New house rebuilt!

[diy_fun_uk]

A small victory for the many that move into new houses that have multiple faults. However it begs the question, how do these houses get to the 'completed/signed off' stage in the first place? Has there been a decrease in checks on building sites over the years? I'm very likely looking at this too simplistically, however let's say (purely for example purposes, I'm NOT saying my number is accurate!) there are 40 milestones in the construction of a typical cookie cutter house from start to finish. Isn't each stage/mileage signed off before the next is allowed to commence?

Something in the construction industry obviously isn't right given the number of horror stories you read.

Father-of-two forces developer Persimmon to tear down his new build home and build it from scratch | Daily Mail Online

 

[Old Salt]

Friend of mine had his rebuilt by Red**w, subsidence. IIRC they rebuilt half a dozen on the estate all within a few yards of each other. I think its generally a lack of supervision on site.

On the Hovis site we were on the foreman never left his office and the trades were just left to do their own thing. Shamefully some of them are just taking the p**s. When we moved in there were muddy boot prints all over the house left by the “cleaner”. Garage flooded 3 times in 6 weeks, shower drain had a plasterboard screw right through it from the ceiling below. Ceiling had to be replaced. Worktop joins swelled and split after 2 weeks.

We moved on after 6 years and modernised a 60’s bungalow and used trades who were mostly recommended and were certainly supervised. I might not know all the ins and outs but I can recognise a bodge when I see one and can spot a horse a mile off

 

[transam]

We got involved in one site of 10 houses were in every house some of the radiators never worked

shower trays leaked through the ceiling

fuses blowing when certain demands were put on equipment

2 had technically unsafe boilers

another refurb that cost in excess of 1 million with 6 wet room showers all of em leaked and had to be ripped up and trays installed
If u were in a shower up stairs and some one flushed a big down stairs I ran out of water

another prop near hampton court there is not enough power to run all appliances plus the ground source heat pump system

 

[diy_fun_uk]

Friend of mine had his rebuilt by Red**w, subsidence. IIRC they rebuilt half a dozen on the estate all within a few yards of each other. I think its generally a lack of supervision on site.

On the Hovis site we were on the foreman never left his office and the trades were just left to do their own thing. Shamefully some of them are just taking the p**s. When we moved in there were muddy boot prints all over the house left by the “cleaner”. Garage flooded 3 times in 6 weeks, shower drain had a plasterboard screw right through it from the ceiling below. Ceiling had to be replaced. Worktop joins swelled and split after 2 weeks.

We moved on after 6 years and modernised a 60’s bungalow and used trades who were mostly recommended and were certainly supervised. I might not know all the ins and outs but I can recognise a bodge when I see one and can spot a horse a mile off

Yeah it makes me chuckle that snagging is an accepted part of the process, says a lot for the confidence you have in your product being 'right first time.' Ok, I partly take that back, I suppose it's reasonable to expect the odd thing might need rectified here and there, however not to the extent you read about time and time again.

 

[bernardgreen]

I know a lady who until a few years ago ran a new house cleaning company, they cleaned out the mess the builders had left before the new owners moved in. They saw lots of error and omissions in the completed houses and many more in houses still being built.

 

[johnny2007]

After fitting a kitchen on a new built I was called back for multiple problems related to drains, electrics and cracks; all unrelated to my work.
The developers tried to blame me but fortunately I had good insurance and they appointed a structural surveyor and other specialists.
Eventually they ripped it all up and started again.
Shockingly most of the drain joints were leaking.
How can that happen?
I'm not a plumber, but none of my solvent weld joints ever leaked, I always thought it was a fool proof method but I was wrong.
Were they saving on glue???
Electric tripping all the time was another problem.
From that moment on I always tried to avoid doing any work on new built and whenever I had to fit a kitchen, I would have professionals in to check that everything was ok and get a piece of paper confirming it.
In older properties I've never had that sort of problems.
It seems that developers nowadays are going on the super-cheap making a ton of money.
They sell a one bedroom flat for £300k, so I don't understand why they wouldn't do a good job in the first place.
I have seen window fitters use no-nonsense £1 silicone.
Come on, that stuff is not even good to plug a hole internally, let alone seal window frames.

 

[Old Salt]

Its a shame really as some of the designs are great. Pity the good builders are not employed by the big boys, that could be a winning combination.

 

[Doug99]

A developer constructed a new housing estate on a flood plane a few years ago (I'm local to the area so know it well). On viewing the show house, I asked the salesman how far away from the house was the river. His response was...............what river!!

 

[Ihavenojob]

how do these houses get to the 'completed/signed off' stage in the first place?

 

[Nige F]

On the Hovis site we were on the foreman never left his office

Cue music ...Antonin Dvorak New world symphony...."He were a great baker, were ouwer dad" ...... then he tried his hand @ building.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

It seems that developers nowadays are going on the super-cheap making a ton of money.
They sell a one bedroom flat for £300k, so I don't understand why they wouldn't do a good job in the first place.
I have seen window fitters use no-nonsense £1 silicone.
Come on, that stuff is not even good to plug a hole internally, let alone seal window frames.

I totally agree, if everyone in the chain aimed to do a decent job (even to an extent if working with cheaper products) then half the issues or more would never arise. I suspect the reason house building companies aim to use the cheapest product where possible is cause saving the pennies turns into saving pounds, a bit like the bean counters in the automotive industry. I've seen new schemes put up and things like the plastic roof verging have most of the colour bleached out of them within the first few years. Result? Sh*t looking verging on practically new houses.

Mind you, it seems even paying millions doesn't always equate to an issue free property!

Flooding, creaking walls, and faulty elevators at NYC's 432 Park Avenue skyscraper | Daily Mail Online

 

[diy_fun_uk]

View attachment 222116

Yeah, there'll be a lot of truth in that!

 

[Doug99]

They can get away with it as new house buyers have to pay up front (often off plan). Hundreds of £££ handed over on trust.
Other purchases are protected under the Sales of Goods Act but apparently not houses.

 

[sxturbo]

Surely if they are penny pinching so much they should just make sure it's all done right first time, I presume with each snag a cost is associated with that.

It also can't possibly take that much longer to do it right first time.

I presume they just hope they sell to people that don't really have a clue and just "accept" the builder says it's fine so it is.

Also if there is any structural issues surely these should be picked up by building control during the build. Or do developers have a different set of rules to abide by?

 

[johnny2007]

Surely if they are penny pinching so much they should just make sure it's all done right first time, I presume with each snag a cost is associated with that.

It also can't possibly take that much longer to do it right first time.

I presume they just hope they sell to people that don't really have a clue and just "accept" the builder says it's fine so it is.

Also if there is any structural issues surely these should be picked up by building control during the build. Or do developers have a different set of rules to abide by?

They pay their own building control officers to sign anything they want.