David Wilson Homes

After reading this site for many months Ive decided to just comment on the above builder, bit of background first, we decided to buy the property back in Jan this year,at that point it was at ground level. Now this is were things first go wrong(although please bear with the tale)we were told it would be build complete by April,as we were due a baby we thought lets go for it although we had not seen one built( think this is called buying offplan) as these were the only 4 on this development,a trial so to speak. All excited we paid the reservation fee and started the ball rolling. A few days before completion(a note for any new build buyers they will always the builders try to get completion within 28 days and say if you dont you'll loose the house or any offer agreed)so this we did but our solicitor told us she had been told the property would be ready mid June,so as you can imagine we were straight on the phone,first to the sales office then as we could not get hold of them,head office,as you can imagine we were assured it would be end of may at latest,a little disapointed we stressed we would not be completing if this was not the case,she assured us it would be and gave us ?250 towards removal for our trouble. Well you can guess it didnt happen,Mid july before we moved. In between that we had errors over specification, wrong lights fitted,no ,lights fitted. A street light were our drive would have been to name but a few. ONE thing I must stress is that you have to keep on top of these people(buliders) and solicitors,in fact everyone, as it would seem that unless you ask questions or make sure everything is going right,not one of them would pick up the phone and tell you things were needed or was this correct. We also would stress the use of an independant snagging company,we used th eone recommended here,they were superb,very accomodating,quick and informative service, they highlighted many snags we would nver had seen but also they give you coinfidence in the workmanship of the property. Now to be fair David Wilson Homes have been superb in putting everything right,with no complaint or unwillingness not to bend over backwrards,I cant stress again the need to make known the site manager and contracts manager and keep on at them,it would seem the only way to get things done,again to be proactive. Not that they probably would not have done the things we wanted but it would have been in there time,not ours. You hear so many bad tales and I have to say we thought we would have a battle to get everything done,but we didnt. The reason for the post was to let other potential new build buyers know there are some good companies out there,there not perfect but worth a shot.

John

John

I have gone onto the Snagging.org website and read the comments you made with reference to your experience of buying a David Wilson home. I thank you for the positive closing comments. However, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss in more detail your experience of the company. Please contact me either by email at pturnbull@dwh.co.uk or by telephone 01530 265200 (mobile number 07768 996519).

Pauline Turnbull
Customer Liaison Director

Hi,

Its good to know Builders read this site, I have just sent an email that I hope will highlight areas of improvement. I would welcome a chat and after that will update the site on the email and your response. I just hope Builders act upon good and bad experiences as they will reap the rewards in recommendations and more homes being sold.

Regards

John

[MCIOB]

I am in the process of buying a new DWH and its nice to see positive comments after hearing so many horror stories concerning new builds. Wish me luck!

Glad to help, and if you do have any problems you have the main customer service contact, you'll know more when I post the saga in the next few weeks once all my issues are resolved.

How far down the line is the purchase and is it north or south located.

Regards

We bought a David Wilson home because we believed we were buying a pedigree and that other house builders couldn't match the quality. Unfortunatley we bought a home that had several major problems and I don't mean small snags. These problems are not isolated to us but also found to occur within other homes on our estate. I won't bore you with all the issues but will give you an example of one. We had roofing problems that in mild winds made the roof tiles "clatter". This resulted in us not being able to sleep in the master bedroom becasue of the noise. The roof had not been fitted correctly and so it was completely replaced but only after they sent contractors to try to patch up the problem. The contractors tried to rectify the roof problem by glueing the tiles into place with a cement mixture. Over a year after the initial letter to DWH was sent was the problem fixed. Since our roof has been completed other homes on the estate have had there tiles refitted for the same problem. The main issue with our estate I believe lies with a poor site managing - not managing and overseeing the build and the contractors. Jobs have been done quickly and with little care or checks that ensure it is done correctly. DWH say they "source materials of the highest standard to fashion homes of unparalleled quality" which would be wonderful if only they made sure they were fitted correctly and professionally in the first place.

[MCIOB]

Many thanks for the replies.

We were due to move into our DWH at the end of September, but this has been postponed until mid October which actually suits us better and gives us more time to prepare. We reserved the property at the end August at which time the build was substantially complete albeit for the final fixtures and decoration were yet to be started.

At the moment I am visiting the property once a week and informing the site manger of any issues I notice regarding the on going works. I have received several offers from companies who specialise in snagging new homes. My only concern is that many of the significant problems identified on this site will not be pickup during the course of snagging as they are concealed from sight. For example poorly laid drains and inadequately fixed roof tiles will only be brought to ones attention when the property is occupied. (That is unless of course the snagging surveyor spends a night in the house). I would therefore be interested to hear from anyone who has paid for a snagging survey which has failed to reveal such or attached a caveat regarding hidden defects. Isn?t the purpose of a snagging survey to identify the outstanding or poorly completed works that are visible to the trained eye? Do the companies who carry out the snagging surveys offer any compensation for items missed that later lead to protracted negotiations with the developer? (That?s assuming you complete the purchased following the snagging survey)

The only way to avoid problems and shoddy workmanship during the build would be to employ a clerk of works and this would be too costly, and developers would be unlikely to agree. At the end of the day I agree it comes down to a quality assurance throughout the course of the build. And with the best intentions a site manger cannot be expected to spend all his time looking over the shoulder of the various tradesmen. I am therefore taking the view that some snags will be inevitable, and moving forward with my eyes wide open!!!!


:roll:

[Lynne]

My advice would be to obtain a full structural survey, as this would highlight problems. a snagging list is just that and will not look at structural issues. There is a cost for the survey but I beleive well worth it, in hindsight this is what we would have done. After 2 years we are still having issues resolved and we may have avoided this altogether and bought another home.
One issue with DWH is that although they will rectify the problem it is usually only after you have contacted them on several occassions. It took over a year to get the roof retilled and as stated before have some issues still to be resolved desipte notification in 2003.
The service for sales is excellent the aftersales service leaves something to be desired.

[Tony]

If you have an NHBC warranty, the property should be inspected three times during the build process. They have got much better at picking up major defects and this probably makes a structural survey unnecessary.

However, they carry out 1,000,000 inspections per year and some inspectors are less diligent than others. I have heard allegations of inspections being carried out by simply running through a checklist with the site manager in the site office i.e. they don't inspect the house. I also know the NHBC are worried about the Home Condition Report component of the Home Information Pack increasing the number of claims that would otherwise go unnoticed. They lobbied hard to get new build homes excluded for the duration of the warranty period, but luckily for the consumer they failed, and only got the exclusion for the first sale. The developers don?t have to pay VAT and they are now exempt from paying for Home Condition Reports. Instead the consumer has to pay for structural surveys and snagging inspections and those that can?t afford these risk moving into a defective home.

I would recommend getting a snagging inspection done by a reputable company as the inspector will be able to spot structural defects which can be queried with the NHBC, or a Chartered Surveyor can be brought in to do a full structural survey. Reputable snagging companies will have professional indemnity insurance, which you could claim on if they miss something that results in you being out of pocket.

Tony

Fot the attention of MCIOB / Lynne / LSM

I have gone onto the Snagging.org website and read the comments you made with reference to your experience of buying a David Wilson home.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss in more detail your experience of the company. Please contact me either by email at pturnbull@dwh.co.uk or by telephone 01530 265200

regards

Pauline Turnbull
Customer Liaison Director