David Wilson Homes appalling finish, customer care and management

New Build Inspections
We sold our 4-bed Persimmon Home to buy a 4-bed David Wilson Home four months ago believing that the finish and quality would be superior.

However we have so far discovered 3x the amount of snags in each room.

The way in which Persimmon Homes dealt with each snag and defect was professional and prompt; however David Wilson Homes try to tire us out going round in circles and push us to drop items from our list.

When discussing one item in particular we were told that if David Wilson Homes dealt with the issue then they would not deal with any more matters after that. That was two months into our 2-year warranty.

On two occasions we were told that if a snag were to be dealt with then we would not be able to report that issue again and would need to sign a disclaimer to that effect.

One of those snags related to the window handles which we were barely able to operate. When the window installers attended they did say to contact David Wilson Homes anytime should the problem arise again and that none of the handles had been correctly fitted.

Following our stage one complaint, and waiting three weeks to meet with David Wilson Homes to discuss, their Contracts Manager did not show up to our appointment yesterday. No one at David Wilson Homes called to advise us that they would not be attending.

When we tried to reach the Customer Service Team Leader we received the following out-of-office message 'I am currently on annual leave and will return on <date>'.

As David Wilson Homes had even failed to manage their stage one complaints process we then followed procedure and emailed in order to escalate to their stage two. We promptly received a call back accusing us of not having confirmed the appointment in time.

This is the email that we received from the Customer Service Team Leader Sep 5 one week ago: 'Thank you for coming back to me. I have booked for the 15th at 11am.'

Since our formal complaint nearly one month ago, remedial work has come to a stop. Customer care no longer respond to emails and Site has stopped visiting us (which is not so bad).

We have now taken to Twitter to tweet photographs of snags so that others can see the very poor workmanship and low standard of finish on our David Wilson Homes plot:

Our username is mydwhometoo

I realise that there are much worse David Wilson Homes out there. A full website will follow with more details of how David Wilson Homes have failed us, but also to act as a place for others to have a voice and vent their frustration whether about David Wilson Homes or other Builder.

In summary, here are some of the issues that we have encountered to date after buying a 4 bed detached from David Wilson Homes:

– Damaged and stained UPVC frames
– Warped kitchen units
– Damaged kitchen units
– Units unfinished
– Scratched windows
– Electrical sockets hanging off walls
– Some electrics not working
– Carpets stained and house not cleaned prior to completion
– Windows and mastic deeply stained
– Ceramic tiles stained
– Most internal doors not closing
– Most window handles difficult operate
– One month for carbon monoxide alarm to arrive
– Missing canopy, finally installed then damaged
– Leaky guttering
– Some radiators not working
– Section of banister not attached
– Insulation missing in at least one WC wall cavity
– Chipboard floor boards not fully t&g'd, and ridges between boards
– Trade damaged planting, discarding litter in garden, urinating against wall
– Trade damaged kitchen ceramic floor tiles and amtico tiles
– Doors unevenly shaved
– Plugs not stopping water in bathroom
– Noisy water pipes throughout house
– Section of turf dead on completion
– Leaking shower
– Leaking water butt
– Radiators not level
– Insect infestation
– Mould in kitchen cupboards
– Ground level higher than damp course
– Creaking floors
– Mismatched ceiling paint


An incident days before completion led to a good will gesture agreed in writing by David Wilson Homes to enhance our front garden with 12 shrubs. Four months on and we finally have an explanation as to why this never happened: '…the property next door was currently unsold, so I asked the landscapers to also enhance the frontage of the plot.'

In fact, the majority of the shrubs went next door to the empty house. Some good will gesture.

It made me feel sick to read online the Exeter Daily's article 24/06/16 by Mary Youlden that our site manager is 'no stranger to the Pride in the Job awards having been recognised for his work in previous years'. Specifically he denied a meeting which took place with us in which we looked at and discussed plans regarding our plot. These plans disappeared only to turn up some weeks later and David Wilson Homes then had to carry out the relevant alterations.

These are just a couple of examples of the utter incompetency and lies we have had to deal with so far.
 
I am following you on Twitter and have retweeted a few of your tweets...

Thank you.

We will contact David Wilson Homes again tomorrow to ask them to schedule another appointment to discuss our complaint.

In the meantime, we will also continue to post photographs to Twitter and update with whether David Wilson Homes have dealt with any of our 31 outstanding snags.
 
Just wanted to post an update as it has been almost two months since my original post.

A few weeks ago the Site Manager went through the issues with us and only disputed one item: in the plot plans which we recently went through again with Sales, in identical neighbour's plots (identical house types), and in the show home, there is a radiator behind the entrance door. In our plot this has been put in an awkward position in the hallway. It's a minor detail but means that the only piece of hallway furniture we have from our last home cannot fit and is still in the garage.

The Site Manager produced new plans showing this change so we will have to pay for it to be moved and means more holes in walls and ceilings. The original hallway was one of the features that made us decide to pick this house type.

A post on this forum has me concerned now about the excessive banding we have at the side of property:


"So they don't look at the walls before then?
Disgraceful.
There are many CAUSES which should alarm you!
These include mortar mix variation, lighter colour means less cement, means weaker walls!
It looks like you have coloured mortar which they ran out of and carried on anyway with the block mortar (which may have been a different mix)
(this would also show how little they CARE about the quality of what they are building)
Frost or water damage (weaker wall!)

