New build & snagging

[Tinks15]

...at what point do you think small snagging should be completed when you’ve already moved in to a new build? Should it take that long to get done? Our list literally has about 6/7 things on it?

Anyone?

Depends on the builder. We moved into a new build and just contacted the builder as and when we noticed things needed looked at. It was a small local development and local builder though.

What sort of snags are you talking about? Paint drips or leaks?

Depends on how serious and what stage the development is at. When we moved into ours, they were still building so things were sorted pretty quickly as they were already on site, although I know some neighbours who moved in after building was finished, it did take a bit longer for them to come to them. And then now there is the Covid delays too.

Loads of people on site still as they are still building, we are one of the first to move in.

So all small things like replace a metal tile strip in the downstairs loo, bottom of fascias not painted, mastic missing from tile en-suite. Kitchen panel missing under our oven. So all in my opinion are all small things that could be done quickly. We’ve been in there nearly a month now. I can’t help but getting a little frustrated.

I suppose from the builders point of view nothing you've listed is really urgent, more cosmetic. I think they have at least a year, maybe 2, where they're responsible for fixing snagging issues.

If there's anything you could do yourself I would just do it. It's annoying because you expect to live in a "perfect" new house, but for small things it's probably less hassle than chasing the builders! If you know the company who provided the kitchen then maybe contact them directly about the missing board?

You'll probably have to be quite pushy to get the builder to fix cosmetic things quickly!

There’s a couple of things that I’ve said to my partner should we just do but he thinks it shouldn’t fall on us...especially as he thinks most are like a 2 minute job & with builders on site why can’t they just come by & do it. We’ve also got doors not shutting properly & the floor has a ridge to it under the carpet in places upstairs.

Customer care team are pretty crap & they’ve told us to chase site team but the site manager is one of these ones where he just feeds you a load of crap then that’s it.

Loads was missing in our welcome folder too, manuals & certs as well. So I’m just feeling a bit miffed by it all tbh.

Ours was done within 4 weeks and they came back to do a 2nd visit to check the jobs had been completed. The biggest issue was that they fitted the water meter back to front so we couldnt read the meter, that took a few momths to fix but we got free water during that time so decided that was a good opportunity to turf the lawn!!

That’s really good @Ilikewinter.

We had major issues with our garden and to be honest, the only way it got sorted was by me becoming a pain. Constant emails and calls. Also, you'll revieve the new homes building survey soon, they really want good feedback on that, we used that as leverage!

I think that’s what I’m going to have to do become a pain & call them more. Emails are ignored when I’ve emailed, didn’t even get an acknowledgment.
We’ve had that through already @usernotfound0000 & we’ve said our bit on there

You have to be the most annoying, persistent, irritating, naggy person ever. Or it won’t get done. The ones who nag and moan and nag and moan, get attention. Don’t be rude or nasty, be nice about it, but do go on and on and on. Be at the Customer care every time you can, “ well I spoke to so and so like you said, but I’m getting the brush off, I want this fixed as poss, can you send them an email for me please, can you phone them now please, can you give me another person higher up to talk to please.” Pester the site manager again and again and again in the same way.

I say my ex boyfriend’s mum do this, it was almost embarrassing- she knew every builder by name in the end. She was a mixture of wheedling, hilarious, friendly and annoying, she got loads of freebies too, “oh, it’s such a shame there isn’t a cupboard here, but we don’t have any matching doors but I thought I saw some spare in that skip can I have the, is there anything else like that going spare? Can I have first refusal?... “ they gave her loads of freebies and extras! And every item on the snagging list was either resolved or haggled for a free upgrade or fix somewhere else in the house or garden.

All of our snags were dealt with very quickly, when we moved in we got a report done which had 60 things on (very minor, I didn't spot most of them and was embarrassed to have people around for some of them tbh ha!) and all of them were dealt with within 2 weeks. We've been here 6 months now, I reported something new on the weekend and it was sorted on the Monday.

They also called us weekly for the first 3 months and monthly after that to check all was ok, popped by after extreme weather, can't fault them at all, definitely push for them to be done.

We've been in just over a year and have 4 snags to go (1 booked in to be done, 3 still to be planned in). It's been a combination of covid/lockdown/supply issues and being the last builds of the estate. While they were still on site they whizzed through jobs though