Myself and my partner purchased a property in March 2023. Unfortunately, our builder isn't signed up to the New Homes Ombudsman Service. Only to the 'Consumer Code' - which I'm fairly certain they've breached in more than one instance.
Initially there was some issues around the bath and the overflow connected to the bath, as it wasn't attached properly and therefore was too risky to use. This took them a few weeks to sort. Despite raising it with the on-site team after a week of noticing it, it took until a spontaneous survey from site management which must have went back directly to someone at a higher level who intervened and got an on-call plumber almost instantaneously the same day.
Once resolved, for roughly a month or so we had full use of the bath and shower in the main bathroom. There was some snags around the shower-screen not being squared between the two walls (shower screen was at a slight angle etc) and the bath being out of level which then created subsequent problems. We found contractors would appear, do half a repair and then find a reason as to why they weren't able to complete the works. We had a bath and shower which were un-usable for roughly a month before I eventually logged a formal complaint. Initially, this got some traction from the same individual who got the on-call plumber, they came around with laser levels to check the bath and the tiling. They started to repair some aspects and the site manager was given a deadline.
Unfortunately, the site manager couldn't achieve the deadline set by his manager and subsequently a plumbers attempt to 'rush' the repairs damaged our flooring (which we self funded), the shower screen and tiling. The shower screen was re-instated by the plumber who damaged our flooring but never sealed, so we couldn't ever use it. I then submitted a follow up to the complaint, as they hadn't followed their own complaint policy of providing a final response/written response within a few weeks of a complaint being raised.
I gave them plenty of time to respond to the complaint. Roughly 3 months passed by with the shower being in position, albeit unusable due to no silicone sealant. Finally, having had enough - I complained to the NHBC in August, who asked for a final response (which I was never provided with) and they subsequently intervened to write to the builder on my behalf requesting they complete the works properly. The NHBC highlighted as the floor wasn't fitted by the builder, they're unable to assist with that aspect of the matter and I would need to seek payment separately.
A common pattern I recognise whenever Storey Homes get told to do something, they seemingly act interested and make an attempt to start the works but then subsequently stop. They removed the shower screen, its has been out of place again for 1 & 1/2 months. They attempted a tile repair, their tiler made a bodge and then tried to mask the damage by filling it with grout (presumably as it was too much effort to remove the tiles without a plumber to remove the shower fixings). The tiler wasn't able to complete the works he started anyway, leaving us with tiles missing on the walls because there wasn't a plasterer on site. I flagged I wasn't happy with the attempt to disguise damaged tiles and made multiple calls to aftercare chasing this up. To this date, we're still no further forward and they don't really reply. On phone calls they insist they'll speak to the site manager and get it sorted but 3 weeks of phone calls has resulted in no resolution.
I've since contacted the NHBC again to ask how long is a 'reasonable' set of time for these repair to be undertaken. I've also sought some legal advise which verified this is highly likely a "breach of contract" as the property wasn't provided in a reasonable condition. I genuinely can't see any other option beyond a small claims procedure to recover the flooring cost, disruption costs amongst the potential cost to repair the shower properly?
Any advice would be greatly received.
