At the end of last year we purchased a wimpey home as you can imagine I have a very long list of problems and little help from wimpey. I've put together a website detailing the issues we've had.
Nice web site but you are slightly out on your snags.
External finish
Door step - The Building Regulations (BR) do talk about steps but not in the singular fashion. For it to be considered a step there needs to be a rise of more than 600mm. So it complies
Mortar stains on decorative lintel - not very nice but you have missed out that the weep hole has been placed too high. If that is too high I expect the cavity tray is to high which means you may get damp penetration at some time.
Poor pointing - Not very sightly but it looks like the fascia is out of level and again no weep holes.
Noiticed the Thermalite block but that is fine they use them in about 90% of the houses now. Interesting comment that you said you can feel the back of the brick. If the house is not timber frame you should be able to feel the bottom of the wall insulation. Could be a blown fibre insulant and then you could have problems.
If your house is a timber frame property it would explain the twisted window cill.
Great website do you do it for a living?
If you want to have a go at a builder make sure you have the correct problems under the correct guidance otherwise they will run rings around you.
The fact that you can feel the back of the brick means that vermin may be able to enter the cavity and access the attic!!! Building work cause mass migration of rats so I would get this sorted as soon as.
Tony
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Thanks for the feedback and taking the time to look at the site.
I'll need to look into the step height again. Several people (including me) have fallen going out the door because of the drop, stepping over the door frame and the width of the doors. What part of the regulations did you get 600mm from? thats over half a meter.
There are weep vents pretty much resting on the lintels, although concerningly wimpey after sales inspector did say when I complained about the state of the weep vents that they were not a concern but I should be more concerned about whether the cavity trays had been fitted!!!! That's nice of him isnt it. Where did you think there was a lack of vents? next to the door or on the gable wall, I'll need to have a look tomorrow when it's light.
I got a letter at the end of last week from NHBC saying the have instructed the builder to fix the facias. They've got a month we'll see how it goes.
Wimpey filled the gap behind the gas meters a few weeks ago conveniently before NHBC came to do a "Resolution" inspection, they havent fixed it on any of my neighbours homes though. The house is timber frame, my original concern was the fact the facing brick appeared to have been built on dirt but Wimpey came back and said there was a lintel over the gap. I still wanted the gap filled because it was a very large entrance for rodents and insects. I was told that rats wouldnt be a problem because the timber frame was wrapped in a membrane, I had to point out that a plastic membrane wasnt going to stop something that was capable of chewing through steel.
The photo doesnt show it but the cill is twisted because of how it been installed there is a ridge at either side of the concrete ledge, the twisted/split side is resting on on but the other side isnt.
I dont do web development regularly but have some experience, which has come in handy. Hopefully the site will help inform potential new buyers of the potential pitfalls of buying a wimpey home.
I've added some updates to the site including a list of problems my neighbours have. I'm waiting on a list from my other next door neighbour who lives in what was one of the showhomes.
I've also spotted a fault with the showhome that wimpey advertise on it's website. The link to the problem is on my homepage at the left.
Have a look at the Building Regulations Approved Document K on page 5 under “Performance” it states that the guidance only applies to “dwellings where the difference in level is more than 600mm”
The after sales inspector is correct. It could be that cavity trays are fitted but if you think that the tray is to ensure any water penetrating the cavity comes out. If they are fitted above the stone lintel the water comes out and then straight into the stone lintel which has not got a cavity tray. You may not get any problems with this but there again you might. If it happens outside the resolution period and the cost of putting it right is less than the minimum claims value of the NHBC policy (about £1000) you will have to do the work.
I thought the property was timber frame which should have vents to allow the timber frame cavity to breath. I noticed that they have put some at high level under the soffit of the main roof but there do not appear to be any in the ground floor porch area.
The window sill is not twisted due to the way it was installed but because the timber frame has settled. The windows are fitted to the timber frame. When the frame shrinks (as timber does) the window will move downwards as it is fitted to the timber frame. The stone sill sits on top of the brickwork that sits on masonry construction which does not shrink. Therefore when the frame goes downwards the plastic sill which is sitting on the stone cill stays where it is and twists as the rest of the window moves downwards with the timber frame.
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Beware of Wimpey 
as you can imagine I have a very long list of problems and little help from wimpey. I've put together a website detailing the issues we've had.
Beware of wrong snagging 
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