House supposedley ready for snagging is a disaster

E

Elisabeth

Guest
Hi there,
Bought a house from plan in March this year which was due to be completed in September. We were finally last Thursday that it was ready for snagging. Went in on Saturday with a QS to do the snaglist. QS reckoned he had rarely seen such bad workmanship and there was no point in doing a snag list.
Before he would even consider a snaglist the whole house would need to be re plastered.
Other things that are blatantly obvious even to me (and I haven't got a clue) are that the joints of the walls are visible in every wall in the house, most of the walls are not straight, there is not one plug that's straight, the floors are covered in heaps of concrete and plaster etc etc.
I'm devastated. Will get on to the solicitor this morning to see what he has to say but was wondering if anyone else has been through something similar.
As it stands the QS reckons we'll have a problem selling the house on the way it is. On the other hand I have seen people moving in 3 houses down. Surely their house cannot be in a better state ?
 
Stick to your guns

Don't concern yourself with what other purchasers are doing. Some people don't even do a snag list. Foolhardy but true.

Get your QS to make an "initial snaglist" to cover the major issues, with a footnote that there will be a further list done subsequently. Copy your solicitor with everything.
 
Re: Stick to your guns

On the other hand I have seen people moving in 3 houses down. Surely their house cannot be in a better state ?
Click to expand...
It's quite possibly in no better state. They must just be more desperate to move in no matter what. As stated, don't mind what other people are doing. Concentrate on getting your own house sorted.
 
Thanks Chord of Souls & Sunnyday,

Thanks for that, waiting for the solicitor to call me back.
There is no way I will move into this house until things are sorted.
I'm just devastated that it's in such a bad state. It looks as if nothing has been done right. Some stuff like every joint being visible in the walls, the walls being out (there's a gap about 1 cm wide between the skirting board and the wall on the staircase) cannot be fixed ?

(personal name removed by ajapale)
 
Sorry that you have to face this after waiting so long! If there are such obvious shortcomings with stuff you can see, what gems have been buried out of sight?? Is it at all feasible to walk away from this house/development altogether?
The examples you give should be fixable, but to what standard by these cowboys?
 
Hi Sunnyday,

That's exactly it. I'm not sure what else is going to come up. Fawlty Towers ?? The foreman doesn't give a s.... You can call him till the cows come home and he won't answer his phone. On Saturday he was standing 50m away from us and he wouldn't answer his phone. So I don't expect him to be very cooperative with the QS when he calls him today. Mind he probably won't answer his phone.

Still waiting for my solicitor to call me back - want to hear him out before I go bawling to the estate agent.

(personal name removed by ajapale)
 
Hi there,

Back again same person different name. Looking for some advice.
We have done the 4th inspection of the house on Saturday and I have just sent the 3rd snag list and I am now at the end of my tether.

Main problem are still the walls which are not skimmed and properly plastered meaning you can see every joint in every wall.

The solicitor has informed me today that if he gets involved in the dispute about the snag list he will charge us 140 Euro per hour as this would not be covered by the 2000 Euro initially quoted. He also reckoned that what we would end up paying him would be more than paying for the re plastering of the walls etc. ourselves.

Other issues on the snag list are:
the kitchen window which is also fire escape does not open properly because the canopy is too low
there is no safety valve on the gas fire
there is a hole in the wall in the sitting room where they tried to locate the gas pipe

We could not try out the heating or plumbing yet because the foreman has not had his electrician in to turn it on. The next door neighbor already had a leak in his bathroom so I'm very reluctant to close before I've tried it out.

Am I being unreasonable ??? In my eyes the value of the house will be seriously impacted by the wall issue. However most other people have moved in and by looking at the neighbors house whose walls are as bad as ours I would assume they just let it go ?

thanks
 
Is the house covered by Homebond ? Don't they need to do an inspection to see if everything is OK from a structural point of view ?

