Advice on buying a brand new home > General discussion

Meet the Site Manager

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vineetpanicker:
Hello Friends,

We have booked a property at Loddon Park, Woodley by Taylor Wimpey and have our first site visit this Friday. What do you think are the best questions that could be asked of him in the one precious hour that he is gifting us?

Warm Regards,
Vineet

TaylorWimpeyDidThis:
Hi Vineet

Welcome to the forums  :) you will find a wealth of info here, take time to search through the threads and gain plenty from the experience of others.

I've sent you a direct message in response to your email. Suffice to say, you can ask whatever you want but take the response with a pinch of salt. We met our "builder" 3 times - twice with the award winning site manager Richard Crawford and then had a tour of the build with the assistant site manager David Barker, who's no longer on the development. We asked loads of questions and were advised that we were the first buyers to come to a 'meet the builder' appointment with a printed list of questions and several of the questions had never been asked before. We got the distinct impression that the "meet the builder" is a tick box exercise to make the customers feel valued - ultimately our aim was to find out about the site manager's confidence in the build schedule, his teams quality standards and his view on customer care. He said "quality is my top priority, I'm not happy until you are 100% satisfied with your home" - several weeks later he told us that we only needed one day of touching up to be done when we completed - 28 days of work and still counting and having now dealt directly with 13 different sub-contracting companies....it tells a very different story.

If you get a good site manager, with a well-resourced and stable team, with a contracts manager that cares about quality you are probably onto a good start - perhaps you could ask how many are in their team, how long they've been on the development, what the staff turnover is like, what sorts of problems have arisen to date and what actions has the site manager taken to rectify them. Taylor Wimpey do not stipulate that their site teams are experienced builders, and as we have found, with the assistant site managers, they are not all that knowledgeable when it comes to the intricacies of your new home - if they start to squirm at your questions, hesitate to answer or you get any sense they are overly confident, take your money and walk away - if they confidently recount several issues that have been resolved - dig a little deeper and ask who else you can speak to, which residents can you approach to ask about their experiences.....Treat it like a job interview - you are handing over a shed load of cash for this person to project manage the build of your new home and to date you probably know absolutely nothing about them apart from the name of their employer. Forget the nice cosy sales team, it is the site manager that determines how good your house will be - get his mobile number and email address, send him lots of questions about construction methods, frequency of inspections, their relationship with the NHBC inspector, what other sites they've managed, how long they've been in the business, how long they've been with Taylor Wimpey etc etc. Be sure to ask if it is them who will be overseeing / inspecting your plot - it often won't be! So get the name of the assistant who will be and their contact details.

Is there a residents Facebook page or a community group that you can get in touch with to confirm anything the site manager tells you. Alternatively ask the sales team to pass on your details to new residents who have just moved in and others who have been in for a few weeks (this should minimise their chances of cherry picking who they ask) to ask if they'd be happy for you to contact them and get the sales team to get back to you  - make them work harder for their bonus. You could always hang about the sales office on a saturday morning, if there are already a few residents on the estate, chances are they'll be in and out of the sales office over the weekend.

Make sure you get some "sit down" time with the site manager and that it's not all looking around a building site - take notes of the answers they give you and ask if you can make further appointments with them if you decide to go through with the purchase. Take photographs of everything, the site, the build, pipework, drains, timbers, brickwork etc etc.

Above all else, remember that you have not committed in full until you have completed - the site manager's bonus will be affected by your purchase so don't be afraid to remind him that you need to be convinced that he is going to treat the build of your house like it was his own. You may also wish to tell them that you are aware of several issues at nearby Taylor Wimpey sites and what assurances will they give you that you won't have similar experiences....write down their answer

Good luck  :)

New Home Expert:
Quite a few housebuilders have a "meet the site manager" procedure.
It can work well if the site manager is conscientious and cares about his employer's customers.
If he doesn't, it is a tick box exercise and a complete waste of everyone's time.

It is an opportunity for buyers to ask questions like when each stage is to be completed getting realistic answers not PR or a Head office builder's best guess!  You can also discuss minor changes like different paint colours and perhaps even get some small "extras" for free.  
It is certainly a good idea to keep on his side so you can ask for 'favours' once moved in like free materials for DIY projects.

From the builder's/site managers point of view, it is an opportunity to flush out who the awkward buyers are likely to be at the outset.  If resources and time are limited, the site manager will prioritise and concentrate on these buyers first, to hopefully limit the inevitable complaints cause when they move in.

With regard to the "one precious hour he is gifting us"  you should be aware that if he is giving you an hour, he will likely be giving up two, as he will have to ensure he is available, so will be unable to commit his valuable time to anything beforehand.  
He will also, no doubt be expected to fit the "meet and greet" in with buyer, perhaps at lunchtime or after hours - many site managers start on site at 7am and travel for an hour or more each way, each day too.

Be mindful that whilst you may meet a site manger, he may not be the person that manages the build of your home. He may be moved, promoted or more likely leave, long before your house is finished.  You may even meet an agency or relief site manager deputising for the permanent site manager who may be ill or on holiday.

Don't bother asking Taylor Wimpey about existing buyers to contact, just go and knock at a few doors on your development after 10am on a Saturday morning at random. Most people will be happy to recount their experiences.

It is always a good idea to RECORD all conversations with house builder's staff as you cannot trust anyone these days and it is better to have proof just in case of dispute. Most mobile phones can do this.  

Finally read all the information on our main website, not just this forum, before you exchange contracts.

vineetpanicker:
Hi,

I wanted to mention the 'Meet the Site Manager' visit to Taylor Wimpey site at Loddon Park was quite good. The Site Manager was very positive and did the best that he could for an hour. We have our options meeting coming up so looking forward to it. The Options part is going to be very challenging as we are having to pay for most of the stuff.

However, so far so good. I know we only find things once we move in but just thinking positive.

Warm Regards,
Vineet

New Home Expert:
Watch out for the optional extras.  
They are never good value.
It is nearly always cheaper and better to get them done privately after you move in.
See our guide on builders optional extras here

You would also be well advised to have your new home professionally snagged and inspected before you legally complete.
I can recommend Martyn Maxwell at www.Brickkickers.co.uk

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