Problems with your new build home

When purchasing a new home, the promise of problem free home-ownership should be a given. Unfortunately, that’s not always how the case turns out. Anthony Gold have been working with numerous clients who’ve had problems with their new build homes. In some cases, this involves the house builders cutting corners and not meeting the specifications that our clients expected or were promised.

Marketing for newly built homes focuses on their energy efficiency standards; how they will be warmer and cheaper to heat than the equivalent older property. But why are new home buyers finding the opposite to be the case?

Insulation

Insulation is there to keep the heat in and the cold out and so it is only as good as how it is fitted. If it’s missed out or fitted badly its useless because the cold air can get behind it, and hot air can escape around. Badly fitted, and it’s like wearing a coat cut into ribbons, nice thick insulation, but pointless.

Door and window frames

Failure to seal around the door and window frames and other openings and to fit the plaster boards correctly will let cold air in, cooling your home. You can’t feel the draughts necessarily – because it’s going straight behind the plaster, cooling the house. Upstairs, by failing to seal the top of hollow partition walls cold air can come down from the cold loft space. Solving the problem is not straightforward. The windows and door frames need proper sealing. Then the plasterboard itself needs sealing to stop cold air getting behind it.

How do you know what the problems are?

In many cases home owners have obtained thermal imaging reports. There will always be minor variations, but good reports done using depressurisation will show clear areas where cold air is coming in leading to significant temperature discrepancies.

Armed with such a report showing missing insulation, unsealed windows and doors etc. you would think the developer or the National House-Building Council (NHBC) would accept the fault and do the work. Unfortunately, all too often this is not the case. In many cases the house builder or NHBC ignore these investigations or attempt to discredit them. They refuse to do any work or do only a tiny part.

If you’ve brought from one of the large national housebuilders your contract with them is likely to require them to build in accordance with good workmanship and practice, use proper materials and comply with various standards. These insulation issues are likely to be a breach of that contract, entitling you to make the developer fix them and pay compensation.

If you have purchased a new build property and are experiencing problems with things such as defective floors, structural movement, heating or insulation/coldness and or defective brickwork or mortar do get in touch as we may be able to help fix the problems.

Specialists in the New Build Housing Issues

Timothy Waitt has been advising residents regarding repair issues for many years. Timothy was recently appeared on the BBC and Sky outlining the issues faced.

BBC News: Growing complaints about new-build houses
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-47826166

Sky News: Persimmon Homes launches review into faulty homes
https://news.sky.com/story/persimmon-homes-launches-review-into-faulty-homes-11686454

LBC Radio: New Build Housing with Clive Bull
https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/clive-bull/
Broadcast on 6/4/19 with Clive Bull 18:00-22:00 Timothy features at 1:54 to 1:58