How to elevate a new build above standard?
Discussion
As we're about to start the main part of our self build, our thoughts are turning to fitting out. The last thing we want is something that cannot clearly distinguish itself from 'standard' new builds. If we wanted that, we could have bought on an estate nearby four years ago.
So what marks the difference? Or, more specifically, what are the details, materials or features that ooze quality and style?
We have very nice hardwood windows, and an excellent fitted kitchen to go in, underfloor heating and a good area of natural stone tiles.
We're planning wet rooms downstairs and up, and to have at least some of the lighting designed by someone who knows what they're doing.
What else raises the bar? Skirting? Cupboards? Internal doors? Any ideas or suggestions?
So what marks the difference? Or, more specifically, what are the details, materials or features that ooze quality and style?
We have very nice hardwood windows, and an excellent fitted kitchen to go in, underfloor heating and a good area of natural stone tiles.
We're planning wet rooms downstairs and up, and to have at least some of the lighting designed by someone who knows what they're doing.
What else raises the bar? Skirting? Cupboards? Internal doors? Any ideas or suggestions?
Tuna said:
As we're about to start the main part of our self build, our thoughts are turning to fitting out. The last thing we want is something that cannot clearly distinguish itself from 'standard' new builds. If we wanted that, we could have bought on an estate nearby four years ago.
So what marks the difference? Or, more specifically, what are the details, materials or features that ooze quality and style?
We have very nice hardwood windows, and an excellent fitted kitchen to go in, underfloor heating and a good area of natural stone tiles.
We're planning wet rooms downstairs and up, and to have at least some of the lighting designed by someone who knows what they're doing.
What else raises the bar? Skirting? Cupboards? Internal doors? Any ideas or suggestions?
For me anyway, its internal doors / door furniture, flooring, fireplace / coving (new builds very rarely put it in).So what marks the difference? Or, more specifically, what are the details, materials or features that ooze quality and style?
We have very nice hardwood windows, and an excellent fitted kitchen to go in, underfloor heating and a good area of natural stone tiles.
We're planning wet rooms downstairs and up, and to have at least some of the lighting designed by someone who knows what they're doing.
What else raises the bar? Skirting? Cupboards? Internal doors? Any ideas or suggestions?
Some builders try to skimp on everything, even sockets that are not switchable - or even lack of sockets - all stuff that is easy and cheap to do before construction.
I suppose you could buy a new build and easily spend £20-£30K on it - driveways / landscaping / decorating (from usual magnolia).
ETA: I would put CAT6 cabling + UHF cable + phone cable etc everywhere (just in case !) even if you dont terminate at sockets. I know this after not doing it when we renovated our house !
Edited by barney123 on Tuesday 11th August 15:28
Yes cable for everything!
Telephones, Cat 6, TV, DAB, Satellite, Alarm, ceiling speakers?? Surround sound? All running back to a central hub.
Lots of sockets, you can never have too many. Maybe switched 5 amp low level light sockets for lamp stands. Outside lighting.
Solid walls? I hear many negative comments regarding paper thin stud walls in new builds.
Downstairs loo?
Telephones, Cat 6, TV, DAB, Satellite, Alarm, ceiling speakers?? Surround sound? All running back to a central hub.
Lots of sockets, you can never have too many. Maybe switched 5 amp low level light sockets for lamp stands. Outside lighting.
Solid walls? I hear many negative comments regarding paper thin stud walls in new builds.
Downstairs loo?
Dont build from thermolite, use propper concrete blocks, also no dot and dab, do a propper 2 coat plastering job. For me i would buy your house over any other in a similar proce bracket if them 2 things were done. BUT..... it will cost you 
also if you are doing any upstairs studwork, do it in timber and not those crappy c section metal ones.
also if you are doing any upstairs studwork, do it in timber and not those crappy c section metal ones.
It's difficult to know exactly what you are after, but effectively you are doing a complete refit of a room except several times over.
In that sense, think of it as a bloke project. Look at your plans, look at your current home, look at any other homes you can get into (and yes, even those home improvement magazines). Sit and ask yourself what's wrong, what could be done better, what's missing (hence a bloke project looking at function, rather than girly colours and patterns). List it, plan it, spec it & fit it.
In each room you can split it between the useful (cabling up every room, even for systems you don't plan to use; power points; storage areas; quality of lighting, etc.), things that will make it nicer to use (insulation & draught-proofing; stopping the sun reflecting off the TV) and look & feel (coving, solid internal doors, solid walls). This goes beyond just the insde of the rooms - you might consider underfloor/interstitial insulation for both heat and noise, putting all those cables in ducting under a removable floorboard.
