Unhappy with new house, help please!

Spend-a-holic

Hi everyone

I am just hoping for a bit of advice. I bought a new build property from Strata in September. There were a number of small faults with the property which were corrected quite quickly. But the overall finish is really rather poor and I don't know what to do. The plaster work is poor in areas, there are plaster spots on the roof that they have just pained over, there are drip marks in the paint and brush marks, and the gouting on the splash back tiles doesn't appear to be water proof as it seems to be washing away. These are things which I have noticed as I have spent more time the house.

I was sent a feedback questionnaire in October, on which I noted that I was very disatisifed with the finish. They never bothered to even acknowledge this.

I was going to make a written complaint to head office but thought I hsould wait to ensure that all the small faults were sorted by the site manager. I think they are all sorted now and the builders have pretty much left the site.

I am now ready to make my written compaint to Strata about the finish, now do I request that they solve the finish? I don't know if I really want them coming in to the rectifying work, as when we did our pre-completion checks there were some paintwork issue there, which they say they solved but they literally jsut went round with a paintbrush slapping thick brush stroked paint on.

Ultimately I do want this sorting out, but I am worried they will make it worse. Does anyone have any advice?


Thanks

macaque_2

Spendaholic

If you have paid over the full amount of money, you have two chances of getting satisfaction from the builder; a fat one and a thin one. A major fault would be different but this is a low grade concern raised after snagging.

totalsolutions

You have written a few paragraphs here and I feel you could have done the same to the builders directors.

>I was sent a feedback questionnaire in October, on which I noted that I was very disatisifed with the finish. They never bothered to even acknowledge this. Nobody reads these, sent out by a different company?

> don't know if I really want them coming in to the rectifying work You Do!

dmg24

Contact their customer service department. Keep hassling them until they sort it.

You will get it sorted, but don't expect anything to happen quickly. I am just coming up to two years in a David Wilson property, and am just having my final snag sorted ... got there in the end, and finally have a beautiful home!

Merlot

dmg24 wrote: »

Contact their customer service department. Keep hassling them until they sort it.

You will get it sorted, but don't expect anything to happen quickly. I am just coming up to two years in a David Wilson property, and am just having my final snag sorted ... got there in the end, and finally have a beautiful home!

I agree keep hassling, ring everyday, twice a say if neccessary, I live in a Barratt new build and for the first two years, the builders were here more than my husband.

Oh, and send a letter by Recorded Delivery of the snagging problems to the Site Manager/Head Office.

Merlot

Jonbvn

Put your complaint into writing immediately - include photos if possible. You have 2-years after completion to do this. Once you have done this, the builder cannot say that the warrantee period has expired for the identified defects, until 2 years after they are rectified. This allows you time to hassle them, and if necessary go to court.

Tweetinat

When I moved into my new-build property I had upto two years to get anything I was dissatisfied fixed, so hopefully you have the same sort of guarantees.

Unfortunately re: paint work, a lot of new builds only guarantee a very basic level of finish (they had a special name for it I can't remember what it was) so when you complain, they say that it wasn't intended to be the final spec. I doubt you'll have much joy re: painting unfortunately...

They should come out to fix plastering and grout though - mine certainly did even when the problems surfaced a good year later

Quick Edit: To add to what Jonbvn says, if you report a fault within 2 years and it reoccurs outside of this timeframe, they will come out to fix it - certainly in my case without questions asked.