New house buying advice
- Thread starter Goodie
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Oh how blind you all are! Forget the house, that's almost inconsiquential.
If it's a woman be aware that you're pretty much bouncing off the limiter already. Once your moved in she will go bat **** crazy and then it's kids and all the crap that comes with that...GET OUT NOW!
Source: Experience
+1
All of which will be ignored as soon as the builder has flogged the last home! Generally they are only interested in keeping the place looking nice and family friendly until they have got there cash!
Some great points here folks, much appreciated, allot of which I'm kicking myself that I hadn't actually thought about them myself. Hey ho, that was the point of the thread 
I can see where your coming from with that one however, we have been together since we were 17, its taken her 11 years to to get me to this position, surely I deserve some points for holding out this long
The developer is Taylor Wimpey, they seem rather proud of their 5 star home builders federation rating, for whatever thats worth. I'm going to pop down and raise some of the questions that I've got from you folks, I'll report back when I have some answers. It's great (and much appreciated) to get some impartial advice from you folks who have 'been there, done that'
If it's a woman be aware that you're pretty much bouncing off the limiter already. Once your moved in she will go bat **** crazy and then it's kids and all the crap that comes with that...GET OUT NOW!
Source: Experience
I can see where your coming from with that one however, we have been together since we were 17, its taken her 11 years to to get me to this position, surely I deserve some points for holding out this long
The developer is Taylor Wimpey, they seem rather proud of their 5 star home builders federation rating, for whatever thats worth. I'm going to pop down and raise some of the questions that I've got from you folks, I'll report back when I have some answers. It's great (and much appreciated) to get some impartial advice from you folks who have 'been there, done that'
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Walk away fast, everything they do is the cheapest they can get away with and quality is atrocious.
Trust me first hand experience.
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When I mean first hand experience I don't mean I've bought one and had a bad experience I mean I've seen them being built, hundreds of them, in the site cabins, in the site meetings etc etc
Interesting, thanks for the advice mate, could you elaborate more? I'm guessing we're talking poor build quality, corner cutting etc?
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I've been involved with a dozen national builders including main contractors and I have to say the quality of the 1/2 dozen TW sites I saw over the past year have been the worst I've seen, frankly embarrassing for the 'industry' as a whole. Cheap poor quality materials, badly run sites and bad workmanship.
They are a volume builder, 90% of the purchasers won't notice just like people are happy to drive round in daewoos and the older kias, it just doesn't bother some people it has a function and that is it.
All the social housing I have been involved with has been 5x better in terms of quality and specification.
At the moment i'm working with a developer who really care about 'the customer' genuinely and they attract a 20% premium with their properties.
If your asking the questions you won't be one of the 90% who don't care so either walk away or go in expecting to have to fight for everything, hire a snagging surveyor, keep every bit of information about what they have promised you, read everything and be ruthless.
Or you might be pleasantly surprised and I'm talking rubbish.
They are a volume builder, 90% of the purchasers won't notice just like people are happy to drive round in daewoos and the older kias, it just doesn't bother some people it has a function and that is it.
All the social housing I have been involved with has been 5x better in terms of quality and specification.
At the moment i'm working with a developer who really care about 'the customer' genuinely and they attract a 20% premium with their properties.
If your asking the questions you won't be one of the 90% who don't care so either walk away or go in expecting to have to fight for everything, hire a snagging surveyor, keep every bit of information about what they have promised you, read everything and be ruthless.
Or you might be pleasantly surprised and I'm talking rubbish.
The council have enforced some around here but you are correct in that they were a lot more strict in early days
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apart from few hippies does anyone really give a **** about that sort of stuff ?
Yes I would, maybe I wasn't clear enough, a builder can choose to satisfy the Compulsory Code in the cheapest nastiest way possible or invest in decent amount amounts of quality insulation and economical boilers.
I think I'd rather the insulation and boiler than a tidy drier and water but, that's why I say check how they have met the points as there are many ways, example they get points for for providing showers for the workers (CCS) which mean absolutely sod all to you as a purchaser.
Just find out how the scores have been calculated, there will be an assessment for every unit if they say there isn't they are lying.
Just remember these places are built to a price and as such are engineered to only just over the minimal tolerances using trades which are far from the top of their profession.
Just recently 6 houses collapsed on a new estate round here because of dodgey groundwork. That was a taylor wimpey development.
It's been said before but I'll say it again, new builds, for so so many reasons. Are a dreadful investment.
Cheap finish, cheap build, you're really gambling on the type of area, often they drop in value very quickly indeed. Yet they cost as much as a proper house.
I mean if you can hear someone have a slash on the second floor on the other side of the house, or about 10 houses can see into your garden, that doesn't sit right with me.
Just recently 6 houses collapsed on a new estate round here because of dodgey groundwork. That was a taylor wimpey development.
It's been said before but I'll say it again, new builds, for so so many reasons. Are a dreadful investment.
Cheap finish, cheap build, you're really gambling on the type of area, often they drop in value very quickly indeed. Yet they cost as much as a proper house.
I mean if you can hear someone have a slash on the second floor on the other side of the house, or about 10 houses can see into your garden, that doesn't sit right with me.