Tinting is a bodge and may not last. The right course of action is to re erect the scaffolding and rake out the lighter joints and re point with the right mortar!"


As of the 27th Nov we had the 53 snags / defects below. David Wilson Homes has also recently excavated a trench along the side of our propety because the majority of groundwork surrounding us is at dpc rather than 150mm's below. The trench is unusable and will turn into a moat when it rains heavily.

Outstanding issues:

Exterior
– Planting missing
– Front garden ground level higher than damp course
– Damaged UPVC frame
– Mastic missing around window
– Red stained UPVC
– Mastic stained on all windows
– Excessive chipped brickwork (greater than 15mm in diameter)
– Excessive colour banding
– Loose patio slabs

Hallway
– Front door difficult to close
– Door threshold/bar between hallway and kitchen at angle
– Floor level drop
– Mastic poorly finished
– Two Amtico tiles damaged by trade

Cloak / Under stairs
– Door under stairs resistant to close and 5mm+ gap between door and head / jamb

Sitting Room
– Painter decorator to patch hole cut from ceiling and finish once pipe work is resolved
– Door 6mm+ gap between door and head / jamb
– Door irregularly shaved
– Excessive pipe noise in ceiling when using hot water

Kitchen
– Mastic missing in some areas
– Cooker hood and splash-back not fitted level, and not centred between wall cupboards
– Ceramic damaged by trade
– Cupboard mould in two wall units (NHBC will now be instructing David Wilson Homes to remove the cupboards so that the wall can be inspected, and also inspect for external wall insulation)
– Under units not sealed from exterior re. beetle infestation
– Large holes in plasterboard around electric cabling above units
– Irregularly cut plinths
– Damage to filler panel
– General damage to units
– Under-unit heater not working

Utility Room
– Door frame trim poorly finished, nail exposed and paint splatter on stone worktop
– Finish under sink: exposed plasterboard and large hole

Staircase
– Newel caps not fitted
– Squeaky step

Landing
– Airing cupboard door shaved at angle 11mm+
– Attic hatch damaged
– Pendant light bulb almost touches open door (no way to add a light shade)

Attic
– Electric cable hanging over hatch
– Patchy insulation (can see plasterboard ceiling and thermal breaches below) and rubbish left in attic
– Gable and ladder build: mortar missing in various; cracked block; restraining strap on one side of roof not running through to other side of blocks

Bathroom
– Shower grout cracking vertical and horizontally bottom row
– Over use of mastic around bath and bath panel not correctly fitted
– Creaking floor/side of bath

Bed 4
– Door 6mm+ gap between door and head/ jamb
– 2x thermal breaches in ceiling

Bed 3
– Radiator not visually level (and other radiators)
– 2x thermal breaches in ceiling

Bed 2
– Hinge blown and door not closing well

Bed 1
– Fitted cupboard handle razor sharp defect on lower side; some doors not level, and side panel gaps top and bottom
– 3x thermal breaches in ceiling

Ensuite
– Ceramic tiles on window ledge not reaching window frame
– Door opening wrong way and blocking entire en-suite - should open into Bed 1 as per plot plans
 

Nick9s

New Member
Hi,
We share your experience with David Wilson Homes. Terrilble customer service and manageent. We have escalated our issues to the regional MD through the comlaints procedure - that took 5 moths as they ignore the terms and timescales of their own procedure. Unfortunately, senior management tend to show nothing but contempt with an attitude that is nothing like you will have ever experienced. All our neighbours have had problems with them and yet they still manage to engineer industry awards for excellence and 5* homebuider plastered all over their sites .... in many cases the reality is the wost buying experience many people have ever had.
They ignored a major design fault to the roof for almost a year (no doubt waiting for the 2 year warranty to expire) so we reported it to the NHBC. They were brilliant and within a week issued a comprehensive report and demand that DWH rectify the issue. David Wilson Homes ignored them too and it's now been escalated through NHBC management.
We would like to share the report and photos as we believe this is likely to be a common design issue with the drip boxes and dry verges in the roof which may cause long term damage to the fabric of the building. The NHBC report is clear!!! Does anyone know how I can post it on here so you can check your own home. This could be very expensive to rectify.
 

Fenman48

New Member
David Wilson Homes

I am spending this morning going through over 2 years correspondence with the Bristol branch before we move to court. This company is unbelievable in that they are technically weak, management is incompetent and their complaints procedure is not fit for purpose. Try asking for a meeting with senior management or even a copy of their complaints procedure. The only award I would give them is a picture of their offices on Watchdogs rouge traders.

My advice is simple do not buy of them. Go on social media and tell your friends not to buy of them. Tell them to tell their friends not to buy of them. If we all tell 5 friends and they in turn tell 5 friends we will in the end have no more quality issues with David Wilson Homes.
 

NewHomeExpert

Well-Known Member
If you think Barratt David Wilson are bad you should be thankful you didn't buy Persimmon or Bovis or Taylor Wimpey for that matter.
Write to the CEO David Thomas would be my advice.
Then write to the press! Poor quality new homes is a hot topic at the moment.
 

howy1

New Member
Hi Nick9s , is you roof what they call a dry roof ( no cement fillets) and is the rain water running down the side of your house ! i have had a problem with mine and my house is rendered so it shows up , do you know the name of the company that supplys these roofs .
Regards
Howy .
 
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