External Rendering - Water Staining + others

mearnswood · 8th April 2009, 23:16

We are in the process of settling the purchase of a Scotia home at their Langtoun malting's development in Kirkcaldy in Fife Scotia Homes and we have had a list of snagging the length of your arm. We have had 3 visits now to the house with the site agent (worthless) the salesman, and latterly the sales director for Scotia Homes to point out defects in the house and garden.

The reason we have been given is that they cannot get suitable craftsman in the area - unbelievable for a builder who is NHBC registered to make such a statement.

I have a couple of questions if you can assist with your thoughts on the matter :

1. The specification we bought the house against stated that the drive would be Loc-bloc : the actual drive is approx 3ft of loc-bloc and the rest chips - where do I stand with that ? They did not tell us the spec had changed or notified us that chips were going to used. They are now stating via their lawyer that they agreed this change with planning and they will not be making any changes to the driveway !!

2. The rendering on the outside of the house is a flat render and above the main entrance door to the house there is a canopy (slated) and at one side there is water stains down the wall of the house already light black stains on a white rendering - not good. Their solicitor is now stating that the staining is light and they will monitor it moving forward and if necessary will rectify to NHBC standards - I checked the warranty buildmark cover document they gave us and on page 13 it excludes staining on external finishes - Where do I stand with scotia homes ?

3. Our spec also stated that a garden shed would be included - and it was - it was sited tight up to a wall on the side and back. I stated that it was unacceptable as I would not be able in future to treat the wood as it is only 2" away from a wall and I needed access - sales director said they would look into it and agreed with my comments - Their lawyer has now come back stating that the shed was not included in the spec (but it was) and we were lucky to get the shed so they would not be moving it - where do we stand with this style of customer service ?

We are communicating now through our lawyer to ensure that we have everything covered.

We do not have any confidence in Scotia homes to complete this work and we are now delaying settling with them as they are now being unprofessional about the defects.

appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Cheers

Tony · 27th April 2009, 18:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by mearnswood

1. The specification we bought the house against stated that the drive would be Loc-bloc : the actual drive is approx 3ft of loc-bloc and the rest chips - where do I stand with that ? They did not tell us the spec had changed or notified us that chips were going to used. They are now stating via their lawyer that they agreed this change with planning and they will not be making any changes to the driveway !!

The signed specification is part of the contract. There may be clauses in the contract, that are probably unfair, that would allow the builder to make reasonable substitutions at their descretion.

Quote:

2. The rendering on the outside of the house is a flat render and above the main entrance door to the house there is a canopy (slated) and at one side there is water stains down the wall of the house already light black stains on a white rendering - not good. Their solicitor is now stating that the staining is light and they will monitor it moving forward and if necessary will rectify to NHBC standards - I checked the warranty buildmark cover document they gave us and on page 13 it excludes staining on external finishes - Where do I stand with scotia homes ?

They need to fix it not monitor it. Ask the solicitor and the director if they would be satisfied if it were their home?

Quote:

3. Our spec also stated that a garden shed would be included - and it was - it was sited tight up to a wall on the side and back. I stated that it was unacceptable as I would not be able in future to treat the wood as it is only 2" away from a wall and I needed access - sales director said they would look into it and agreed with my comments - Their lawyer has now come back stating that the shed was not included in the spec (but it was) and we were lucky to get the shed so they would not be moving it - where do we stand with this style of customer service ?

If homes were not excluded from the Supply of Goods and Services Act you could get them on "reasonable care and skill". Unforunately property is excluded. It is not excluded from common law:

See this link:Help/Advice needed please.

Going down the legal route can be expensive, remember you can use the small claim process yourself or claims up to £5000.

Tony

mearnswood · 27th April 2009, 22:50

Hey Tony,

that just about sums it up dealing with these dodgers !!

Appreciate your feedback - just to bring you up to date :

We have now settled with them and have taken ownership of the house - reluctantly-ish !

Most of the points on our snagging list were finally resolved - the staining and localised patchy mortar rendering on the outside are the main points left (excluding the Loc-bloc) oh and the grass which looks like a patchwork quilt (looked like it had been laid by a plumber (nothing against plumbers)), and a few other minor things - we decided to settle.

They did end up moving the shed and made a nice job of doing it (not difficult).

They gave us a date to settle and we had not seen the house or the finished items on the snagging list then we ended up going on holiday for a week then we came back to a letter from their solicitors stating that they are charging us interest for not settling (£267) and they took it !! They also threatened court action - unbelievable for a company to be acting like this especially the way the building industry is currently.

Unfortunately, we have another property on this development due for completion in June 09 - how stupid are we !!

One thing we did ensure that all correspondence was (albeit costing us) routed through our solicitor and as such we have lodged a letter with Scotia Homes with the outstanding points for their Timeous correction/rectification.

Another thing that was highlighted - Scotia homes don't know their own specifications and they certainly (in my opinion) don't know the NHBC Standards !!

I think they are suffering from sub-contracting all the work to contractors for maybe a bit lower price than they should have - as a result they use the excuse that they cant get the quality of tradesmen to complete to the Scotia-Homes standard that they are used to up in Aberdeen. Well maybe if they managed their contractors better, and put the effort into control and inspection they would have happier customers.

I am hearing similar reports for their developments at Carnoustie and Couper Angus - Seems like they cant do a good job with Sub-contractors outside Aberdeenshire without their staff Aberdonians !! Maybe their management need to take a wee look in the mirror !

I will drop you a post once we have it all settled.

Thanks
Mearnswood