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My house is falling down - 2007/07/18 13:20My house is falling down
The above title of this document may seem to suggest that its author is in some way trying to appear to be clever – the following 5 pages will however prove otherwise….. there is no jest here, and what is contained in this document is of great importance to all who own or are contemplating owning a new property built by David Wilson Homes…….
I have been left living in a house for a year and a half with bare floorboards and cracked concrete floors and with very little furniture suffering serious mental illness while David Wilson homes have ignored and been rude to me – at the same time as running away from the serious mess that they have created.
Ill Health I purchased the house from David Wilson Homes just over two years ago when I moved from Hertfordshire to Northampton to live near my family –
I needed somewhere where to live where I could feel safe and secure - I suffer with Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (a severe mental illness which is well documented) - from service in the armed forces and I was therefore looking to move into my new home without further aggravation to my already frail health and to get on with my life the best I could.
The following is however my extraordinarily distressing experience of purchasing a house from David Wilson Homes……
Structural Problems. Within months of moving into the property it started to become obvious that the house was suffering from serious structural problems -
It turned out that during construction the builders had altered the ground floor layout of the property - and in doing so had removed most of the ground floor structural walls which should have been there to provide support to the first floor - causing the floor to move in a downward direction.
On advice from a structural engineer I told David Wilson Homes what the problem was but David Wilson Homes looked once at the cracks in the concrete floors and deflected first floor and twisted staircase – and without any kind of an investigation told me that it was nothing to do with them.
It was however down to them they were the builders and were responsible for the for the house for the first two years and it was their mess – this is a fact that David Wilson Homes have continue to ignore.
What followed for me was a year and a half of extreme anxiety and ill health –
The NHBC became involved and found that the house hadn’t been built as per the plans and instructed David Wilson Homes to employ an independent structural engineer to carry out a detailed investigation of the structural problems
– David Wilson Homes however refused.
The comment that I received from the David Wilson Homes Director of Customer Services at this point was as follows –
“It sticks in my throat that I have to spend any money on your house”
And when I was advised by a structural Engineer that a full topographical survey should be carried out on the first floor to determine the full extent of the deflection in the floor the answer I received from the same Director of Customer Services was – “Well don’t expect me to pay for it”
I therefore paid for the survey myself – two were carried out, both showed deflection in the first and ground floor – the second showed the first floor was still moving.
As stated above this situation has now gone on now for a year and half with numerous visits and investigations from the NHBC and denials by David Wilson Homes.
Timber Engineering Finally the NHBC arranged a meeting with the subcontracting company responsible for the design and construction of the floor for David Wilson Homes
This meeting took place on Tuesday the 12th of June – and was attended by myself, three members of David Wilson’s staff, a representative from the NHBC – a Structural Engineer on my behalf, my brother who has experience in commercial construction and both the technical advisor from Crendon Timber Engineering and the designer responsible for the design of the floor.
During the meeting the deflection of the floor was discussed in detail and shown to all present. Different drawings were then compared which showed a structural block wall and steel lintel between the kitchen and dining room both present and missing.
The people from Crendon Timber Engineering stated that the block wall and steel lintel had to be present as without it the floor would be structurally unsound – the present wall was then opened up to reveal that both the block work wall and lintel were missing –
The conclusion reached by all present was identical to that which I had expressed to David Wilson Homes a year and a half earlier and which had been ignored and identical to the contents of a letter that I had written to the NHBC 20th March 2006.
Five weeks later Nothing!!!
Prior experiences Unfortunately the above events are not the only in my dealings with David Wilson Homes to have caused me enormous anguish and to have aggravated to my ill health – instead they have come on the back of a whole list of others problems and rudeness including -
•Being lied to during the purchase process
•Nearly two hundred defects being found during a professional pre- completion inspection.
•Being put under enormous pressure on the day of completion by the builder and the builders panel solicitor to accept the house with
Leaking toilets; Showers hanging off the wall Wet concrete floors
•Three weeks of delayed completion.
•Months of sulking – Post completion I was asked by the sales staff to complete a post completion snagging form which I completed with a list of defects which consisted of items like -
A crack in a glass shower door – Blemished brass door handles – (discoloured patches) Scratches on kitchen cupboard doors- The back door sticking – Windows which wouldn’t open without catching. Turf in the garden which had been un-watered and had died.
I returned the list as requested – and was then met with months of bad feeling sulking and bullying from the site office which was positioned directly outside my front door and customer service staff – who without attempting any of the jobs set about trying to get me to sign a form stating that all defects had been completed – so that they could receive their bonus.
The cost to my health
Throughout my dealings with David Wilson Homes my health has suffered immeasurably – I purchased the property as a new house from David Wilson Homes with the clear intention of protecting myself from any further aggravation to my already serious Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
Yet for over a year and a half the staff at David Wilson Homes have run away from the problems that they themselves have created (I did not build the house –they did) they have intentionally ignored me and the problem – being arrogant condescending and rude to me.
Meanwhile as stated above I have been forced to live in ill health in a house with virtually no furniture – with concrete floors and floorboards while the situation has dragged on - spending long periods at a time unable to remain at the house at all - coping with the enormous strain which has resulted from the above events and the aggravation that this has caused to my illness.
I paid good money to David Wilson homes without any say as to how they built the property - expecting to be delivered a house which lived up to the expectations that they espoused – yet when I received the keys and the very obvious defects began to evidence themselves their reaction was to be rude to me and let me struggle on with the situation.
David Wilson homes have known all along that there were serious problems with the property – this is clear from their immediate abdication of the problem without any investigation whatsoever - to the NHBC and their refusal cooperate with the NHBC in the investigation.
I was asked to sign the plans for the construction of the property as part of the contract of sale - Davis Wilson Homes have not only not delivered the property as contracted – but have also been negligent in the construction of the property that was delivered and have caused immense exacerbation to my already frail health in their subsequent actions.
What kind of company is this??
And how many other houses have they built in this manner ??
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admin
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Re:My house is falling down - 2007/07/18 19:10Nigel, This is a terrible story. No doubt you have seen the requests for case studies. HAve you been to the NHBC yet?
If you don't mind I'll move this post to the main section of the website.
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nigel
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Re:My house is falling down - 2007/07/18 21:21Thank you for your comments and yes please do as you wish with this posting – I only hope that it will be of help to others.
The NHBC have been involved – though their effectiveness has been mixed. You will note that David Wilson Homes refused to cooperate with the NHBC in their investigation.
On the subject of case studies – thank you I have contacted both the BBC and ITV through the site.
Thanks again and well done on your excellent site.
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nigel
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Re:My house is falling down - 2008/01/21 02:56[img] [file] [file] [file] [img] [img]
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