The list is quite frankly endless. You could do worse than keep a notebook for thoughts & sketches, then transfer it to a catalogued (by room/area) Word document as you tidy up your ideas, and finally tick them off as your functional design takes shape.
A few trivial ideas (more to show the logic than the specific details)
Bathroom
In that sense, think of it as a bloke project. Look at your plans, look at your current home, look at any other homes you can get into (and yes, even those home improvement magazines). Sit and ask yourself what's wrong, what could be done better, what's missing (hence a bloke project looking at function, rather than girly colours and patterns). List it, plan it, spec it & fit it.
In each room you can split it between the useful (cabling up every room, even for systems you don't plan to use; power points; storage areas; quality of lighting, etc.), things that will make it nicer to use (insulation & draught-proofing; stopping the sun reflecting off the TV) and look & feel (coving, solid internal doors, solid walls). This goes beyond just the insde of the rooms - you might consider underfloor/interstitial insulation for both heat and noise, putting all those cables in ducting under a removable floorboard.
The list is quite frankly endless. You could do worse than keep a notebook for thoughts & sketches, then transfer it to a catalogued (by room/area) Word document as you tidy up your ideas, and finally tick them off as your functional design takes shape.
A few trivial ideas (more to show the logic than the specific details)
Bathroom
- Hand towel ring over the bath (because the heated towel rail is out of reach
- Two shaver points (because you always want to charge the razor and toothbrush at the same time)
- A stack of shelves for towels and things (because it looks good presenting the towels for guests, and you can just grab a set when you need them rather than walking sb naked around the house looking for clean ones)
- Bright spots over the sink (good for the little detail things like contact lenses or squeezing spots...)
- Dimmable lights, music make for a cracking bathtime.
- Lift the sink (belly button height) and make lots of space for "things" you need to hand. Much more efficient.
- 3' clear space beside the hob (because I never have enough space for the carving board and pans as we approach serving)
- Taps & plugs for appliances all easy to reach (because they are always hidden away in exactly the wrong place to get a mole grip). Cut in a removable panel if you need it.
- Counter tops not deep enough for things like the microwave/bread bin and a serving tray. So make a counter a little deeper and pull the units a little further forward.
- Make use of the wall between counter and upper cabinets - small shelves, hooks & rails, magnetic knife rail.
The sorts of things that tend to set my employers' social housing away from their high-end new builds (£2m plus) include
- doors
- skirtings
- ironmongery
- kitchen fittings
- ceramic tiles
- bathroom suites and taps/mixers - no cheap £200 suites!
- light fittings
Some ideas:
= door handles / furniture - quality chrome plated
= worktops - granite
= santaryware / bathroom fixtures - high quality
= solid wood flooring
= quality tiles fitted properly
= metal light switches
= 5A switched lighting sockets as mentioned above
= high quality solid wood front door
= high spec internal doors
= pre-wired for satellite
= "designer" radiators / towel rails
= door handles / furniture - quality chrome plated
= worktops - granite
= santaryware / bathroom fixtures - high quality
= solid wood flooring
= quality tiles fitted properly
= metal light switches
= 5A switched lighting sockets as mentioned above
= high quality solid wood front door
= high spec internal doors
= pre-wired for satellite
= "designer" radiators / towel rails
HiRich said:
It's difficult to know exactly what you are after, but effectively you are doing a complete refit of a room except several times over.
In that sense, think of it as a bloke project. Look at your plans, look at your current home, look at any other homes you can get into (and yes, even those home improvement magazines). Sit and ask yourself what's wrong, what could be done better, what's missing (hence a bloke project looking at function, rather than girly colours and patterns). List it, plan it, spec it & fit it.
In each room you can split it between the useful (cabling up every room, even for systems you don't plan to use; power points; storage areas; quality of lighting, etc.), things that will make it nicer to use (insulation & draught-proofing; stopping the sun reflecting off the TV) and look & feel (coving, solid internal doors, solid walls). This goes beyond just the insde of the rooms - you might consider underfloor/interstitial insulation for both heat and noise, putting all those cables in ducting under a removable floorboard.
The list is quite frankly endless. You could do worse than keep a notebook for thoughts & sketches, then transfer it to a catalogued (by room/area) Word document as you tidy up your ideas, and finally tick them off as your functional design takes shape.
A few trivial ideas (more to show the logic than the specific details)
Bathroom
This man speaks sense. Scrap all your ideas for fancy fit and finsh, expensive door handles and poncy kitchens, for now at least. Adding expensive tat in the wrong way could end up as the home equivilent to an expensive set of alloys and that nasty stick on chrome trim round the panels on 90's gangster mercs.In that sense, think of it as a bloke project. Look at your plans, look at your current home, look at any other homes you can get into (and yes, even those home improvement magazines). Sit and ask yourself what's wrong, what could be done better, what's missing (hence a bloke project looking at function, rather than girly colours and patterns). List it, plan it, spec it & fit it.
