Advice of building survey and how to approach repairs

mi-key

pred02 said:

It's not a mass builder but rather a local developer who just built this house (and sister half of the semi) but the point on mass market remains. He built as an investment, rented it for 5 years and now is selling it. It's in a high end area so I expected the finish to be higher quality. And there is evidence of that (e.g. high end appliances, wet underfloor heating system) but then under the surface these things appear. 

I will get a plumber to inspect the mould problem also check the piping and maybe even do a test to check of the sewage to ensure its not been backed out. Also get someone to test the UFH system as well to ensure there are no leaks.

About the insufficient ground clearance (150mm as required) and the drainage in front of the garage and the house there is a worry that in the 5 years if the water has been collecting its not going to cause ground subsidence issues, etc. Or am I thinking too much into it?

Also if it was built in 2017 should there be 10 year warranty to address some of these issues? 

That is often the case. They put in a posh kitchen and bathroom and fancy lighting and paint everything white and grey to woo the buyer, but the basics and bits you don't see are all skimped on.

FreeBear

mi-key said: Modern houses are the worst for problems and bodges ! They throw them up so quickly now and as cheaply as possible lots of corners are cut and issues arise ( just look at how many people end up with snag lists on new builds ! ). An older house was normally built better, and also most issues have already been fixed.

A lot of the older houses are not much better. After the war(s), there was a scramble to build a huge amount of housing. Corners were cut, shoddy workmanship rife, and little in the way of building regulations to ensure minimum standards were met. Some properties are inherently defective (Airey, Woolaway, etc) and require large sums of money to fix if they haven't already been done.

In general though, I would agree that an older property should have had the bulk of any problems fixed by now. But there may well be bodges waiting to be uncovered as well as inappropriate repairs done in the past.

pred02

I have agreed with the sellers that they will make the repairs prior to completion. I've added some acceptance criteria for the repairs and will also ask for a gurantee. What is considered an acceptable guarantee - 2 /3 years? Repairs include fixes around drainage of water (installation of drains), minor roof repairs and building work (e.g. fixing mortar, sealing pipe holes) 

Thank you

mi-key

pred02 said:

I have agreed with the sellers that they will make the repairs prior to completion. I've added some acceptance criteria for the repairs and will also ask for a gurantee. What is considered an acceptable guarantee - 2 /3 years? Repairs include fixes around drainage of water (installation of drains), minor roof repairs and building work (e.g. fixing mortar, sealing pipe holes) 

Thank you

Most of those you aren't really going to get any sort of official guarantee for as builders will only give a word of mouth one as it depends very much on what happens in the future,  but they are all simple jobs and should last for years anyway.

Jonboy_1984

pred02 said:

As we were going and inspecting the property we also found what seems to be a significant mould problem under the kitchen sink. I guess the next step would be to get the plumber to see the extend of the problem and repair. 


 

Was there anything plugged into the left hand green hose connection?

If not I would expect it to be overflowing every time a significant amount of water was being emptied from sink or if sink and appliance on the right hand one  (assuming washing machine) were discharging simultaneously…