UK housebuilders ‘very bad’ at building houses, says wildlife charity CEO

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1. >“There’s planning permission today for a million new houses,” said Craig Bennett, chief executive of the Wildlife Trusts. “So why aren’t they being built? Why is it that volume housebuilders in this country are actually very bad at building houses, even when they’ve got planning permission?”

   Not this bollocks again.

   It’s a supply chain. Developers have to maintain a constant supply of buildable land, otherwise they run out of places they can build on and they go bust. As it’s very difficult to get more buildable land (due to the planning system) and the process of getting more buildable land has lots of uncertainty built into it, developers have to ration the buildable land they have and maintain stockpiles of buildable land in case they run into trouble sourcing more buildable land (which can happen for any number of reasons, due to the uncertainty built into the planning system and the fact that planning permission is granted on a purely discretionary basis).

   The CMA have said themselves that they do not think that land banking is causing the housing crisis, and do not reccomend any policy changes aimed directly at land banking, as the land banking that does happen is merely a symptom of wider issues in the planning system.

   Conclusions

   >4.102 We do not see evidence that the size of land banks we observe held by different housebuilders individually or in aggregate either locally or nationally is itself a driver of negative consumer outcomes in the housebuilding market. Rather, our analysis suggests that observed levels of land banking activity represent a rational approach to maintaining a sufficient stream of developable land to meet housing need, given the time and uncertainty involved in negotiating the planning system.

   >4.103 A lower level of land banking would likely mean fewer rigidities in the market, since it would potentially mean more land available for purchase by housebuilders who could develop it more quickly. However, attempting to artificially reduce the size of land banks from their current level, without tackling the elements of the market that are driving housebuilders to hold them, would be likely to drive lower completion rates.

   >4.104 Given this conclusion, we do not propose any remedies directed at land banks.

   https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65d8baed6efa83001ddcc5cd/Housebuilding_market_study_final_report.pdf

   The problem is the planning system. If it was easy to source buildable land, and if there was a rules based planning system that meant that it would be possible to predict how much buildable land you could source in the future, then developers would not have to maintain these stockpiles of buildable land or slowly ration their buildable land.

2. Says literally everyone, new builds are shocking and it feels like the poor quality is intentional

3. If you want to understand who are holding land and ‘banking’ look at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, large investment funds.
   They buy land to stop competitors building on it or holding it for long term gain.

4. My new build is really good. Been in for almost 7 years now and as yet, not had a single fault. 

   Also the soil in my back garden is literally the best I’ve ever known.

5. I met a civil engineer, and he gently advised me not to buy a new-build. He said they often have hidden faults that only become clear months or even years after moving in. It made me feel quite sad, people spend so much money on a home, only to find problems they never expected.

   He also mentioned that after Brexit, many skilled builders, plumbers, and electricians from the EU left. Now, it’s harder to find experienced tradespeople, and the quality of work isn’t always what it used to be. It’s disheartening to think about. Brexit is truly Brexit-ing.

6. Yeah, being flat packed, and made to order, and assemble by numbers dosent help. Proper guys with the skills to buld a proper house. Not a guy who thinks the cheapest way is always the best, visit all the new builds and ask about the problems.

7. Its the result of MANY increases to the costs for builders. Planning is a nightmare, they need to pay for local services and give large kick backs to local councils as a “contribution”, then the minimum standards for things like insulation and green energy adds tens of thousands to build costs, as does the DEMAND to have space for 2+ cars to park and so on.

   All of those things have justifications and reasons, but the end result is that it isn’s economically viable to build genuinely cheap houses like they used to. They end up having smaller plots, tiny gardens and optimise things to meet the criteria of estate agents (no of beds and baths) even if it means each room is impractically cramped.

   Add to that what almost everyone means by “new builds” is just the bargain version of them via Barrett and such like. There is a whole range of builders out there but the price is WAY out of reach generally.

8. Bricklayers, having to build to dummy frames, sand use profiles.

   The industry is dumbed down.

   Building garbage, but who cares, the developer gets paid.

9. It’s because they employ low skill migrant workers to carry out skilled tasks. Cheap labour is only used to raise their profit margins not increase quality. Uk builders have been going on about this for decades. No surprise really.

10. We have an old scrap yard behind our house, surrounded by lots more houses. For the past five years they’ve been building six homes, and it’s been a disaster. Multiple wall collapses, they cut through an electric cable and caused a fire, which took out electricity for dozens of homes. They had to dig up the road three times after laying pipes incorrectly. We’ve had them trying to work with diggers at 10pm on a Sunday. It’s been a disaster. I feel bad for anyone who buys them, but in this area it’s more than likely someone from India who will turn them into a HMO

11. Bizarre headline. “”Tuchel fecking useless, England should go back to 4 4 2″ says headmaster of local school”

12. I don’t think a Wildlife Charity CEO is qualified to speak on construction…

13. My point is using the wrong people for the job. Low skilled workers are generally used to complete a range of tasks they’re not able/trained to do, that’s the problem. You wouldn’t let your gardener carry out a boiler repair would you ? There probably were some highly skilled slaves, the trick is that you didn’t have to pay them.

14. No they aren’t. The construction companies are run by greedy dicks that are not intrested in long term stability when they are loosely regulated with low accountability.

    They know the state of the housing problem and actively work to benefit off the chaos.

15. This is obvious if you have lived in or visted a new build in the past 20 or so years.

    Lived in one from 08-15 and the windows weren’t fitted correctly and had cracks around the windowsil where air would just blow in all year long. Big massive cracks down multiple walls. Electrical fittings would just break or sometimes have no power.

    It’s not just my experience there is a whole industry of videos on youtube from surveyors etc who inspect the houses and frequently post 10+ minute videos per house showing the failings of the building company.

    I honestly believe most of these properties won’t last 50 years and will have to be demolished and rebulit (hopefully to a better standard)

16. Yeah no shit. In other breaking news, fish live in the water.

17. That’s what happens when these companies build for the shareholders and not the people buying them

18. I’ve worked in two hotels recently. One was an old building refurbished and one a brand new build. Both leaked horribly in bad weather.

19. I work on houses that go for 600.000+. And I can tell you. They ain’t worth half of that.

20. 100 percent these flat pack architectural bum hole houses suck.

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