In each room you can split it between the useful (cabling up every room, even for systems you don't plan to use; power points; storage areas; quality of lighting, etc.), things that will make it nicer to use (insulation & draught-proofing; stopping the sun reflecting off the TV) and look & feel (coving, solid internal doors, solid walls). This goes beyond just the insde of the rooms - you might consider underfloor/interstitial insulation for both heat and noise, putting all those cables in ducting under a removable floorboard.
The list is quite frankly endless. You could do worse than keep a notebook for thoughts & sketches, then transfer it to a catalogued (by room/area) Word document as you tidy up your ideas, and finally tick them off as your functional design takes shape.
A few trivial ideas (more to show the logic than the specific details)
Bathroom
- Hand towel ring over the bath (because the heated towel rail is out of reach
- Two shaver points (because you always want to charge the razor and toothbrush at the same time)
- A stack of shelves for towels and things (because it looks good presenting the towels for guests, and you can just grab a set when you need them rather than walking sb naked around the house looking for clean ones)
- Bright spots over the sink (good for the little detail things like contact lenses or squeezing spots...)
- Dimmable lights, music make for a cracking bathtime.
- Lift the sink (belly button height) and make lots of space for "things" you need to hand. Much more efficient.
- 3' clear space beside the hob (because I never have enough space for the carving board and pans as we approach serving)
- Taps & plugs for appliances all easy to reach (because they are always hidden away in exactly the wrong place to get a mole grip). Cut in a removable panel if you need it.
- Counter tops not deep enough for things like the microwave/bread bin and a serving tray. So make a counter a little deeper and pull the units a little further forward.
- Make use of the wall between counter and upper cabinets - small shelves, hooks & rails, magnetic knife rail.
Take a step back. What are you trying to achieve? What is the sytle of the house you are aiming to achieve? Ideally the whole house (from the mud upwards) would be designed to a common design ideology. You can take a load of expensive, well designed parts, but they have to have a place and fit with teh building. Less is more...
Try and differentiate your house with design, not by throwing money at it.
Bit arty farty I know, but think of the elegant pure form and function of the S1 Elise, Vs the fussy "throw styling cues at it and hope some of them stick" RX8.
Almost finished our meagre self build, but still managed to make it better than a Wimpy home (or at least we think so!) by;
Vaulting the lounge and putting in a large picture window
Using 60 year old oak on the porch,
Granite work surfaces in kitchen
Used Villeroy and Boch bathroom fittings through out, as well as expensive tiles.
The Utility, whilst cheaper than the walnut kitchen, is still half decent in gloss white.
UFH
Will be putting down marble tiles in hallway and kitchen, quality walnut flooring in rest of house.
Spend alot on lighting
Walnut doors and nice chrome door handels
Remote control velux window
Basicaly, look at every thing you put in and reasearch it, its amazing how something as simple as skirting board can have so many choices, not just the 3 inch ogee that wimpy think are a selling point over bullnose!! Its like a whole world out their revolving around every item!
Just thank the maker for the internet, I dont think we could of build ours without it!
Enjoy, picking things is the best bit!!
Vaulting the lounge and putting in a large picture window
Using 60 year old oak on the porch,
Granite work surfaces in kitchen
Used Villeroy and Boch bathroom fittings through out, as well as expensive tiles.
The Utility, whilst cheaper than the walnut kitchen, is still half decent in gloss white.
UFH
Will be putting down marble tiles in hallway and kitchen, quality walnut flooring in rest of house.
Spend alot on lighting
Walnut doors and nice chrome door handels
Remote control velux window
Basicaly, look at every thing you put in and reasearch it, its amazing how something as simple as skirting board can have so many choices, not just the 3 inch ogee that wimpy think are a selling point over bullnose!! Its like a whole world out their revolving around every item!
Just thank the maker for the internet, I dont think we could of build ours without it!
Enjoy, picking things is the best bit!!
Edited by satans worm on Wednesday 12th August 08:40
Edited by satans worm on Wednesday 12th August 08:48
I too am having a new house built and have thought long and hard regards power, AV and connectivity.
I don't entirely agree with what has been said above regards the cabling and socketry. Yes, it's important that you have enough mains sockets BUT they are unsightly buggers, so be very specific about where you put them and don't just plaster the walls with them because you can. Better still, perhaps find a way of disguising or hiding them (hinged section of skirting for example) so when they are not in use they are completely hidden.
