honest answer

[big fast willy]

read though a couple of pages on this site and to me yes some have a general problem others people just want to kick a fuss up about little petty things

now come on be honest

how many of you now move into a house hoping to claim as much of it back as possible in claims?

seen it a million times

we call them professional complainers

within 24 hours of moving in if they come to you with a certain complaint you can pigeon hole them and know which over the next 6-12 months complaints they will come up with

the leaky plumbing is the best,funny how it always goes in the area near the access panel


then its off to the local paper

remember to always include a sad looking childB)


at the end of the day 99% of you are looking to sell on when the site is finished and with the discount and settlement money your off to start it all over again

gawd bless em

[Tony]

how many of you now move into a house hoping to claim as much of it back as possible in claims?

I doubt there is anybody doing this as you won't find a 'no win, no fee' lawyer to take it on. You would have to invest a lot of your own money say £30,000 to £50,000 and wait 3 - 5 years for an out of court offer, assumming you have a legitate case.

The problem is that your marketing departments over-sell new build properties/lifestyles and don't mention snagging for fear of losing the sale. Expectations are raised to high and you can't deliver. Either lower expectations or improve your standards.

at the end of the day 99% of you are looking to sell on when the site is finished and with the discount and settlement money your off to start it all over again

I completely disagree with this, most people just want a home in the right location.

At the end of the day the developers are looking to make as much money out of their land banks as possible by building as many properties on a site as possible as cheaply as possible, so they can buy more land and start all over again.

[Leandra]

Well, I don't think that I will be posting anything else on this site after the comment from 'big fast willy'. It may be the case that some people see it as 'easy money' however I am confident that the majority of new home owners do get quite upset about problems that they incur. I do not think that it is petty to complain about a loft hatch falling off in the middle of the night in a 2 year olds bedroom, or indeed the banister splitting in two when he was learning how to walk up and down stairs or that you are locked out of your front door because it has been hung wrong (confirmed by the site manager) to be told by a Customer Services Director that you are on a learning curve in how to open a front door(only 3 examples, with a masters degeree and doctorate I think I know how to open a front door - I would certainly NOT use my child either as a face of a paper article to receive sympathy votes and money and I have never complained about anything in my life before moving into a Bryant home.

[Colin Jack]

Leandra,

Please don't take the comments from one to heart. Just look at the name 'big fast willy' it says it all really.

Yes there are those who complain about the smallest of things but when the local authority refuses to issue a completion certificate on the grounds of substandard construction, you know there is something in it.

The purpose of the building regulations is to 'safeguard people in and around
buildings'. If there are loft hatches falling from ceilings or banisters falling apart when a child leans up against it - do you feel safeguarded - of course not - therefore the building regulations have not been complied with. Imagine a loft hatch falling from the ceiling in an office block – think of the uproar that would cause. Why then should we allow it in new build homes.

The biggest difference between the office block and your new home is that the person or company paying for the office block will have their own personnel overseeing the work. For all private new build homes there is no-one acting in the new owners interest supervising the work. Instead there are site agents who don’t really know what they are doing, have no real qualification to prove they know what they are doing and in general don’t give a toss anyway. This is why so many house builders will not allow inspections as the work progresses because they won’t be able to cover up all the mistakes. The NHBC don’t pick up the mistakes either because they are commissioned buy the house builder. The strange thing is that they are paid for by the new owner. So you would think that the NHBC would have the owners interests at heart – think again. Simon Barrett (NHBC Engineering Manager) told me “After all the NHBC are the builders insurer� and “if the NHBC set their standards too high then the builders will get their insurance elsewhere�. It would be nice if the standard of new builds could meet the minimum standards set out in the building regulations. Just a pipe dream?!?!?!? Remember the NHBC is just an insurance company with a set of guidelines that mirror the building regulations almost exactly (reinventing the wheel). Look at the board of directors on the NHBC website – not one of them is a construction professional.

Social housing or Housing Association new builds are built to far higher standards than your new £500,000 luxury villa simply because there will be someone employed specifically to ensure that minimum standards are met.

Just think, all the time spent getting qualifications, getting a good job and being able to afford a luxury villa has all been wasted because the person in the housing association flat with no job and no money is living in a property that is far superior to yours.

Leandra, there are thousands of people in the same boat right now and until the house building industry is regulated properly sites like this one and taking stories to newspapers are the only way of highlighting the abysmal standards of workmanship currently peddled by today’s house builders. Far too many people bury their heads in the sand and accept the drivel spouted by Customer Care staff or the NHBC. However most people don’t know or will ever what lies beneath the painted plaster board. I wish I didn’t. So please air your story.

[zednine]

big fast willy wrote:

read though a couple of pages on this site and to me yes some have a general problem others people just want to kick a fuss up about little petty things

now come on be honest

how many of you now move into a house hoping to claim as much of it back as possible in claims?

seen it a million times

we call them professional complainers

within 24 hours of moving in if they come to you with a certain complaint you can pigeon hole them and know which over the next 6-12 months complaints they will come up with

the leaky plumbing is the best,funny how it always goes in the area near the access panel


then its off to the local paper

remember to always include a sad looking childB)


at the end of the day 99% of you are looking to sell on when the site is finished and with the discount and settlement money your off to start it all over again

gawd bless em

I dont think so mate,, who do you work for, one of the big 5 developers..

take a trip to my house and i will gladly show you the shoddy workmanship..

Oh and i do work in the building trade and certainly not for the likes of wimpey, persimmon, redrow etc etc, wouldnt lower my standards..

so when you have splashed out220k of you hard earned cash to buy nothing more special than a shoddy mass produced house, you let me know...