Not quite 100% perfect I'm afraid.
Yes we have NHBC. That was one of the things that gave us confidence in buying, as we felt they must be an established and credible company.
I just want to say we are 5 weeks into living in the property. It's been a very stressful year with sale and purchase delays, therefore there has been a degree of emotion creeping in. However my objective is not to slate the developer but to provide objective feedback and advice for others considering going down the same path.
The overall impression of the property was fantastic. Architect designed and quality fittings e.g.
red cedar garage door, galvanised metal guttering. Internally, a Mackintosh kitchen with good quality appliances, lovely bathrooms and tiling. Also they use a farrow and ball colour on walls and woodwork, albeit with trade paint from Johnsons, rather than magnolia. We have a lovely big open plan kitchen diner and underfloor heating downstairs. So that is all the good stuff.
Where we have been let down is in the checking and finishing - The snagging.
The site managers are directly employed and they employ carpenters and a groundworker to our knowledge. All the rest they use sub- contractors for in the main. They all seem like good, competent people when you meet them, but there is a lack of oversight and basic checks.
This is some of our problems, not complete, but has included:
1. Groundworks/drainage not properly connected so there was backfilling when our new washing machine installed, causing an under sink leak.
2. The heating cylinder pressure not set correctly so sounded like a helicopter hovering overhead, our first night in the property. Also the emergency plumber number we were given didn't respond to our text until the next morning so we had no idea if it was a serious issue.
3. Extreme condensation under kitchen sink and copper pipes forming pools of water, subsequently been lagged.
4. Leak in cloakroom and ensuite basin units and identified u- bend not connected properly in cloakroom. MD and foreman tested all basins and sinks following this by filling and checking, but surely this is basic plumbing practice to test joints on installation?
5. Dining area roof is a sloping extension roof with 2 x Velux and twice had damp patches appearing on plasterboard ceiling as well as condensation runs of water down either side of veluxes down the ceiling and side walls. We identified fine cracks in plasterboard before leaks and pointed out to MD and foreman when checking other leaks. Roof tiles and flashing stripped back twice and identified that there was a gap in insulation allowing condensation to form under flashing and run down internally through plasterboard ceiling. 2nd occasion identified hole in insulation made by electrician fixing wiring. Now seems to be resolved but needs redecoration.
6. The water softener provided, when we queried with plumber who installed, site foreman and MD, we were advised it just needed salt to operate. The user guide left was really an installation guide and never having had a softener asked a local specialist company to check out. It turned out it was not connected to a power supply as required, and the drainage was flowing out a pipe onto the patio outside, which apparently does not meet building regs and can cause corrosion of brickwork and foundations over time, as well as being an environmental issue.
7. The internal telephony wiring was not connected to the BT master socket and then when connected BT found 162,000 errors causing interference, so we had to have master socket moved at our expense, from the airing cupboard with no power source, to the living room so we could get our broadband to work. There was also some minor snagging with wiring covers and a phone socket not being live.
I'm not going to go into all the usual snagging items that we had, such as garage trim under coated but not top-coated. The loose toilet seat (that was picked up by MD on pre-inspection but not resolved) with a big blue ribbon around it. So someone knew it was loose but put a bow round it? The ensuite shower leak and so in.
What I will say, is that as soon as we raised these issues they responded very quickly to resolve for us, so that is a huge plus. The site foreman and Customer Service Manager have been very pleasant, apologetic and done their best for us in our opinion. They keep telling us they're embarrassed about all the issues, but it doesn't really help after the event. We think virtually no snagging took place, other than visual and there was a reliance that the trades had done their jobs properly.
The MD as well in the beginnning was responsive, but lacks the communication skills of his team, is very defensive and our repetitive issues and complaints have resulted in him sending very long stroppy emails, and now only dealing with us through his managers, when a friendly visit or phone call to resolve informally would have made a big difference. He stated he'd visited to discuss one issue, when in fact he came onto our property without introducing himself, made a sarcastic comment to my partner and left.
Our most recent dispute is regarding the driveway gates, which are sawn wood not finished, give you splinters, look rough, are not aligned properly with a 10mm gap, and now have one gate sitting proud of the other making them difficult to close. We were advised they would settle, but as we had requested in writing as part of our offer on the property that the gates be dressed timber and this was accepted by the agent, we are disappointed.
The latest is they have agreed to change, but will not do any remedial work if they need adjustment etc. in future as they don't recommend dressed timber. They also won't provide them to match garage in red cedar as expensive, even though we offered initially to pay difference as upgrade.
So that is a brief overview of our experience so far.
I would recommend anyone considering a similar purchase to thoroughly snag the property professionally, to avoid the stress and heartache we have had.
I'll report if there are any new developments.