Taylor Wimpey New Builds?

darrensen

Hi guys,

We've been looking at a couple of local developments by Taylor Wimpey. Obviously the show rooms look nice, but i wondered what peoples opinions were on build quality? Especially those that have been in theirs for a few years?

Without any negotiating from us they offered us 30k off, but said that would be as low as they could go. Basically to help us get under the 250k stamp duty. I'm hoping we can get them down another 10k.

Unfortunately they do charge a lot for extras!!

As always, help always appreciated.
Thanks

Richard_Webster

As ever the advice is to look to see what similar 5-20 year old properties in the area are going for and base your negotiations on that figure.

The amount that Wimpeys knock off is nothing to do with anything you need to establish what the house is actually worth.

And don't compare it with what Wimpeys say they sold the one down the road for 6 months ago!

In 5-10 years time nobody is going to pay a lot more for a house that is 5=10 years old as opposed to 10-25 years old.

spud211

I have been in mine for about 5 months now, and yes I agree their extras are very expensive - my advice there is to think hard about anything you can do yourself later, and only get them to do the bits that would require you to rip the house apart. Don't pay them for turf or landscaping, and I wouldn't pay for the alarm either (I got stung there) - I later found out that all the houses on my estate were pre-wired anyway so I could have just bought my wired own alarm for around £200 rather than paying them £400!

Quality wise..I have been very impressed. I had 4 "major" snagging issues when I moved in, and they were:

1) Toilet flush sticking, and cistern cracked - that was fixed within 24 hours
2) 1 Kitchen cuboard was the wrong size - fixed with in a week
3) Floorboards uneven upstairs - they planed them down flat the same day
4) some chips in paintwork/doors/outside window ledges - all fixed within a week.

The internal finish has been really really good..myself and my father were shocked that we just couldn't find many issues, especially after my parents moved into their Bellway homes house and had a snag list with over 300 items on it..mine totaled 20, 16 of which were very minor.

Having been there 5 months I have had a fair few popped screws and drying cracks, but these are to be expected and will dissapear when I decorate next month.

I'm happy with my house really, perfect size for me, lovely and warm..great location..can't complain.

I think the most important thing is which site manager you get - mine was really good and helpful, but some of them won't be, and if you get on one of those sites..you could have problems. So i'd have a chat with the site manager, see how you get on with him, thats probably the best way to suss out what it will be like.

SuzieSue

spud211 wrote: »

I think the most important thing is which site manager you get - mine was really good and helpful, but some of them won't be, and if you get on one of those sites..you could have problems. So i'd have a chat with the site manager, see how you get on with him, thats probably the best way to suss out what it will be like.

This is the most important point - the build quality is only as good as the site manager and the building inspector.

You should knock on the doors of some of the houses that were sold first and see what problems they have had. You should also consider getting a professional snagging expert to look at the property if you are concerned abou the build quality.

steve1980

TW will have a base price then add all the extra's on, stamp duty, deposit, carpets, tiling etc.

On average you will pay 25% more than a "second hand" property of the same description.

darrensen

Thanks guys for you comments.

I would prefer an 60s/70s/80s house, but sellers in my area are still being unrealistic. Once property which was a Detached 3 bedroom built in early 80s was advertised for 279. We offered 249,950 to get it under the stamp and they weren't even willing to negotiate on that. Left it a couple of months still not sold, went back with the same offer and got the same response.

Maybe we should just wait and see what happens to the market? However i'm concerned that the tamp duty offer expires in April 2012 and we still might not have found anywhere.

jess1974

I would'nt buy one, they are usually on sprawling estates with houses back to back and postage stamp gardens, horrible soul less shoe boxes, some near me the neighbours can shake each others hands from their windows....

SilverSix

If they won't budge any more then try and negotiate stamp duty paid, if you're not under the threshold, or money towards your legal fees.

I'm in the process of buying a TW new build myself and will be saving massive amounts by doing things like tiling myself.

As for any extra lighting, speak to the site manager and get in touch with the spark who will be doing your build.

Mine said he's happy to lay all the cabling for downlights as a first fix and come back to do a second fix and fit & wire them all up. At £50 for a standard halogen downlight and £65 for Ip65(waterproof) they have an insane mark up! I can get LED downlights that use 10% off the energy and give the same amount of light for nto much more, or halogens for about 20% of the price. Towel radiators are also massively marked up. As mentioned only get them to do what you really need. Their carpets are quite competative but they don't have a massive range. Fitted wardrobes are very expensive and Ikea do 'Pax' wardrobe which aren't fitted but come rated very highly.

The show homes I looked at all seem to be of a very high standard and over the last few years extra building regulations have all come in to make them more efficient but also of a better quality.

Out of interest which development is it?

darrensen

The developments we were looking at were Sandrocks and Gainsborough place in Sussex.

I spoke to TW and they said they wouldn't do part wiring for lighting due to warranty issues. :-(

spud211

darrensen wrote: »

The developments we were looking at were Sandrocks and Gainsborough place in Sussex.

I spoke to TW and they said they wouldn't do part wiring for lighting due to warranty issues. :-(

TW won't, but I bet you that the Spark will You need to talk to him directly..although again it's down to whether or not the site manager will let it slide.

I got the spark to put in a load of Cat5e cable for me, which he did for £100 - nothing terminated, just loose wires stuck out of the wall. He also did some extra sockets for 50% of the TW price at the same time.

If you speak to sales they will say no, but if you speak to the spark direct (just jump on him when you see him about the site, or look for his van and give him a call) you can get some good deals!

SilverSix

spud211 wrote: »

TW won't, but I bet you that the Spark will You need to talk to him directly..although again it's down to whether or not the site manager will let it slide.

I got the spark to put in a load of Cat5e cable for me, which he did for £100 - nothing terminated, just loose wires stuck out of the wall. He also did some extra sockets for 50% of the TW price at the same time.

If you speak to sales they will say no, but if you speak to the spark direct (just jump on him when you see him about the site, or look for his van and give him a call) you can get some good deals!

Yep, the sales team won't because there's no commision in it for them.

Providing the site manager will allow it I'm sure the spark will jump.

Likewise, I plan on tiling the bathroom myself, and want a wall mounted shower. They charge £500 for a wall mounted shower, full height tiling to the bath area and a screen. I don't want their tiles or screen, just the shower. The site manager said to just tell the plumber to put a wall mounted one in which wouldn't cost anything. I need to clarify this as I don't want it missed off or subsequently not covered on warranty so I will negotiate the price of just having the shower put in.