The Daily Mail has an article today about widespread problems with poor sound insulation in new build homes. What do you expect when there is no standards and homes simply have to adhere to a set of theoretical standards managed by a company called Robust Details Ltd (I think that must be an ironic name). Anyway, they are quoted in the article as saying that often when testing takes palce as a result of a complaint to the NHBC the homes meet standard the home owners are still not happy. Quite offensive really – they are basically saying that there poor souls are just whingeing.

Anyway, read it for yourself:

Home insulation has become big business, thanks to grants inspired by the Government’s carbon emission reduction target. But never mind heat insulation, Trevor and Elaine New want to know what has happened to the sound insulation in their flat in Pendlebury, Greater Manchester.

Their joy in picking up a flat at Bryant Homes’ development Joule Point for £110,000 at the bottom of the housing slump in October 2008 has been somewhat tempered by the regular pounding of footsteps upstairs.

‘I have no complaint against the neighbours, who are just going about their normal business, but I don’t think we should be able to hear them in our flat,’ says Trevor, 58, who works in the construction industry himself as a health-and-safety adviser.

Well it is about time we embraced all things web 2.0 and have set up various social media profiles to help raise awareness of snagging issues and the lack of consumer rights when buying a new build home. Even some of the builders are starting to use these tool which is a sure sign that we are behind the times. Anyway, here they are:

• Snagging.org on Facebook
• Snagging.org on Twitter
• Snagging.org on Flickr

RESIDENTS of a new Barratt estate claim the house-builder has gone against planning approval for their homes to save cash.

Paula Walter and John Davies (above), backed by other residents of The Haven, claim Barratt Homes promoted 37 top-of-the-range Selsdon properties for sale after being granted planning permission for the house type but actually built bottom-of-the-range Sutton homes.

The builder has now submitted a retrospective application to Selby District Council planning chiefs to change the house types of more than half the 72-home development, as well as associated boundary fencing at Street Record.

In a recent incident, workers cut through a water main and flooded the road and residents say they’ve not received so much as an apology.

One woman seeking legal advice, who didn’t want to be named, said: “They don’t seem to give a damn. It was like a river in Gaston Way and the water flowed all the way round to Catlin Crescent – you needed wellies to walk through it.“

A new BBC television programme is looking for people across the UK whose lives and properties are currently in a state of chaos or disruption thanks to cowboy workmen.

This is your chance to get the job finished properly  and call to account the builders, plumbers, electricians, roofers or joiners responsible for the problem.

Please leave a telephone message or email Mentorn Scotland and we will be in touch for a confidential discussion.

Tel: 0141 331 7455

email builders@mentorn.tv.

If emailing please include your location and name in the subject line.

Instead, it has been dogged by botched jobs and unfinished building work which has left them living in a dusty construction site.

Faults and repairs mean they are frequently without power and their garden is too dangerous to enter after being dug up twice because of drainage problems.

Read more about Bovis HomesVisitors to Bovis Homes’ website are reassured that when buying a new home ‘you want to be sure you can trust your builder’.

Rennie and Sheralee Bottali took the company at its word – only to find themselves living in a house of horrors for seven months.

The couple expected their new £700,000 three- storey detached house to be in perfect condition when they picked up the keys.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1040292/Couple-shame-Bovis-internet-list-dozens-faults-new-700-000-home.html#ixzz0acmtOEQs

A leading housebuilder has launched an investigation into how one of its homes was turned into a deathtrap by damaged electrical wiring.

Darren Korol suffered 230-volt shocks when he touched the cooker in his new £220,000 Barratt Homes. flat in Crawley, West Sussex.

The 41-year-old print salesman’s children suffered jolts from the bathroom taps.

An electrician later discovered that the fitter who installed the stove had screwed through a live cable. The error raises fresh safety fears over household appliances. About 20 people a year are killed by electrocution in the home.

As Ian and Margaret were out delivering Christmas presents on the Saturday before Christmas they received a phone call from their son Mark asking them to return home quickly because the Fire Brigade were there.

Persimmon Homes Flooding Article

WHEN Jeff Hill and his partner bought a brand new house, they thought everything would be domestic bliss.

But their stay on Pleasant Close in Pontllanfraith was anything but pleasant, as a series of problems and defects blighted their lives for almost a year.

Mr Hill, 34, a supervisor at a food manufacturing factory, and his partner Libby Lewis, 26, a food technologist, moved in to their new £180,000 three-bedroom terraced town house exactly a year ago this week.

But soon after they arrived at the George Wimpey development at Nant y Llwyd, things started to go wrong.

The problems with my flat are so bad that it is virtually un-saleable at present. Estate agents believe that to offload the property I would have to knock around 50%, £250,000, off the suggested selling price (if the roof, windows & pipes didn’t leak, the underground car park didn’t flood and the wind whistle through the electric sockets on the walls when it was windy, amongst other things).

My flat is now more than two years’ old and even basic repairs have never been carried out, despite all 15 flats in the block paying in total £30,000 per year in maintenance charges to date nearly £90,000 has been paid!

My blog can be found at http://web.archive.org/web/20071116135020/http://miller-homes.org.uk/ (Archive) and I invite other owners to document their problems.

A list of my flat’s problems are itemised:

About this Miller Homes blog site

This site is an open forum for exposing the bad building practices of Miller Homes and their inability to carry out proper snagging, or to deal with matters relating to building problems in a professional or timely manner.

Please read the bold type first – it’s just more fun that way.

* my luxury apartment is 2 years old and now un-saleable
* if I sold today I would stand to lose over £ 250,000
* my ceiling leaks whenever it rains and I live at the bottom of an eight storey building
* my windows leak as they have been improperly fitted, as are all the windows in all flats
* our water pipes leak and cause unbearable distress to all residents of the building
* our car park used to flood from outside, but now it just fills up with water from inside leaks
* property has been stolen, because our underground car park security has been broken for 3 months
* our flat has no external insulation fitted – contrary to current building practices
* wind blows out of the plug sockets on internal walls so loudly that we can’t listen to I tunes or watch TV
* Miller Homes assured me over 16 months ago that all my problems would be addressed – none have been
* the internal walls actually move
* damp and mould are forming inside the apartment due to improper ventilation
* my internal walls will have to be removed to carry out repairs
* I will have to move my family out to allow repairs as they are so severe
* ceilings will have to be pulled down and replaced
* when my builder explained a simple fix to my worst leak problem Miller Homes told us it was not interested helping
* our external impervious lifetime guarantee coating has already started to fall off
* the building’s disabled lift has never worked from start to finish, not fit for purpose
* our kitchen extractor fan does not work
* our carpets are stained by the water ingress that blows in though our patio doors
* Our lift lobby is constantly flooded by internal water leaks
* a simple frayed wire on our electronic door entry was noted to Miller Homes, it remains unrepaired after 26 months – I think over 2 years should be enough to fix a wire
* many other problems exist – too many to list here

As you will be able to read from this blog site there are an endless parade of faults which all appear too tuff to repair for what are perceived as a leading construction company. Miller Homes are incompetent, I hope they take me to court so I can use all the documentation I have built up over the last two years to prove just that.