Buying a new home will be the biggest financial outlay that most of us will ever make, therefore you want to be sure that your investment is sound. The builder/developer has a liability for building defects for two years after you purchase a newly built property, the warranty provider only covers "structural defects" from years 3 - 10, they do not cover the smaller & more prevalent defects, therefore it is important that all the defects are rectified prior to the two year builders liability period expiring.
We are not in the business of scare mongering in order to generate business, what we are is genuinely concerned with build quality and the fact that the general public are being taken for granted and are not getting value for money when they purchase a defective new property.
Consideration should be given to the fact that 9 out of 10 new homes are inspected and passed by the National House Building Council (NHBC) but yet the average home still has 80 defects and that NHBC and Zurich warranties are basically insurance policies that are held in your builders/developers name, not yours! Even though the warranty provider will carry out a final inspection of your property before you take possession they are not overly interested in the general quality of your home, just their long term insurance risk.
Before you make legal completion on your new home the developer will probably ask you to visit the property and undertake your own inspection, show you how the heating works etc. this is the best time to involve us. Some developers are reluctant in allowing Professional Inspectors to visit the property on your behalf, if they do prove difficult in allowing this you can, as an interested party, have your legal representative contact them and insist on access being provided. Many of the large national house builders are members of the House Builders Federation and should operate within their Code of Conduct, this Code of Conduct states that "The home builder will co-operate with appropriately qualified professional advisors appointed by the customer to resolve disputes, if they arise. The aim is to make sure that there is co-operation between the home builder and appropriately qualified professional advisors acting for a customer and the home builder, to sort out disputes."
It is imperative that defects are rectified within the builders/developers defects liability period (2 years) and therefore any time within the first 18 months of ownership is recommended.
Our comprehensive snagging list includes over 220 headings (many of which cover more than one aspect related to that particular heading) of the home that we will check for quality, from this comprehensive list we will create an easy to understand snagging list that will provide you with actions that the developer need to undertake to rectify the defect(s).
There are various reasons for these levels of defects, the most common being a national skills shortage, others being fast track building programmes and the employment of sub-contractors rather than labour employed directly by the builder/developer. These are reasons not excuses and whatever the cause you should not be expected to accept anything less that top quality, after all you worked hard for the money to purchase your home and a "quality home" should be exactly what you receive in return for your hard earned cash.Synergy Home Inspectors Limited are totally impartial and have no ties to any developer so you can totally rely on our impartiality. We can visit your property at a time convenient to you (although day-light hours are needed) to carry out a snagging Inspection and will furnish you with a comprehensive list of defects and rate those defects with a level of severity/importance. This list is normally produced within 2 - 3 working days.
We offer a 3 tier inspection service, these services are as follows:
- Inspection and report (Level 1 Inspection)
- Inspection, report and consultation with the Developer/Warranty Provider (Level 2 Inspection)
- Inspection, report, consultation with the Developer/Warranty Provider and post-repair inspection (Level 3 Inspection)
Consultation with the developer will obviously depend on their willingness to participate, you should check with them to ascertain if they are willing before booking an inspection.
A set of plans for the property along with any specifications that you may have would be very helpful in ascertaining compliance, if you have plans etc. they should be made available.Below are quotes made in recent surveys regarding the build quality of new homes and some links to new home “horror” stories that have been in the media over the past few years:
Quote made by Market and Opinion Research International (MORI).
This quote was made in a report compiled by Market and Opinion Research International (MORI) 2000 - "81% reported housing defects and snags with their home and 48% of whom claimed that there were more defects than they would have expected"
Actual figures are probably slightly higher than quoted due to the normal house purchaser not having the necessary training or skills to locate the more illusive problems in their homes.
Quote made by the National Customer Satisfaction Survey.
This statement made during a report compiled by the National Customer Satisfaction Survey from The Housing Forum in 2003 - "Experience of defects and/or snags in the home has increased (90% compared with 84% in 2001 and 81% in 2000). However, satisfaction with the overall service provided in dealing with these problems remains positive (51% satisfied), and only slightly lower than previously (53% versus 54% in 2000)."
Actual figures are probably slightly higher than quoted due to the normal house purchaser not having the necessary training or skills to locate the more illusive problems in their homes.
Check our Snagging Stories for news articles regarding poor quality new homes.
IMPORTANT. A snagging Inspection is not a Structural/Building Survey and is to be used for the purpose of snagging only, if major structural problems are found we will recommend a suitable course of action.
Mobile: 07956570934
Email: info@synergyhomeinspectors.co.uk
