Taylor Wimpey Lies and Cheats

[bulleyman]

Wimpey came up with several reasons why my house was not completed ...The first was electrical supply problems then labour and material shortages lastly an existing  gas main suddenly was unearthed in my garden....funny that I took photos over 3 months ago  which clearly shows the same gas pipe ..its a great shame but  I feel very decieved .....any comments or advice on where I go from here will be welcome

[New Home Expert]

As I said on the "other" forum, this could be quite complicated legally as there are usually easements which may allow the gas main on your property.

It may also need to be relocated so other homes can be built over land where it currently runs.
Getting utilities to do anything out of the ordinary can take forever.
With every stage from getting a price, quote, payment and then anything from 6 to 10 weeks before they even start!

Taylor Wimpey have a duty under the Consumer Code for Home Builders to keep you informed of anything likely to delay completion and give accurate and realistic completion dates. It would seem they have breached these requirements and may have a case fore a claim.
Click on the above link and follow page links to find out more.  If you were not given a copy of the Code, that is a breach of requirement 1.2 for a start!

Labour and material shortages should have been allowed for when the completion date was programmed and given to you. It is hardly new or unexpected! 
How is it that a proper construction company can build something like The Shard in London and hand it over not just on time, but in some cases early, yet a large house builder often cannot build a house in 16 weeks.
Likewise the electricity connection and meters. 
True they want notice as I said earlier but a good site manager would plan for the connection and meter installation weeks, if not months in advance.

[bulleyman]

Thank you for your reply, its obvious that Taylor Wimpey have little or no systems in place to keep their customers informed , there is no dedicated customer service personnel  to give accurate information or for that matter, any information!

the only information I got was that I am on a 2 week completion notice....THANKS A LOT!!
Regular email updates would be a nice idea including possible problems that could pose delays later on.
At least then the customer could not claim that he or she  was not aware of something that was mentioned.
The constructors of the Shard would have been under strict financial  penalties for late delivery.
I am sure the shareholders of Taylor Wimpey are quite happy they lost out in the bidding stage for that particular project .

[New Home Expert]

Taylor Wimpey only build residential they are not main building contractors. 
Long gone are the days of Taylor Woodrow - the world's largest construction company - building things like the channel tunnel.  Now they just build little brick boxes badly!

They wouldn't have got near something like The Shard.  If they were the developers, they would have to get a proper contractor in to build it for them! 
True MACE would have been on a financial penalty for late completion of the project, but within general construction, handing over a project late is akin to a surgeon killing his patient.  It's just not the done thing.  Everyone would work seven days a week 24 hours a day, money no object to finish on time.  One contractor even has as its slogan:  "On time - everytime"

You just can't see the likes of Taylor Wonkey or Persimmon having such pride and passion for what they do.

[bulleyman]

Agreed , but surely the passion and pride  starts from the top and works down through the many tiers of management, systems and controls need to be  in place and monitored.
A central customer care centre has to be set up so problems are not hidden away by individual site managers when it suits them. It will also enable  information to be relayed in a proper manner by professionals trained for the job.
It might even prove to be a selling opportunity, build up a good relationship with your client and gain their trust  and you might be able to sell house insurance, get leads for a curtain company, price an add-on conservatory etc etc.... who knows ?

Maybe what we see here is the result of a tired and ineffective higher management who conduct their business in ivory towers .

This aint no "Rocket Science", building a rocket  to go to the moon IS  "Rocket Science "

[New Home Expert]

You are so right.  
The problems do all stem from the men who are running the large plc house builders, most of these are CEOs are not fit for purpose  
You only have to loom at the denials and PR here from   CEO Peter Redfern  
He was on the BBC news the other day and he didn't even wear a tie!  That tells you a lot.
There is no passion, no will to improve quality of new homes built in Britain.
The politicians are too busy pandering to every house builder whinge be it planning, land, tax, interest rates etc.  to force them to build new homes to statutory minimum space standards with good-sized windows.  
They could set up an Ombudsman for new home buyers but won't.

Conrad Hilton [I think] once said "all you need for a successful business was a great product and  satisfied customers."
House builders will never learn and won't have to, all the time people get sucked into the lies this industry spouts about their quality and service.