For AV, I agree it's best to have surround cables installed. Use decent quality cable and termination and again, perhaps hide or disguise the sockets.
Ethernet. Again, I thought abut this, but given the huge expense (particularly Cat6 which is massively more regulated in the way it is installed vs. Cat5) it's just not worth it in my book. I plan to use HomePlug AV system in my new place which I have been using successfully for a while now. It doesn't deliver the 200MBit/s it promises but a sustained 50+MBit/s is normal. This is enough for most home needs. You plug the adapters in where you need them and can add an extra node for under £50. Try that with Cat5/6.
Finally, phone sockets. With most home phones these days being DECT, I see no point in having more than two socket locations. If you plan on a small home office, put the master in there. You can hook your DSL, DECT phone and a fax off this. The second socket, put by the TV for Sky or such. Every socket you add simply adds noise onto the phone network and reduces your DSL line speed. Wherever you need a phone, simply add a DECT handset. Unless your house is massive or built from reinforced concrete then you should have no problems.
This is all IMHO, but gives another perspective.
I don't entirely agree with what has been said above regards the cabling and socketry. Yes, it's important that you have enough mains sockets BUT they are unsightly buggers, so be very specific about where you put them and don't just plaster the walls with them because you can. Better still, perhaps find a way of disguising or hiding them (hinged section of skirting for example) so when they are not in use they are completely hidden.
For AV, I agree it's best to have surround cables installed. Use decent quality cable and termination and again, perhaps hide or disguise the sockets.
Ethernet. Again, I thought abut this, but given the huge expense (particularly Cat6 which is massively more regulated in the way it is installed vs. Cat5) it's just not worth it in my book. I plan to use HomePlug AV system in my new place which I have been using successfully for a while now. It doesn't deliver the 200MBit/s it promises but a sustained 50+MBit/s is normal. This is enough for most home needs. You plug the adapters in where you need them and can add an extra node for under £50. Try that with Cat5/6.
Finally, phone sockets. With most home phones these days being DECT, I see no point in having more than two socket locations. If you plan on a small home office, put the master in there. You can hook your DSL, DECT phone and a fax off this. The second socket, put by the TV for Sky or such. Every socket you add simply adds noise onto the phone network and reduces your DSL line speed. Wherever you need a phone, simply add a DECT handset. Unless your house is massive or built from reinforced concrete then you should have no problems.
This is all IMHO, but gives another perspective.
Roop
If it isn't too late then get some CAT5 cables strung around. I used to use a powerline system and whilst it was a huge improvement over wireless, it isn't a patch on the CAT5 cabling I ran round myself.
And it enabled me to move my NAS box, hub and router to a cupboard.
If it isn't too late then get some CAT5 cables strung around. I used to use a powerline system and whilst it was a huge improvement over wireless, it isn't a patch on the CAT5 cabling I ran round myself.
And it enabled me to move my NAS box, hub and router to a cupboard.
Edited by rsv gone! on Wednesday 12th August 08:50
The main things that piiss me off in out new build is a lackof sockets - telephone and power.
We have a 3 storey house with 1 phone socket! right down on the bottom floor, obviously the PC is on the middle floor. Bloody stupid.
Also there are quite a few power sockets, but they are all on one side of the house pretty much, I'd make sure there is at least 1 double socket on each side of the room, it's easy to hide them if they aren't in use but it's a pain to get power to the other side of the room if you need it!
I guess our builder saved a few pennies on each house by putting single sockets rather than doubles, and only putting onw phone socket in. But multiplied by the 16,500,578 houses on the estate he must have saved a fortune!
We have a 3 storey house with 1 phone socket! right down on the bottom floor, obviously the PC is on the middle floor. Bloody stupid.
Also there are quite a few power sockets, but they are all on one side of the house pretty much, I'd make sure there is at least 1 double socket on each side of the room, it's easy to hide them if they aren't in use but it's a pain to get power to the other side of the room if you need it!
I guess our builder saved a few pennies on each house by putting single sockets rather than doubles, and only putting onw phone socket in. But multiplied by the 16,500,578 houses on the estate he must have saved a fortune!
Roop said:
Every socket you add simply adds noise onto the phone network and reduces your DSL line speed.
Not if it is wired correctly (using a filtered NTE5(bell wire) or centralised ADSL filter such as the NTE2000);)Door handles make a massive difference IMO as does ceramic flooring.
Edited by Dave_ST220 on Wednesday 12th August 12:50
VxDuncan said:
HiRich said:
It's difficult to know exactly what you are after, but effectively you are doing a complete refit of a room except several times over.
