Persimmon Homes & Man holes

[Dai82]

I am about to purchase a new Persimmon home & am very unhappy.

When i purchased the house i was told that there where man holes at the front of the house but not specifically where.

Outside our house is a man hole right outside the front door. It is positioned on our small path leading up to the door but not central. It is half on and half off, which means it hangs off the edge of the path. Our path is approx 1ft - 1 1/2ft high which means the man hole is also that height. Surely this should of been picked up on the plans?! It looks awful.

Our house is the only house on the site to have this. The site manager said it is very unlikely to be moved.

Can anyone tell me if there is anything that can be done to move it?

Thanks

[willyj]

Hi
I believe you therefore have a manhole the edge of which is exposed in the garden.
This is unacceptable and displays a lack of basic quality control on behalf of the builder. The drains would have been installed at the substructure stage of the build process when the ground would have been bare earth. However it is basic good practice to position manholes with regard to the location of future paved areas, whether you are trying to avoid them or centralise a cover within them.
You should inform the Site Manager that the manhole contravenes NHBC standards.
NHBC Standards Chapter 5.3 S2 deals with preliminary work and specifically states that the builder should check that external finish levels are specified on the design.
Chapter 5.3 S6 (a) Access points should not cross boundaries or kerb lines.
(b)manholes should be constructed or installed at the correct level so that the covers will align with the adjacent ground.
If the house has been finalled by NHBC take your complaint to them as their inspector was wrong to accept this detail.

[Dai82]

Thank you for your reply.

Since posting my problem yesterday, I have spoken to a build director at the Head Office. He visited the site today and had a look at the manhole. He then spoke to the ground workers telling them that it is unacceptable.
He has ensured me that it will be sorted at the beginning of next week. However, if I am still unhappy with the changes, I will be taking your advice and pursue the matter further.

Thank you again.

Regards

Dai

[gillybob]

Hi Everyone

We had a man hole positioned directly outside our patio doors. It looked awful and restricted the use of our outside space. We approached Persimmon and they (eventually) agreed to have it moved but only at our cost. After a long drawn out battle we had to pay up and the man hole was moved slightly to the left.
You would think that someone would actually look at the positioning of these things before they went ahead. But hey, this is Persimmon we are talking about here!

Hope you manage to get sorted.