How exactly 'are' new houses signed off?

[diy_fun_uk]

What's the typical process? When I watch clips like this I sit almost in disbelief thinking 'how was this house signed off and transferred over to the customer?!?'

Ok it could be someone of any age, however imagine a child in the garage pushing on those pillars, could end in tragedy. I understand inspectors maybe can't be expected to check every single little thing (i.e. a degree of snagging will always be required, although I have my own thoughts on that as well) however surely there should be a checklist of the basics to ensure the building (and in this case garage) is safe? For example, garage checklist point 4, 'are the wall pillars tied to brickwork and secure?'

When you watch some of these videos you wonder if the house has been checked at all. Considering it's usually the most expensive purchase people make, it's shocking (to use the video guys phrase!)

 

[Fred Blogs]

Looking at the state of new builds these days I can only conclude that builders are bribing their way around.

 

[Mottie]

Unbelievable!

 

[algas]

Don't they just self certify, Iv'e seen some real crap work on new builds near me, a friends son bought one, had lots of defects, I made a list and they are still chasing the builders to get things sorted out 2 years on , covid excuse pulled out of the bag, doesn't stop them building more does it!

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Par for the course in rip off Britain these days. Many new builds are thrown up by semi-skilled house bashers, for which the house builders want top dollar. Crammed together on tiny plots, nowhere to park, dolls' house dimension rooms, miniscule gardens, grim and depressing estates and low quality materials and workmanship.

They've recently turned the runway at Filton, Bristol where Brian Trubshaw took Concorde's maiden flight, into a housing estate. Already the houses look tatty and the external paintwork on walls looks stained for some reason. All narrow terrace houses squeezed in with small footprint - built up to two floors to squueze as much in as possible. Built in depression comes as standard.

The 80s were the end of good workmanship when many new houses on a new estate on outskirts of Bristol had to be rebuilt because the mortar in the walls was wrong and walls were crumbling. In older builds, when they didn't have the materials and equipment available today, you could see the real skill of craftsmen that went into every aspect. Now it's all push-fit plastic plumbing and cardboard internal walls. Wouldn't consider anything built after the 70s.

 

[Loofah]

With my place the builder knew the BC guy, they had a chat walked through and around the house and it was done in less than 10 minutes.

 

[ericmark]

It seems the LABC is lacking, they get paid in Wales at least £100 per £2000 worth of work, so likely for a garage around £300, it is claimed be self financing, so that will cover around a days work to check on it. Likely less. But what we don't know is did the LABC inspector pass this work?

 

[motorbiking]

That’s really poor. Certainly makes the case for professional snaggers.

 

[securespark]

Wouldn't consider anything built after the 70s.

No. I wouldn't buy anything later than 1960s.

Having said that, our house (c1960) has a roof that is slowly spreading and one wall the rafters are sitting on is leaning out.... big cracks through the blockwork in the front wall. Those are the two main issues. The surveyor thinks the purlins are undersized (although the whole estate was built the same) and he thinks the support above the downstairs window (huge picture window) is inadequate.

I know from seeing many houses over the decades that often PVCu windows are put in in place of timber where the timber frame was calculated to support the brickwork. The tops of these plastic windows are smiling!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Crammed together on tiny plots, nowhere to park, dolls' house dimension rooms, miniscule gardens, grim and depressing estates and low quality materials and workmanship.

They even put under-sized furniture in the show home, to make them seem more roomy.

 

[securespark]

They've recently turned the runway at Filton, Bristol where Brian Trubshaw took Concorde's maiden flight, into a housing estate.

Done this to Avro's factory (became BAE) round the corner from us.

You can see half the main runway is left. You can also see a Vulcan bomber at the Avro heritage museum. Apparently there are going to be 12/1300 houses on the site when they are done. Plus a school, doctors surgery, dentist and shops and green spaces.

A retired pilot bought a house on the site. He used to take off from Ringway every morning and point out that Vulcan and tell his crew "I used to fly that!"

Edited for clarity.

 

[securespark]

They even put under-sized furniture in the show home, to make them seem more roomy.

They've been doing that sh!tty trick for many a decade.

My Dad bought the showhouse on a small early 1970s development in Chorlton. He went to look at it and leapt on the bed.

Needless to say, it was pretty much made of card and hardboard and collapsed underneath him!

 

[johnny2007]

I went to look at these new built with several friends and customers.
Not once I missed to state my comment: "Walk away".
The salespeople first try to distract you, then, when they realised you're actually looking for faults they become aggressive.
On 2 occasions we were told we couldn't see the houses because I was carrying a spirit level.
They're built to last no longer than 50 years at best.

 

[Vinty]

They even put under-sized furniture in the show home, to make them seem more roomy.

They also use very small salespeople to show you around the show house.

 

[noseall]

Built in depression comes as standard.

Slums of the future? Crammed in for sure. Narrow claustrophobic streets too.

Trust me on this, there are plenty of crap site houses throughout the last century. At least the modern ones have some fight against heat loss.