All Building articles in Building Homes May 2003
View all stories from this issue.
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Comment
Options run out
Deciding the colour of the tiles on the bathroom walls used to be the biggest choice a homebuyer had to make. Now housebuilders are producing optional extras catalogues, offering everything anyone could want. In the USA buyers spend about 10% of a new home’s sales price on extras, and although ...
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Features(Where) The mummy lives
They may have taken longer to build than planned, but judging by their popularity, there's no curse on Crest Nicholson's Ingress Park homes. Josephine Smit talked to director Stephen Stone as he paid a call on one of the residents.
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FeaturesHow low can he go?
Famed for an audacious, but failed, bid for Tay Homes, Country & Metropolitan boss Stephen Wicks had better luck with his acquisition of NorthCountry Homes. Now he's championing rock-bottom sale prices and planning his next buy. Josephine Smit met him.
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Features
Factfile
Planning approvalsThe southern market may be slowing but Berkeley Group is still feeding its development pipeline, with the highest number of approvals in April. Overall, the emphasis has moved away from London and the South-east, with most approvals being won in the West Midlands and the North-west.New-build completionsPrivate completion numbers ...
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News
Optional extras
We're talking creature comforts this month, indulging in those optional extras that soon become must-haves – after all, once you've enjoyed the luxury of an on-tap masseur or the added light from a conservatory, do you think you'll be willing to give them up?
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Features
Get it right: Plumbing and electrical
The Annual Customer First Survey carried out on behalf of Zurich Insurance Building Guarantee is in its fourth year. The survey provides information on customers' satisfaction with their new homes. This year's survey shows a growing frustration with plumbing and electrical installations. Problems can usually be attributed to errors in ...
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Comment
The great public–private divide
As a practicing architect and a judge for different housing design awards, I am acutely aware of the issues at the sharp end of the housebuilding industry.
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FeaturesMcCarthy & Stone asked 394 local authorities whether they had assessed the housing needs of older people.
Why does this matter? Because it is depriving elderly people of housing choice and making it difficult for retirement housebuilders to meet the increasing demand for their product.
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Features
How buyers spend £30,000 on extras
Homebuyers are spending an average of £3200 and up to £30,000 on optional extras and upgrades, according to a Homes survey of 30 housebuilders – including the top 10. But what are they buying with their money? Here are the 10 most popular extras