Advice on buying a brand new home > House Builders

Ingram Homes - Norwich

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New Home Expert:
Finishing foreman or assistant site managers still work under the site manager.
The site manager should still be going into every home under construction once a day regardless of what stage it is at. It is his site!

It sounds like this is someone who just bodges up and does a bit of snagging himself rather than "manage" and get the trades to come back and do it.

New build survivor:
Yes you're right about site manager. We actually thought the finishing foreman was in charge as site manager keeps a low profile.
We were told by finishing foreman that MD preferred for issues to be resolved in house- obviously cheaper. The problem is the work he has done himself with a couple of exceptions seems to be a bodge. We still have huge stripes down our dining area ceiling as we don't want him back to redecorate after using woodwork paint as a primer and we need to wait for onsite decorator.

We have had the tradesman who fitted gates back and he has admitted they aren't up to coping with our exposed situation. He is making new gates with a recess close so the gates overlap and we don't have a gap and also more secure bolts and fittings as they are getting battered by storms. We did say they weren't fit for purpose and were treated with contempt but this has proved to be true.

Re your comments about management. The MD is on site most days to our knowledge now, so perhaps is taking over that supervisory role.
We still have 7 outstanding issues 9 weeks in, but hoping we can get these addressed and be left in peace in our new home.

New Home Expert:
If the MD feels he needs to be on site everyday, there must be lots of problems and issues on the site.
Perhaps the site manager has now left?

New build survivor:
No. It's only a small site and no one has left to my knowledge.
To correct an earlier comment, the site manager is a really good guy but focussed on the building side, and I've said before I think there has just been assumption everyone is doing a thorough job and also being the first of a new design has had some other teething issues. I think genuinely the MD wants to be hands-on as he said it has been stressful for him too and there are a few more properties sold now, so perhaps there is pressure now to meet deadlines etc. And it always helps to keep everyone motivated when the boss is working alongside you.

It's actually good to see and think the people buying the houses after us are not going to have half the issues we have had. Just wish there'd been a bit more oversight so we could have avoided some of them. Thankfully our issues haven't been catastrophic, but have been stressful and absorbed a lot of our time, and it's horrible when your living space is a mess, particularly when visitors come to see our new house and we have to start explaining why we have runs/stripes down our ceiling and wall.

Feel now that I'm going over old ground and there is not much more I can usefully share to help anyone else. We're getting there! Probably come spring we'll be in a completely different mindset and loving being here.

The only other comment is if anyone in Norwich is now looking for a semi that is a bargain - the prices have just dropped. The asking price is £25,000 less than when we were looking last summer with a garage, and £40,000 less without a garage! Bit of a sickener for us as we paid premium price with multiple snags, but the semis seem to be slow selling and two now sold on back of price drop we think. Anyone buying now will probably get a really well snagged house after us as guinea pigs. Had we have known we would be paying so much more than anyone else we'd have been tougher on the snagging list. Got scratches on patio door and door handles etc. That haven't flagged, but for that price differential it should have been perfect.

Not going to post again on this topic, unless I think there is anything significant worth sharing or I'm still looking at stripey ceiling :)

New build survivor:
Well, been a while but just wanted to update on where we are with our remedial issues.

Two months on from last update and new gates have been fitted and they are better, but we are still waiting for them to be aligned as they are sticking and for plates and screws to be fitted and adjusted.
I can't understand that the guys who do this are constantly on site but can't take an hour or so to finish it off, it’s very frustrating. We've been promised it will be this week.

We had our ceiling painted 4-5 weeks ago but immediately noticed fresh condensation runs when we had the really cold weather in January. Not been so bad recently but we have stains again. MD has  checked out and there are no issues with external roof insulation but may be gap in drylining with velux. Not sure where we go from here as can't face more mess and disruption internally. Has been suggested there needs to be cutting into the boards around velux to check if there are gaps, but it will be messy and we are still unable to put TV on wall and do the things we want to until this is resolved.
Can't believe we have been here 4 months now.

Now the light is improving we are realising how poor the paintwork is. Sections of woodwork seem not to be top coated or have a very flat finish which differs from other woodwork. Window frames with multiple rust spots, which we understand is down to being painted when too humid.
Haven't flagged these as snags as just trying to get our more important issues finally resolved.
Just want to get to end of our list and finally be settled!

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