Why are new builds all so ugly?

Beauty is in the eye of the key holder.

My pet hate on new buildings is the grey looking cladding sometimes used instead of better looking brickwork.

No reflection on the people of Tyrrellstown but this is the worst designed estates in the county imo. I absolutely hate getting jobs here it's such a mess. Again I stress I'm talking about the buildings & not the people. All the people I've worked for here have been decent people

I quite like the current design of rural one off houses.

That said, I do blame the planners and it is surely the definition of bad planning that build can be picked out by style down to a 5 or 6 year period.

Rurally for example, there was a craze for concrete overbarged for a while, then some stone was compulsory almost, then any roadside wall had to be stone,

Now it's small scale roofs, simple detailing and windows as big as you want them.

You dont see anyone benefit from having no front garden. The developer just uses it to maximise space. Also very few new estates have big greens these days. In my 80s built estate the big green does be filled with kids playing football. Great to see.

I like having a front garden. I dont think id be overly comfortable having my front living room window 1 meter from the public path.

I dont really think the houses are ugly these days though. In 10 or 15 years they might be. Especially the ones that are 3 stories. The 3 storie houses in a new estate are dreadfully laid out a lot of the time. Walk in the front door which is at the side, kitcen to the left, sitting room to the right. Only about 4 meters deep. Then up to the second floor etc.

People here are less educated wrt aesthetics and accept bland and the outright ugly. Sometimes penny pinching and sometimes it is just bad taste.

People don't see the difference between minimalist and cost saving design.

No garden, no driveway, no external windowsills, totally flat walls, no fascia boards, white plaster, no fireplace, tiny windows(this is getting better), tiny shaded rear gardens, plain skirting boards, cheap plastic ESB boxes on your port are because there's nowhere else to out them....

All marketed as clean and maintenance free, which they admittedly are, but they're also completely devoid of any character and ultimately designed to a cost.

I'm renting a 1 bed apt in Dublin for almost 6 times the cost of what my parents mortgage cost on a new 4 bed detached in 1993 in Dublin. (Still 3X accounting for inflation). Believe me when I say I want cheap housing, fast. But there's a middle ground between speed, and throwing up absolute egg boxes which we need to live with for the next 80 years.

They are two sets of lovely houses. It is worth saying, both retain a lot of traditional elements like pitched roofs, vertical windows with the golden ratio I think, no dormers. But I wonder, are those metal roofs noisy?

100 percent. Its mental and a blight on the landscaoe in the country. Long line the bungalow or cottage.

We recently got an extension and looking at it in hindsight the size was overkill. We now have a 1500 sq foot house for 4 of us. Silly really. No need for any 4-5 person family to have a house of 2000-2500 sq foot.

Regarding housing for single people a mate of mine is divorced, grown up kids etc. He'd be more than content with a 1 bed 30-40 sq meter apartment. But no we wont build them. Bollix. Instead he is looking at 2 bed houses or apartment way to big for his needs.

Irish keeping up with the Murphy's/dick waving thing. Johnny over the road puts up a big house, therefore I must fire up a bigger house.

It's very funny when they run out of funds building their mini hotel and the 'garden' is rough ground with building materials blowing around. Same with motors, big car on the outside but poverty spec inside.

No chimney is one of the bigger changes, I see estates of matchbox houses being built now around Dublin. Like Legoland in places and none have chimneys, solar panels stuck on roof in many cases. Where chimneys are built, they are false constructions, just to add to the look of the house and put the price up several thousand €.

Don't quite agree on the small windows think and that large modern windows are the business. All openings in exterior walls, windows & doors etc can never be as well insulated as a properly built exterior wall, as far as I know. So there's some balance, a sweet point. Where enough light and solar gain is allowed in whilst set against heat loss.

Most new builds in estates do look minimal and cheap. They are ugly. They get way uglier though years down the line when occupants start putting there own stamp on the property by changing the windows and doors or some other aspect of the property. Often people get this very wrong.

I also hate the teeny tiny back gardens that most new estates have. Houses are so close together that there is no privacy whatsoever. Years ago houses had much bigger gardens. Outdoor space is important and it is often not considered by buyers at all.

Most new builds don't seem to have garages for storage anymore either.

To be honest, most self builders set out with just such plans.

They raise enough funds to get into the house and comply with planning and building regs. No more, no less.

It's easy to scoff at this but it has been the way for along time in rural Ireland and to be fair, you would have to argue that it is wise to put the money into getting the house right and big deal if they have a rough driveway for a year or 2.

I see this consistently in my work certifying one off builds where only minimal funds are allocated towards landscaping.

In terms of certification, I look for garden walls to be done and any drainage required to be in place but couldn't care less about lawn seeding or tarmac or kerbs.

You might see it as crazy stuff but these people are sitting in their 250 sqm houses with mortgages of under 250k for the most part.

They might argue that paying 600 or 700k for a small house in an estate is the crazy stuff.