3 months between exchange and completion . Is this a regular occurrence ?

[Footgoose]

Always seem to have exchanged and completed same day or days apart .

we are buying a new build from a large local building company . Not National but they have built well over a thousand houses in the county we live. We found out yesterday they need another 3 months to finish the house. Stuff they won’t do until exchange ie kitchen / floors/ fitted furniture/ other upgrades .
We have a first time buyer , things have been slowish up until now as their survey took 10 weeks to do and we still haven’t had the feed back .
I’m really concerned our buyer will put pressure on us to move in to rented accommodation so we can complete sooner. Wouldn’t blame them if they did . Neither of us expected a 2 house chain to take 7 months to complete.

Is a 3 month gap between completion and exchange normal / acceptable these days because of current housing market conditions ?

It's normal for new builds. We're waiting completion on ours and it'll be at least 4 months since exchange. EXDP had 10 months between exchange and completion on his new build. Did your builder not give you an estimated time frame when you reserved?
Luckily we're FTB's so nothing to sell. I expect most in a chain go to rented or try to find very understanding patient buyers.

New builds are notorious for slipping completion dates. They want your commitment early. Fitting out does not have to take that long but they probably have a number of properties at the same stage to make the most of contractors being on site. To keep your buyer you may need to break the chain and rent.

Normal for new builds.
Might not be acceptable to your FTB - 7 months is likely to mean the mortgage is unavailable, although if the survey isn't back yet, I'm guessing no mortgage or conveyancing has happened? So 3 months might not be long enough for them....

Our newbuild took nearly 12-months between reservation & completion, it was 8-months between exchange and completion. This is the norm and it was fully expected that we moved into temporary accommodation inbetween.

When we sold our old house we requested nearly 5-months between exchange and completion, apparently longer than normal but one our buyer was happy to agree to.

Ah, ok . First time I have bought off plan. Its taken a while to get this far as the searches on our property to sell have taken ages to be done . At least the hold up it’s not one sided. Our buyer is single , no children, living with mum and Dad so he’s got somewhere to live but we will just to see . Like us , he will likely be disappointed not to have the summer to settle in .