We did it! On 21 December we officially completed on our new build home. We got the keys, moved in and became first-time homeowners! Despite lots more boxes to unpack and hopefully, not too many more flatpacks to build, Jamie and I are already really settled and excited to start this next chapter together.
Now, that’s enough of the updates – let’s get into the nitty-gritty, shall we? As soon as we started our new build journey, I knew I wanted to create some useful, informative content on it. I’ve already shared an FAQ guide for first time buyers, and how we saved for our mortgage deposit, so I thought the next piece I write could be new build specific. Now our new build process is pretty much complete, what better time to share the whole experience, from start to finish? Keep reading to understand all the major steps in buying a new build home, from reservation through to completion.
1. Offer and Reservation
The very first stage of buying a new build is reserving your plot. For some, this could mean viewing a show home on the development, or if your development is new, you might end up reserving off-plan, meaning you’ll never step into your style home until it’s built. For us, we were able to view the same house design as what we reserved, which was great. It meant we were able to envision exactly what our house would look like and make sure we knew what we’d be getting at the end of it.
After our visit, we put in an offer. A lot of new builds will have incentives, and these will depend on the developer. For us, we had integrated appliances, choice of finishes, and the three-quarters of our flooring thrown in for free. Regardless of what incentives are on offer, it’s always worth putting an offer in below asking price and seeing what extras you can get included.
You might get a counteroffer and go back and forth a few times, but once an offer is accepted, it’s time to reserve. For us, this meant a £250 payment to confirm that we intended to buy the plot and took it off the market.
2. Exchange of Contracts: the legal stuff
The next stage is probably the most complex and tense part of the process: all the legal stuff. You’ll want to get a mortgage in principle, and you’ll need to exchange contracts with the help of a solicitor. There will be lots of paper work, proof of monies, things to sign, but as long as you take close notice and have a good solicitor, you’ll do fine.
Once everything is signed and all the necessary checks have been made, you’ll exchange contracts. This is the point where you’ll also hand over your first deposit (this is usually between 5-10% of the sale price). The second sum of deposit will be sent when you complete later down the line. Once the money’s been sent, and the exchange of contracts have taken place, you’ll be legally bound… there’s no backing out now!
3. Meet the Builder
Your Meet the Builder appointment is your opportunity to find out everything about your home and the development. In this appointment, we found out about plumbing, electrics, street lighting and plans for the rest of the site once we completed. Fortunately, we were one of the very last houses to complete on the development which had started back in 2018. If your development is still relatively new or has some years left, make sure you’re aware of the building plans and be prepared to live on a building site for a while.
4. Upgrades, kitchen, tiling and flooring
The Options meeting is undoubtedly the most exciting part of a new build journey. One of the biggest pro’s of a new build is being able to design your home just as you like. Think Sims, just real-life. Here, you’ll pick out your kitchen units, worktop, flooring throughout the house as well as bathroom tiling. You’ll also be able to add extras and upgrades like adding in more sockets and upgrading your appliances and flooring/materials to higher specs.
In this appointment Jamie and I decided on an upgraded induction hob as opposed to the standard gas option, upgraded our flooring to Karndean, and also went for the premium kitchen worktop and units. This can be a pricey appointment, and while you can absolutely get a gorgeous home for the standard options, our upgrades were all 100% worth it.
5. Home Demostration
In between your Meet the Builder, Options meeting and Home Demo, you should have the opportunity to view your home whenever you like. I’d recommend requesting some visits because a) how many people get to see their home being built from scratch?! And b) it’s a good opportunity to make sure everything’s being done as you requested. On our site visits we noticed a few issues early on which prevented them turning into bigger problems later down the line.
Your Home demo is your final appointment before Completion. Here, your house should be pretty much complete and you’ll be taken through your appliances, heating, meter readings and everything you need to know about how your home will work once you move in. You’ll also be told about how the home is built, and the drying out process you can expect to experience over the next few years.
6. Completion
The most exciting day of them all! Completion day is exactly that – the day you’ll complete on the house and the keys will be handed over. By this point, all the paperwork will be done. All that’ll be needed from you is to send the final sum of deposit over, and your solicitor will send this to the developer. Once funds have cleared, you’ll get the call to collect your keys! This can happen anytime between 9-5 and will depend on a number of things: how many completions are happening on your day, your solicitors’ workload and how quickly funds transfer.
Once keys are handed over, you’re completed… you’re officially home owners! And there’s just one last step in the new build process.
7. Snagging
As with any new build property, as you live in it and get used to your new home, there’s probably going to be a few things that need fixing. These are called snags. You’ll get an initial two-week period to make note of any snags that aren’t quite right. These could be paint touch-ups, bumps and scratches on kitchen units or faulty appliances. Anything that has a big impact – for example, our dishwasher wasn’t plumbed in correctly when we moved in – should be fixed pretty swiftly. But other minor issues will wait until your official snagging inspection. In this appointment, you’ll have the opportunity to take someone from the site through your home, pointing out any issues that need rectifying.
Once you’ve raised your snagging list, your developer will work to get all issues fixed. And after this list is completed, you’ll officially be handed over to Customer Care. For our site, we’ve got two years assigned to Customer Care for any problems we might encounter in our new home. During that time, our developer will send someone out for free to fix whatever issues we have. Once those two years are up, we only have our 10-year NHBC guarantee to fall back on.
I hope this post was useful – if you’ve got any questions or want to see more of our home, let me know in the comments!
Lucy x
