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Small developers provide better customer service than big house builders
People sharing their new home buying experiences on the New Home Blogs site (www.newhomeblogs.co.uk) have shown that buying from small developers can be a better bet than buying from bigger names.
Nik Clayton and Rachael Kelly, two new home buyers on New Home Blogs have recently moved into their new build homes. Although both homes had a similar number of snagging defects, the service they received and the amount of time it took their respective developers to deal with the items on the snagging list varied tremendously.
Rachel, who bought a five-bedroom house from a small regional developer in the Midlands, has found the process frustrating, but this has largely been due to problems unrelated to the developer. The developer has provided an excellent personal service and dealt with her snagging defects in a timely manner. Prior to legal completion, Rachel said: 'Having walked around the house again with our snagging report in our hands we checked off everything that has been done and everything that has not. I am pleased to say that the majority of the 200 items listed have been rectified - with only minor issues remaining.'
Nik on the other hand, who bought a five-bedroom house in Milton Keynes from a national developer has struggled to get his house finished to standard and ended up £9,000 out of pocket. The developer had agreed to pay the £9,000 deposit on condition that their deadline for exchange of contracts was met. Unfortunately for Nik the deadline was missed because the developer was unable to finish the house to standard prior to the date they set for exchange. Nik said: 'I figure several people at the developer have lost face over this purchase - the extra work that they've needed to do to the house, the litany of missed deadlines, the fact that they've been forced to continually extend exchange deadlines.'
New Build Inspections managing director Catriona Bright, whose company carries out professional snagging inspections throughout the UK, said: 'We deal with developers of all sizes and generally the small and medium sized developers build houses with fewer defects and provide much better customer care. However, home buyers should always ensure that the house has an NHBC or Zurich warranty, do not accept an architect's certificate as an alternative.'
Visit New Home Blogs (www.newhomeblogs.co.uk) to read and comment on Nik and Rachael's story and to find out how to start your own blog.
For more information contact:
Catriona Bright
Director and Founder
New Build Inspections Ltd
0845 22 66 486
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www.newbuildinspections.com
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