Is this normal on new developments?

Contessa

As others have said it is not normal. Last year I viewed two uncompleted houses and it was useful to be able to see the variations in the same model house. I quite enjoyed wearing the PPE! This was in total contrast to viewing my house many years ago. It was a very small development by a small local firm. There was only one show house and this was of a different model (in fact there is only one similar house to mine). I remember being amazed at the size of the house, especially upstairs. There was no staircase so we had to climb a ladder.

lessonlearned

Furts wrote: »

This comment makes me cringe.

The purchaser is paying for a satisfactory product, produced by an expert - that is the builder. The purchaser, who in over 90% of cases is not trained in building, then has to go round producing a snagging list to give to the builder.

The builder always knew these jobs needed attention, but was just trying to get away with not doing them.

Equally, the builder is aware the issue of snagging sheets is his responsibility and part of his job.

With no other product from a can of baked beans, to an electric kettle or a new car would it be routinely accepted, and never questioned, that the customer has to do the checking, quality control and work of others.

Of course it should not be like this - home builders, with government support, are still firmly rooted in the Dark Ages.

Why on earth should my comments about inviting a purchaser to inspect their property make you cringe.

Are you suggesting that the purchaser is not entitled to inspect their property before they hand over their money.

In point of fact no-one expects the purchaser to have an in depth or even a working knowledge of construction methods.

It is expected however that a purchaser be pro-active in the hand-over process.

Oddly enough I have on a number of occasions had to insist that a purchaser be on hand to inspect their property. They couldn't be bothered and just wanted to hand over their money without an inspection.

Madness.

We point blank refused to complete until they got off their backsides and did the inspection.......

By the time the purchaser does their "snag" it will have been snagged and inspected at each stage of it's construction.

It will have been inspected by building control from the local authority, by the building company's construction manager, by the site agent most days, it will have been signed off the by electrical contractor, it will have been signed off by gas safety engineers, by the negotiator, (in my case several times) by the sales manager and on and on. It will have had at least three inspections by the NHBC.

By the time the purchaser gets to inspect and snag it is generally more a courtesy than anything else.

Are you suggesting that the purchaser should not be offered the opportunity to give their property the once over.

Now before you all jump down my throat I am the first to admit that some builders are streets ahead of others on quality control.

There are indeed some very bad examples of poor consrtuction, low standards etc

I am not naive. I know that some builders do not pass muster and no I'm not going to name names:rotfl:

The quality of the build on any given development is almost without exception down to the abilities of the Site Agent.

Some are fantastic - it is undeniable some are dreadful.

A weak and ineffectual SA will not be able to run the development properly or monitor outside contractors to maintain high standards.

My advice is try and find out if the SA has won any awards. Just ask - if they have then either they or the negotiator will be delighted to flaunt their success.

If they have building construction awards under their belt then you are on to a winner.

An award winning SA will build you a fine house.;)

Mojisola

lessonlearned wrote: »

When a property is deemed build complete, the purchaser is issued with a 14 day notice. During this period the purchaser inspects their property, central heating systems etc are demonstrated, and this is time you get to complete a snagging list.

Quality control should be part of the building process and done before the property is deemed ready to hand over to the buyer.

If I buy a car, I expect the manufacturers to have proper quality control systems in place - I don't expect to have to inspect it myself and send it back because things don't work!

Errata

The only time people could view was when bought

Maybe the builders think the world is populated by people gagging to buy a pig in poke.

lessonlearned

Mojisola wrote: »

Quality control should be part of the building process and done before the property is deemed ready to hand over to the buyer.

If I buy a car, I expect the manufacturers to have proper quality control systems in place - I don't expect to have to inspect it myself and send it back because things don't work!

I'm assuming our posts crossed but as I pointed out quality control is indeed intrinsic to the construction process.

The purchasers' "inspection" is (or should be) a formality and a courtesy.

kindofaverage

Errata wrote: »

Maybe the builders think the world is populated by people gagging to buy a pig in poke.

I totally agree - but the houses are literally flying off the shelves in this area. where is the recession - def not in that area - and people can't even view an example of the homes for measurements etc. OH thinks it will be too late to back out if it is only on handover that they show you into the house!!!! It's a shame as it was exactly the right style of house we wanted - and - if there is anyone in the heirarchy of taylor wimpey reading this then please advise if this is your company's policy or just a lazy sales person!!!!

