK, but dull - KILL IT ALL!



(You can see in the background how long the neighbours' front garden grass is. That was >2 weeks ago and it's STILL not been cut! Grrrrr!)

Tree planted, membrane down, decorative stones in place, half the grass dug up. Clay soil = bloody hard work! This was 4 hours on Saturday.



Sunday, another 2 1/2 hours digging and all the grass is gone!



Then Mrs.Greenfingered-5Pot comes along ....bloody glory hunters! wink





VERY pleased with the results!



(Now I've uploaded all the images at work, I can't see them in this post, so I hope they work OK!!)


ETA: Balls, just checked my post on my iPhone - sorry! nerd

Edited by 5potTurbo on Thursday 2nd July 09:51

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Wednesday 29th July 2015
quotequote all
The side and rear garden's had plenty of attention too. We now have what looks very much like a respectable lawn!





5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Thursday 24th September 2015
quotequote all
I'm very pleased that the grass is still looking good at the side and the rear of the house, and I'm now planning to buy a scarifier so it can be treated, seeded and readied for Autumn.

The front garden's also doing well after its makeover, and the plants, especially the grasses, have really filled out now.


We're looking now at installing frameless glass doors from our entrance hall to our living room, which is currently just an opening. The span is 2.11m high by 1.5m wide, so 2 doors of 75cm ea., mounted in the inside of the opening, and then they can open in or out of the room individually.
To match the horizontally 'striped' interior doors we have, we approached the original supplier last Saturday morning and they emailed us a quote the same day. It's quite a lot of money but it's time to bite the bullet and then I'll feel like the living room and entrance hall are "finished", almost 2 years after we moved in!

Edited by 5potTurbo on Wednesday 24th February 13:50

5potTurbo

Original Poster:

12,481 posts

167 months

Monday 8th February 2016
quotequote all
Interior doors are in, and we're very pleased. They're SWINGERS!



Some (rather old now!) pics of the surrounding buildings on the site. A few more plots have been advertised, again, for a LOT more than we paid for our house, which is good!