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Totally depends on the developer, the local authority planning rules, the area, don't tar them all with the same brush.
New build developments over a certain size and i absolutely agree, i cant believe anybody actually buys them, it baffles me. The very idea of a new build estate is absolutely horrible.
I am not against new builds per say, these are for sale round the corner from myself, and they look great, but then they are two individual houses on generous plots on a non estate (shudder) location.
Soldato
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I'd like to chime in a little here as I've just purchased a new TW home (a small Coach House as it's the best I can afford at the moment).
In all honesty as far as snagging goes mine has been fairly minor so far, some stupid/silly things but I've only had one problem which has stopped me using the property fully, and that was a slightly leaking feed into one of the toilets.
Otherwise the quality has been OK and I've not had to snag a lot of things. List of things I've had to snag some things as follows to give you some idea:
Generally they have done an alright job, so with some snagging you can get it up to the proper quality you expect unless you have major structural issues (which touch wood I don't seem to have at the moment).
The biggest headaches I've had have been around getting what I want from my off plan property from the point of view of the sales process. To give you some ideas on that:
I've got a few more points to add but this is probably getting quite long and I want to grab some lunch
In all honesty as far as snagging goes mine has been fairly minor so far, some stupid/silly things but I've only had one problem which has stopped me using the property fully, and that was a slightly leaking feed into one of the toilets.
Otherwise the quality has been OK and I've not had to snag a lot of things. List of things I've had to snag some things as follows to give you some idea:
- Tap in the bathroom slightly loose
- Hot water tap in the bath was only giving out warm water, they had to adjust the heat level.
- The bath frame had a big chip taken out of it, they used mastic on the underside of the panel to "cushion" it.
- Toilet was running permanently with a small trickle when I moved in
- Some areas missing mastic
- Dishwasher not set into the frame correctly so it was coming out at a slight angle
- Missing some shelves in the kitchen in the cabinets, they seem to have just given up when it came to installing them!
- Windows stuff to open if the bracket is fully locked in, for right now I can still close them just have to leave the bracket slightly open so they don't stick.
- Some areas need another coat of paint as it's not taken it properly, or not had enough undercoat applied, I will get them to come around with a painter in a couple of weeks once I have had a chance to collate all the areas that need touching up
- They didn't give me window keys but I have them now
- One of my walls is not at a right angle, they need to redo the skirting in that area and skim up the wall. In fairness they did have to move my Fuse box and had to take that wall down to do so, and I guess when they put it back up they weren't interested in squaring it away.
Generally they have done an alright job, so with some snagging you can get it up to the proper quality you expect unless you have major structural issues (which touch wood I don't seem to have at the moment).
The biggest headaches I've had have been around getting what I want from my off plan property from the point of view of the sales process. To give you some ideas on that:
- They put my Fuse Box into the Living Room, I specifically told them I wanted it moved into the Hallway months before it was built. They tried to tell me they couldn't then move it but I managed to get them to agree to move it.
- I was told I could get a slim line dishwasher when I purchased the property, but after that it turned out I couldn't fit one in at all. Eventually they agreed to move my washing machine into my cupboard space which meant I got a full sized dishwasher into the kitchen (my kitchen is very small).
- They got me to get a mortgage application filled in long before I needed it, telling me I had to exchange contracts within 30 days and that mortgages could be extended. In the end I did not exchange contracts for 4-5 months due to outstanding queries/issues and Nationwide don't extend mortgages. They are refunding me the cost of one of my mortgage applications as a result of this.
I've got a few more points to add but this is probably getting quite long and I want to grab some lunch
Soldato
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Sure no problem
My overall feeling is that TW have improved in recent times.
I also think they have tight deadlines to meet so they probably rush the builds a little and don't put as much attention to detail into the builds as you or I would normally expect were we to get our own tradesmen in.
If something is not obviously visible it's sometimes clear that less attention is paid to it, for this I suspect the on site contractors sometimes cut corners due to volume work and deadlines.
On balance though I am overall happy with my purchase and so far the snagging has gone fine to improve on things so I don't feel like I am left flapping in the wind.
You should be able to get a good discount too if you ask for it. Extra money for options, stamp duty paid for etc.
You may find the quality differs a little from one site to the next based on who is managing the site.
My overall feeling is that TW have improved in recent times.
I also think they have tight deadlines to meet so they probably rush the builds a little and don't put as much attention to detail into the builds as you or I would normally expect were we to get our own tradesmen in.
If something is not obviously visible it's sometimes clear that less attention is paid to it, for this I suspect the on site contractors sometimes cut corners due to volume work and deadlines.
On balance though I am overall happy with my purchase and so far the snagging has gone fine to improve on things so I don't feel like I am left flapping in the wind.
You should be able to get a good discount too if you ask for it. Extra money for options, stamp duty paid for etc.
You may find the quality differs a little from one site to the next based on who is managing the site.
They look ok actually, although I'd be interesting to see them in person.
Trouble is I think a lot of people in this country aren't prepared to pay for quality any more. They just want cheap crap and lots of it.
Tape and fill the walls, slap some cheap magnolia on it bung in a leather sofa and some cheap laminate "Just like ikea innit"
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