Is there a government dept that could be contacted regarding the health & safety issues?

it might be an idea to get a list of everything that has come up .. Some of these will be minor issues that the builder should be able to fix or that you can live with (even if that's not really the way it should work..) and focus on the main issues.. Actually, will the lender even allow the loan to be drawn down if the house has major issues?
Also - contact the law society to find out if the solicitor is obliged to look into this based on their terms of business. Maybe it's accurate that they can charge additional but maybe this should be included .. check any terms of business that you were provided with to see if you can find out about this.
I would think that chasing the estate agent is probably not really worthwhile- they are just advertising the property and I doubt that they would help. Speak directly to the builder and not the foreman if at all possible - don't diss the foreman as it could be a relative but explain that you've found it difficult to contact him and that you've some issues.. Keep calm and good luck for the future.
 
Thanks dubinamerica,

The houses are home-bonded and with that must have been signed off on. The lender also had someone out to do an evaluation and he also didn't see a problem but somehow I think one is looking after the other.
What gets me most though is that they all imply that I'm throwing hussy fits for nothing which is not the case. At this stage I couldn't care less that there are marks on the walls concrete on the marble fireplace etc. We'll be able to fix that ourselves it's mainly the walls. I know nothing about building but I have never in my life seen walls like that you couldn't even hang a picture on them because of the joints that are sticking out.
Anyway solicitor was a wrong choice as well he was recommended here and cheaper than mine so I went for him. Thanks for the advice about the law society will see what they say
I.
 
Irina,

I feel for you in this situation - I've been in similar positions before.

For what it's worth my experience is:

- Estate Agent - Dubinamerica is correct - no use what so ever - they've made the sale which is all they're paid to do

- Homebond - Even more useless; only interested if house is practically falling down, and I think that they can only take action against a builder once ownership has passed to the vendor (I could be completely wrong on this one).

- Lender Surveyor - More than likely a drive-by survey / valuation - probably didn't even look at the correct house

- Solicitor - In my experience most Solicitors quote for conveyancing on the basis of a standard no hassle / no issues transfer of ownership - if the conveyancing starts to eat up time then they will look to charge you for the extra work - In an ideal world all solicitors would make this clear up front but many don't

I know it's incredibly frustrating but you have to try and stick it out - the builder is working on the basis that you will give up sooner than he - ie you'll need a house sooner than he'll need the money.

I also think your solicitor is being overly dismissive when he suggests his / her fees will cost more than the re plaster - Plasterers are expensive enough, but you do need to have these fundamental issues with your house sorted before you sign.

From my limited knowledge of these things in the standard Law Society building contract if there is a dispute over completion of a house between the vendor and the builder then it goes to third party arbitration (I think an independent registered QS agreed by both parties) who will provide a report which both sides have to abide with / follow (I'm a bit shaky on the actual details - you should read the actual contract that you signed for a clearer picture). This will take time and as I said above the builder is hoping you will give in before then.

Sorry for the long post but just to reiterate - don't give in !!

efm
 
ALL builders imply that you are making a fuss over nothing. ALL of them. At least that has been the experiance that I and any of my friends that have bought new houses have had!! They are trying to psyche you out of making a fuss. If at all possible, don't ring people, talk to them directly. If you can get a friend or relative to go with you (just for moral support) all the better. Be persistant, (keep calling to the site) just because you have explained the problem once, doesn't mean anything. Any you won't get everything fixed, but know in your own mind what you are willing to compromise on and what you won't compromise on.

If you are talking to the other owners, you will probably find that each of them was told that they were the only purchasers with a problem and that they were making a fuss over nothing. It seems to be standard...
 
Are there still more houses being sold ?

My friend had a problem with a brand new car, dealer treated him like crap !!!

He took 3 days off work.
He drew up a sign, brought his son with him, and approached every possible customer that entered the courtyard telling them his story. This was the only way he could hurt him.

Needless to say after just 2-3 hours he was called into the dealers office and got what he wanted.

-----------------------------------------------------------

I hate to see this - you're paying hundreds of thousands, you should get a perfect product for this amount of money.

you could do as my friend above did - Stand outside the showhouse on the weekend. Tell people your problems and the hassle you've had with the builder, and make sure the builder know's your doing this.