Fortheloveofmoney

As others have said, this is not normal.

We purchased a new build house last year and moved in at the end of October. When we first saw our house it was just having the windows fitted. We reserved it about 2 weeks later and visited it every week until completion.

We always had to wear hard hats, high vis jackets and borrowed some boots from the site office. They also had to confirm with site that it was ok for us to go in as sometimes the work they were doing meant we couldn't.

I hard it very odd that they won't let you go inside...

You could ask the sales office if they have a completed lived in house you could view. On our development some sales offices have deals with local people to let them take interested parties for a viewing. The new home owner gets paid for each one they allow.

lessonlearned

kindofaverage wrote: »

I totally agree - but the houses are literally flying off the shelves in this area. where is the recession - def not in that area - and people can't even view an example of the homes for measurements etc. OH thinks it will be too late to back out if it is only on handover that they show you into the house!!!! It's a shame as it was exactly the right style of house we wanted - and - if there is anyone in the heirarchy of taylor wimpey reading this then please advise if this is your company's policy or just a lazy sales person!!!!

It appears to be a negotiator who doesn't know their job.

Furts

lessonlearned wrote: »

Why on earth should my comments about inviting a purchaser to inspect their property make you cringe.

Are you suggesting that the purchaser is not entitled to inspect their property before they hand over their money.

In point of fact no-one expects the purchaser to have an in depth or even a working knowledge of construction methods.

It is expected however that a purchaser be pro-active in the hand-over process.

Oddly enough I have on a number of occasions had to insist that a purchaser be on hand to inspect their property. They couldn't be bothered and just wanted to hand over their money without an inspection.

Madness.

We point blank refused to complete until they got off their backsides and did the inspection.......

By the time the purchaser does their "snag" it will have been snagged and inspected at each stage of it's construction.

It will have been inspected by building control from the local authority, by the building company's construction manager, by the site agent most days, it will have been signed off the by electrical contractor, it will have been signed off by gas safety engineers, by the negotiator, (in my case several times) by the sales manager and on and on. It will have had at least three inspections by the NHBC.

By the time the purchaser gets to inspect and snag it is generally more a courtesy than anything else.

Are you suggesting that the purchaser should not be offered the opportunity to give their property the once over.

Now before you all jump down my throat I am the first to admit that some builders are streets ahead of others on quality control.

There are indeed some very bad examples of poor consrtuction, low standards etc

I am not naive. I know that some builders do not pass muster and no I'm not going to name names:rotfl:

The quality of the build on any given development is almost without exception down to the abilities of the Site Agent.

Some are fantastic - it is undeniable some are dreadful.

A weak and ineffectual SA will not be able to run the development properly or monitor outside contractors to maintain high standards.

My advice is try and find out if the SA has won any awards. Just ask - if they have then either they or the negotiator will be delighted to flaunt their success.

If they have building construction awards under their belt then you are on to a winner.

An award winning SA will build you a fine house.;)

In brief, of course the purchaser should be able to inspect - but this should be at all stages of the build, not just when it is almost finished.

The purchaser does have to snag but should not have to snag.

The inspection and quality of new homes is woeful. I could mention Site Managers who do not wish to leave their site office, or Building Control not turning up for inspections, or NHBC not wanting to upset the builder by finding faults, or electricians and plumbers who are not qualified and so it goes on.

I then move on to the level of knowledge and training from the Construction Director right down to the sub contract groundworker. It is an exception for this to exceed barely adequate.

The positive is the comment about awards. Whilst the awards system is both flawed and open to abuse, a Top 100 Site Manager is preferable to the others. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Site Managers have no awards so this fact does not help the purchaser.

Like you I work in this industry, so I can speak with authority on this. I am not proud about what occurs. Equally I cannot make water travel uphill. So whilst the industry demands mediocrity and the customer struggles to receive this, I have to go along with matters.

Fuzzyness

kindofaverage wrote: »

thanks everyone - there is not a show home anywhere apparently for this style. oh well, taylor wimpey have lost a sale and not just on this style of house but on any other one as well, as owners are not allowed in the homes til handover day???? Bizarre

i'd give one of thier offices a call and speak to one of their sales managers to let them know about your experience. seems a bit rubbish and it does appear contrary to what the other mass builders are offering.