Roof tiles cracked under 2 yrs. New build.

ramellous1

Our wimpey home is still under 2 yrs old. After the recent snow we have a tile over the garage which has broken. There is a chunk of the corner of the tile about 2 inches long that has come away and some more tiles look cracked. Wimpey say they do not cover this. Surely this must be substandard materials for it to damage so easily and be covered under our 2yr or the longer NHBC cover.

Fire_Fox

First of all you need to read your guarantee! I don't think NHBC kicks in unless your developer goes bust or there is a major dispute which a few tiles aren't. If you want to argue the materials are substandard then you are going to need a professional report saying so, try a roofer. Tiles cracking is a bit like lightbulbs blowing, they are supposed to last x amount of time but that is an average so you will get a few that don't last very long. Depends what percentage of your roof is affected really.

captainhaggis

I'm having similar problems with my Barratt properties..... Seems these developers just make a run for it the second the last brick is laid.

ixwood

have you checked they've actually bothered to skim the plasterboard before painting it?

jaspercabbage

Had exactly the same issue earlier this month with Bellway. They also said that it was a matter for household insurance. After I told them I would get the NHBC involved they sent their garage contractors to investigate, but if it was not due to bad workmanship I would have to pay. As it was, the contractors replaced the tile 'as a gesture of goodwill'. Perhaps mentioning opening an NHBC claim will get a reaction from Wimpey.

ramellous1

I saw the site manager today and he said he would drop a couple of tiles off for me to fit. Now I'm no roofer and there are still a couple of houses in various stages of building on the site means it would not be a problem for it to be fitted by them. It says a lot for their customer care. I am having the area manager out next week to look at it as I can see this being an ongoing problem due to cracks I can see on other tiles. The house over the road has one tile broken the same as mine but on the house roof so I am concerned about the materials and /or build quality.
The site guy was blaming the frost and so I must assume that new builds these days cannot cope with winter. I have never had bother with my previous (older) properties.

ixwood

If they're still building, presumably they're still selling. Go into the sales office when there's customers around and discuss the substandard materials used there and what they're going to do about it. I'm sure they'll suddenly become more reasonable.