In that sense, think of it as a bloke project. Look at your plans, look at your current home, look at any other homes you can get into (and yes, even those home improvement magazines). Sit and ask yourself what's wrong, what could be done better, what's missing (hence a bloke project looking at function, rather than girly colours and patterns). List it, plan it, spec it & fit it.
In each room you can split it between the useful (cabling up every room, even for systems you don't plan to use; power points; storage areas; quality of lighting, etc.), things that will make it nicer to use (insulation & draught-proofing; stopping the sun reflecting off the TV) and look & feel (coving, solid internal doors, solid walls). This goes beyond just the insde of the rooms - you might consider underfloor/interstitial insulation for both heat and noise, putting all those cables in ducting under a removable floorboard.
The list is quite frankly endless. You could do worse than keep a notebook for thoughts & sketches, then transfer it to a catalogued (by room/area) Word document as you tidy up your ideas, and finally tick them off as your functional design takes shape.
A few trivial ideas (more to show the logic than the specific details)
Bathroom
This man speaks sense. Scrap all your ideas for fancy fit and finsh, expensive door handles and poncy kitchens, for now at least. Adding expensive tat in the wrong way could end up as the home equivilent to an expensive set of alloys and that nasty stick on chrome trim round the panels on 90's gangster mercs.In that sense, think of it as a bloke project. Look at your plans, look at your current home, look at any other homes you can get into (and yes, even those home improvement magazines). Sit and ask yourself what's wrong, what could be done better, what's missing (hence a bloke project looking at function, rather than girly colours and patterns). List it, plan it, spec it & fit it.
In each room you can split it between the useful (cabling up every room, even for systems you don't plan to use; power points; storage areas; quality of lighting, etc.), things that will make it nicer to use (insulation & draught-proofing; stopping the sun reflecting off the TV) and look & feel (coving, solid internal doors, solid walls). This goes beyond just the insde of the rooms - you might consider underfloor/interstitial insulation for both heat and noise, putting all those cables in ducting under a removable floorboard.
The list is quite frankly endless. You could do worse than keep a notebook for thoughts & sketches, then transfer it to a catalogued (by room/area) Word document as you tidy up your ideas, and finally tick them off as your functional design takes shape.
A few trivial ideas (more to show the logic than the specific details)
Bathroom
- Hand towel ring over the bath (because the heated towel rail is out of reach
- Two shaver points (because you always want to charge the razor and toothbrush at the same time)
- A stack of shelves for towels and things (because it looks good presenting the towels for guests, and you can just grab a set when you need them rather than walking sb naked around the house looking for clean ones)
- Bright spots over the sink (good for the little detail things like contact lenses or squeezing spots...)
- Dimmable lights, music make for a cracking bathtime.
- Lift the sink (belly button height) and make lots of space for "things" you need to hand. Much more efficient.
- 3' clear space beside the hob (because I never have enough space for the carving board and pans as we approach serving)
- Taps & plugs for appliances all easy to reach (because they are always hidden away in exactly the wrong place to get a mole grip). Cut in a removable panel if you need it.
- Counter tops not deep enough for things like the microwave/bread bin and a serving tray. So make a counter a little deeper and pull the units a little further forward.
- Make use of the wall between counter and upper cabinets - small shelves, hooks & rails, magnetic knife rail.
Take a step back. What are you trying to achieve? What is the sytle of the house you are aiming to achieve? Ideally the whole house (from the mud upwards) would be designed to a common design ideology. You can take a load of expensive, well designed parts, but they have to have a place and fit with teh building. Less is more...
Try and differentiate your house with design, not by throwing money at it.
Bit arty farty I know, but think of the elegant pure form and function of the S1 Elise, Vs the fussy "throw styling cues at it and hope some of them stick" RX8.
Choose a style and an appropriate structure. The money is always in the structure and not the fitout.
Personally, I would consider higher than normal cielings and a much heavier (read r/c concrete rather than timber in places you wouldnt initially think) than normal structure with superlative insulation.
You need to think very carefully about layout and design. As said elsewhere all services should be hidden but accessible and all but invisible in operation.
Lastly, simple quality is king (in all aspects). A quality home will last hundreds of years with little maintanence if designed, specced and built properly.
A good start is the magazines in question and have a chat with construction professionals such as engineers and architects. You will need a vision though.
Anyway, hope that helps though I suspect that you are rather late in the process given the advice you are seeking.
PM me if you require any further assistance. An individual commission house is a rare thing these days so dont squander it. If you are far along but can wait, I would pause and seek advice to make sure that you are really building what you want.
All the best
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