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New Home Guides
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New Home Guides
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Snagging is an informal expression used within the construction industry in the UK and Ireland. It is used to describe the process of defect identification and resolution.
It is starting to be used in other contexts such as software development and is an expression that is starting to become more widely known outside the building industry. This partly is due to the fact that most new build properties are now purchased off-plan exposing the buyers to the snagging process. Additionally, snagging is also a major source of conflict between the buyers of brand new homes and the house builders that has led to regular coverage of snagging in the media.
New Build Inspections provides professional snagging inspections across the UK, Ireland and Spain.
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New Home Guides
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1. Small Size
Small room sizes and a lack of storage space is often cited as the most common complaint about new build homes. The current trend of building three storey homes which eat into useful loft storage is making the problem worse.
2. Plasterboard Walls
These don't support much weight and do little to prevent the transmission of sound throughout the property.
3. Parking
In addition to building three storey houses with smaller room sizes, the developers maximize the number of units on a piece of land by reducing the number of driveways and replacing them with communal parking areas and shared drives. This can lead to disputes with neighbours over parking.
4. Snagging
New homes are often riddled with defects, or snags as they are known in the trade. This is a major source of disappointment and frustration for homebuyers because most don’t expect any snags and it can take real determination to get the developers back to carry out the necessary remedial work.
5. Hidden Costs
New build buyers often wrongly assume that moving into a new home is cheaper than a second-hand home. As well as the obvious costs for landscaping, curtains and flooring, there are also some less obvious costs that should be factored in. These include the cost of a snagging inspection and the fixtures and fittings that successive owners in a second-hand home will have installed, such as coat hooks, towel rails and door stops.
6. Gardens
New build gardens often comprise of little more than compacted sub-soil. If you are lucky this will be covered with, at best, poorly laid turf . As well as making it very difficult for plants to thrive this often causes major problems with drainage and turf frequently dies before the new owner has even moved in.
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New Home Guides
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1. Energy Efficient
New homes are well insulated and include double-glazing as standard making them cheaper to run than older homes; they even come with an energy rating certificate. However, watch out for excessive use of expensive to run halogen lights and rooms that receive little or no natural light requiring lights to be on throughout the day.
2. A Blank Canvas
You get to choose almost everything from the colour of the carpet to the type of worktop in the kitchen, but be warned you will be stuck with magnolia walls for the first two years while the property settles and dries out.
3. Stress Free Move
The house builders have perfected the moving process and with no property chain the experience should be hassle free. For those opting for part-exchange deals there is even less to worry about.
4. Great Deals
The housing developers know how to sell new homes and come up with some great offers. Incentives include: stamp duty paid, cash back, flooring throughout, landscaping and even free cars!
5. Secure and Safe
New homes are safer and more secure than older homes. Fire safety is helped by the use of smoke alarms, fire doors, and fire retardant materials. New homes often include security locks, burglar alarms and security lighting as standard.
6. 10-year Warranty
Most new homes come with a 10-year warranty by the NHBC, Premier Guarantee or Zurich Municipal. These do not guarantee that your home will be free from snagging defects and are primarily insurance schemes for the developer and not the home owner, but they do provide useful cover and it is not advisable to buy a new home without one.
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New Home Guides
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It is common practice for house builders to use show homes to sell
off-plan properties, but it is essential that you are aware
that these can be misleading. This guide highlights some of the tricks
used to sell off-plan homes allowing you to make an
informed decision about their purchase.
New Build Inspections director
Catriona Bright, who produced the guide, discussed the issue with Janet
Street Porter on Channel4’s Demolition.
Bright said: The show was great for raising some very
important issues including deceptive show homes and snagging defects in
new build homes, but it only really scratched the surface.
Bright added: A significant number of owners of properties we inspect
are disappointed their home is pale reflection of the show homes that
they are shown. This is not only in terms of the number of snagging
defects, but in areas such as the specification, landscaping and even
the size.
Developers spend a large amount of money on show homes,
enlisting the services of interior designers and landscape gardeners.