Hell if you've closed - bring them in and show them the substandard work.

Make enough of a nuicence of yourself !!

Be careful that you don't give him ammo be defamating him, just tell people that you're not happy with his standard of work.

Print up some a4 sheets.

Good luck - whatever you decide to do.
 
Please note I not trying to defend the builder but he may be trying to save some money.

For example, my mother bought a house about 2 years ago and there were a few problems (ie, the cooker vent was drilled in the internal wall but it didn't go all the way to the outside!!). Anyway, once all the houses were up, he hired someone who went around all the houses and fixed everything.

Of course, if your walls are seriously out, that's a different story.
 
Elisabeth,
Is it asking too much to ask where is this estate exactly?
Red
 
Hi All,

Thanks very much for your posts. Story now is that after I send a fax to the foreman accompanied by the 3rd snag list saying that we are not closing before the walls are done and that my solicitor will be on to his - he changed tack !!!

He called my partner (only wants to deal with him because he identified from the start that I'm harder to deal with plus I was kept away because said partner was scared I would thump your man) and said that enough time was wasted now and he had 2 men in the house doing the walls. He was also giving him the nicey nicey chats.... Called again yesterday to say the walls are fixed. I don't believe a word of it but we'll wait and see.
The other thing he said is that the guy that has done our snag lists (he owns a construction firm and builds beautiful houses with 100% satisfied customers all over the country and happens to be my friend) mustn't have a clue because everything was fixed. I was there when he did it and there were not fixed ...
Anyways to cut a long story short - we'll see what those walls look like now if they are not up to scratch which I'm pretty sure they won't be we will have to decide if we let it go and get our own guy to do it (getting a quote on Sat) or if we keep on fighting.
I had seriously considered doing the mutiny piece and going to all the neighbors especially because the foreman freaked when I mentioned that I had been in the neighbors house and his walls were as bad and he also had a leak in the bathroom. He said I had no right to go into that house (the neighbor has closed, moved in and invited me in).

Development is Feltrim Hall and although I still like the house it certainly is not worse the hassle we've had with hit.

I./Elisabeth
 
keep at it

Fair play to you and keep going. I moved into a new house a few years ago, and it was only after living there for couple of days that some of the problems became apparent - eg the ensuite shower wasn't plumbed in, and the water poured straight into the sitting room after each use!!! There was also a leak in bathroom ceiling connected to a vent in the roof. The foreman and the building company tried every excuse under the sun to avoid fixing these problems, but the only way around that was to call, and call, and threaten, and call again... I was a meek and mild woman when I moved in, and a master complainer by the end of it!! It's a shame you have to go through it but stick to your guns. And don't mind the neighbours - people put up with shoddy goods sometimes, that's not your problem. In my case the roof leak happened in every house on the road because the vent itself was faulty - but do you think the builders came and fixed the rest of them when they realised their mistake? Not a chance... just waited for the angry calls. Good luck with it!
 
I've bought an appartment off the same builder in another development. After we had signed contracts a friend of my girlfriends sister told us she bought an appartment in swords from the same builder and they kept on ringing her saying everything on the snag was done.
Each time she went back they had nothing done, and she found them a nightmare to deal with.
 
Damn

Feltrim Hall , Gorse Hill , Apple wood village .....those developmentts (do not mean to offend anyone) are of the most shoddiest qulaity i have ever seen.

I did 15 snags between those three and they where all [ unsatisfactory]. Different days , different foreman , no one knew who was responsible for what. I felt sorry for the purchasers , some other idiots like you said settle for this .


I did a few in Milton Hall Apartments not bad ut took some huff and puff also.


No ,
 
Re: Damn

thanks again for the encouragement.

We'll see today what the walls look like foreman reckons they are all finished and done.

Incidentally does anyone know if not having a safety thingie on the gas fire is against building regulations ?

I.
 
Re: Damn

If the problems really are as serious as you make them out to be, it might be time to cut your losses and walk away from it.

The fact that you're concerned about gas safety suggests that this house might bring you a whole lot of trouble.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top