House Spec for an unfinished New Build

AidanBear

My wife and I have just had an offer accepted on an unfinished new build on the cornish coast (£310k against a £329k asking price).

We've visited the site 4-5 times and discussed the property with the estate agent on numerous occasions. The estate agent has assured us that build would be finished to a high spec and that we would be able to have some input in kitchen choice etc.

Having already communicated that he would accept £310k the developer stalled before accepting our offer. We understood this was so that he could put together a spec sheet. (at this point we were thinking that we should have seen a spec sheet already - we've never bought before and had never heard of a spec sheet). A few days later and we've received a document from the agent with the following specification -

1) Fully carpeted
2) Waterproof laminate flooring in the kitchen
3) Vinyl in the wet rooms
4) Large white tiles in the bathroom areas, above sink, above bath and in shower area
5) Shaker style kitchen with a choice of colours
6) Integrated oven, hob, extractor, fridge freezer and dish washer

There's nothing here to suggest that he isn't going for the cheapest possible options at every point.

I'm not sure how to take this forward, and having never bought a house before, I'm not sure what the norm is. I want to be sure that the fixtures (and fittings where they're included), are of an appropriate standard for the price of the house. What I really want is wood flooring in the living area and tiles in the bathroom (and a good standard of kitchen, bathroom, doors etc). I've spoken to the estate agent to say how unhappy I am with the spec, and he says he's going to go back to the developer.

What should I be doing? What should I expect? How does this kind of thing normally work?

Seabee42

I would agree he is going for maximum profit.

I would be focusing or attempting to focus on how minimum cost equates to high finish quality.

What would you expect for a high spec finish>??? Go ask for it!

richardw

Find out what the builder's spec proposals are in detail and then look to see if they are 'high spec' if they aren't then make your point.

Jenny.W

When we bought our new build 3 years ago we were invited to the sales office to pick our floor coverings and tiles and to choose our kitchen worktop and unit styles and colours-this included handle styles to....oh and carpet colours.

I thought this was the norm for new builds :huh:

kingstreet

Ask to see samples of the materials or better still a property they have already sold and kitted out the same way?

Showhome?