New build gardens

nem39esis · 31st March 2010, 10:57

I recently bought a new build house from Bellway at the Castell Maen development in Caerphilly. Luckilly for me they turfed the garden, well, turns out they didnt do a very good job of that, gaps dips raised areas, it was pretty poor job.

I wrote to Bellway several times complaining about it but got no response. During the summer last year i decided to build some decking at the bottom of the garden, Took me forever as each time i dug a hole for a post id hit some huge rock or find some wire or something else that shouldnt have been there. At one point i got so fed up trying to dig out this huge stone anout 50 x 50 cm square i called the site manager in, he moaned a bit but eventually agreed to send some people in to dig it out. The next day him and one operative where there swearing for 2 hours as they worked in shirts n tie trying to get it out. Excellent.

Today i had the site manager around again. Ive recently been digging up my borders and finding all sorts of junk, not to mention that there seams to be no topsoil under the turf at all, just heavy clay which was a nightmare when it rained as you couldnt walk in the garden for days. Surprisingly the site manager agreed with me and even said that there should have been 200mm of topsoil (100mm more than what i was expecting) he agreed to take away all the soil id dug out and deliver some nice topsoil for the beds, he aslo said he would talk to head office about the rest of the lawn as its not up to standard.

Just goes to show that armed with a little research you can get them to sort things out. This is Bellway mind which might be better than others and yes, ill hold my breath on the rest of the garden, but rules are rules and they are there to be followed. If its not done to spec get them in until its done right, maybe then new build gardens will start to become more important to a developer and we can all not have to worry about it

CoolBeanz · 16th April 2010, 14:24

When I moved into my house, I wanted a blank canvas as a project for me to do. I said to them can you just leave it blank with a pile of top soil and I'll do the rest. However, the house has to be finished to pass the CML. I got them to add some shingle in one place instead of soil (easier to dig out which I wanted).

Now I find I've got to dig down two foot to find a solid base for the edge of my patio. I'm also using the shingle to put a border in which is also a drain.

In a way I wished I decided what I wanted, and paid the groundsman extra to do it - Now I need to dig up soil, move unwanted paving which is a dam lot harder than starting from scratch. I did find some rubbish, which was mainly the builders lunch by the looks of it!

clared112 · 19th April 2010, 08:34

Is it possible that the builders burying their rubbish in the gardens of the properties they are building is against their waste management plan..? I think so. AND Is their waste management plan not a legal document..? oh dear!

CoolBeanz · 21st April 2010, 09:30

Yep, you're right. My previous house, a Victorian terraced, had so much builders rubbish in the garden it was a joke (from when it was built). No wonder the grass never grew.

clared112 · 21st April 2010, 09:40

Have you been to the local authorities? the waste management plan is a legal document and, i would have thought, is required as a condition of the planning permission.

nem39esis · 22nd April 2010, 14:28

Ive had the site manager around a couple of weeks back, i was expecting a hard conversation, he took one look at what id dug out along the border and just said, that theres no topsoil and that there shouldve been 200mm topsoil and that the turf has just been laid straight onto subsoil which is heavy clay. He did offer to take away the clay id dug out, but it was down to me to fill the big sacks and leave at the end of my garden for the cherry picker to hoist away, needless to say a few shoval fulls and the bags cant be moved, so never happend. Its all he could authorise at the time.

I contacted bellway about it and the contracts manager is visiting tomorrow morning, i expect him to say theyll come in dig it all oout and redo it. What else can they do? Im not the only one it appears, neighbours is jsut as bad and guy up the road is furious at the amount of money hes spent on his garden. Im determined not to have to spend any money myself rectifying their mess. LEts seee what they say tomorrow!

nem39esis · 22nd April 2010, 14:32

Regarding the waste, i reckon theyd get away with a bit of rubbish and just say it was accidental, but ill check that out, ive found quite a lot of stuff, wire, plastic sheeting, scaffold planks, silicon sealent tubes, bottles, concrete etc, more than i would expect in the top 300mm. So far in the area i have dug out down to 300mm the water thats colected there has been there for around 2 weeks now, just doesnt drain away, not very good

nem39esis · 18th May 2010, 16:38

an update.

Well the contracts manager decided that i wasnt important enough to call and tell me he wouldnt bother coming round. When i spoke to bellway they said that he wasnt going to come round and that he would pop his head over the fence (middle terrace with 2m wall behind) and have a look. Annoyed me as id been waiting for an hour, anyway i call around a week later to enquire about the desision, to my surprise and annoyance the response was that he thinks theres lots of topsoil and that the grass is still growing so they have decided not to do anything about it. Im furious about that response, it doesnt even address the problems just ignores everything with a "i dont give a damn" attitude. So i call the NHBC who decide to start the resolution service. They sent a letter to Bellway asking for explanations as tot he lack of topsoil and the rubbish in the garden. They had 10 days to reply. To which surprise surprise they didnt bother. Ive now called the NHBC again and am now getting a visit from a claims investigator, only annoying thing is that due to his holidays over half term the earliest appointment is the 21st of June! Not great as this has been ongoing for months and looks like my summer garden will be a no show.

Any ideas? Should i call Bellway to ask why they havent bothered replying to the NHBC letter or just let things run its course? Thing is i want to have a garden to use this year and not wait untill september for grass to grow back after they redo the lot