Here are just some of the tricks to look out for:
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All the lights will be on to create the impression that there is plenty of natural light.
- Internal doors are removed to make the house appear bigger.
- Glass furniture and mirrors are installed to provide the feeling of greater space.
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Fitted furniture may only be half the depth you would normally expect
and smaller proportioned children's furniture is commonly installed.
- Bedrooms may only have a bed and a bed-side table. Items such as chests of drawers and wardrobes may be missing.
- The fittings will undoubtedly be of a higher quality or not included in the standard specification.
- The garden will be professionally landscaped, which is either not in
the specification, or will be to a far higher standard than the basic
turf normally provided.
- Heaters are constantly on high, not to dry the house out but to lessen the time you will spend there.
Advice for home buyers:
- Remember you are not buying the show home and you may not even be
buying the same style of house. Try to get a tour of the style of
property you are buying
- Check the specification of your house, as this may be very different in your house.
- Get detailed plans of your house and try to work out whether your
furniture will fit into the rooms and up the stairs. Don’t forget to
check the ceiling heights as these are often low in newly built homes
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New Home Guides
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1. Check how well the site is managed. Ask whether the Site Manager has
won any industry awards and speak to the people who have already moved
in to get a feel for the quality of the workmanship and customer care.
2. Research the house builder on the Internet. New Build
Inspections is in the process of compiling dossiers for each the major
house builders in the UK.
3. Check that the house has a warranty from Zurich Municipal, the
NHBC or Premier. However, these do not guarantee that your home will be
free from defects and are primarily insurance schemes for the developer
not the home owner.
4. Check if there is an affordable housing provision on the site. If
there is, find out whether these homes will be managed by a housing
association. Although this is unlikely to cause problems the developer
may try to hide this from you, which affects your ability to make an
informed decision about your purchase.
6. Measure your property including ceiling height to determine
whether your furniture will fit. Pay particular attention to the stairs
and don’t forget the garage, these are often designed for ‘average’
cars.
7. Check the site and house plans carefully, especially if you are
buying off-plan. Remember that the marketing material may use artist
impressions and should not be regarded as accurate. If you feel your
property has been misdescribed, contact your local Trading Standards
Office, who may prosecute the developer under the Property
Misdescription Act 1991.
8. Remember you are not buying the show home and you may not even
be buying the same style of house. Try to get a tour of the style of
property you are buying, which may involve going to another
development.
9. Make sure you negotiate. The developer is unlikely to reduce the
price, but flooring, landscaping, fencing and curtains are all up for
grabs. Try not to appear too keen, if you want to get the best deals.
10. Extra care is required at the end of the developer’s financial
year, as targets have to be met and corners may be cut to meet them.
You could be moved you into a property that is not complete with
significant remedial work required. However, developers may offer
generous incentives at this time of year to meet their targets,
especially if they have unsold homes which are build-complete or
nearing completion.
11. Instruct a conveyancing solicitor with a track record of
negotiating retentions and delaying completion due to defects and
snags, using the cheapest company you can find on the Internet will be
a false economy. The developer may recommend a solicitor to ‘speed
things up’, but there may be a hidden agenda.
12. If you need to be in your new property by a particular date ask
your solicitor about getting the completion date written into the
contract.
13. Get your house professionally inspected by an independent
snagging company that does not work for housing developers, such as New
Build Inspections Ltd.
Ideally, this should be done before legal completion, so that the
developer will have time to address the defects and snags identified
before you move in. If you cannot afford this and you plan to do it
yourself use the Snagging Checklist available from Snagging.org for just £14.99.
14. If you have an NHBC warranty re-inspect your house every six-months
during the first two years and notify your developer in writing of any
faults you discover. The developer is obliged to fix them, if they
don’t the NHBC will. However, faults caused by normal shrinkage and
drying out are not currently covered by this warranty.
15. Don’t skimp on your home insurance. Get a home and contents policy
which includes legal protection which will be useful if you need to
take the developer to court.
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