Building Regulations problem

poppysarah

If you are a FTB then I would suggest you politely walk away.

This is a building company who aren't prepared to do building work. Probably because they know it'll uncover much worse stuff that needs doing.

Leave this one.

Take the structural fees on the chin - and find something not in danger of being a liability.

claire484

Thanks, but my other half and I have our hearts set on this house (and really have got a very good price on it). We're relocating and haven't seen anything else we like!

They've offered to pay for all the work, we just need to find a builder to do it. I agree it seems strange that as it's a building company selling a part ex house they won't take the work on themselves, but they are a very large company and I guess that they'd rather pay another local team to do it rather than take people off their own sites (quite some distance away)?

The structural surveyor hasn't identified any other problems, and we've also had the most thorough survey done on the rest of the property by another surveyor, this is the only concern that has been raised by both.

poppysarah

If you go ahead and buy it please report back in a year and tell us how it's gone.


Ring the council and see if they have a list of builders on their approved tarders list. Trading standards have a list (They do in a lot of places anyway) - although it's not a guarantee the work will be utterley amazing it's a start.

claire484

Thanks, I'll have a look at trading standards. I've had a quick look on the Federation of Master Builders website, I'm not sure if that's much use?

poppysarah

claire484 wrote: »

Thanks, I'll have a look at trading standards. I've had a quick look on the Federation of Master Builders website, I'm not sure if that's much use?

Ideally you want a trusted recommendation - but as this is structural you could also ask the structural engineer who looked at it who he knows in the area.

claire484

Thanks, will do that.

narced

claire484 wrote: »

They've offered to pay for all the work, we just need to find a builder to do it. I agree it seems strange that as it's a building company selling a part ex house they won't take the work on themselves, but they are a very large company and I guess that they'd rather pay another local team to do it rather than take people off their own sites (quite some distance away)?

I think the reason is more likely to be that they don't want to be held responsible for the repair work because they anticipate there will be problems later on.

Also what other problems might there be - anyone knocking down a loadbearing wall without putting in proper support is not just incompetent but dangerous, what else might they have done?

claire484

Point taken, but I would hope that any other problems would have been picked up by the two surveys carried out on the property.

I would also hope that if an RSJ is put in by a reputable builder that would sort out the problem with the wall, however I am new to this so maybe someone can advise me if it is common for their to be problems after the insertion of an RSJ?

narced

claire484 wrote: »

I would also hope that if an RSJ is put in by a reputable builder that would sort out the problem with the wall, however I am new to this so maybe someone can advise me if it is common for their to be problems after the insertion of an RSJ?

Main problem I can see is whether there has been any settlement of the wall or flooring above. The surveyors should be able to spot that though. Also how much support is there either side of the opening for the RSJ to bear down on.

claire484

I believe that there is quite a large area for the RSJ to bear down on either side of the opening, so I'm guessing that this should help spread the weight out better and so reduce the risk of future problems?