shabby work: House near completion

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lamai

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I have paid a deposit last year on a house that is near completion.

Some of the plastering work in the house was very poor. My mate who does some snagging work says that I would find it hard to get the builder to replaster some of the walls. So I left it, but now the plumber has been in and some of his work is messy. Then the carpenters work is not good and I know to fix it they will need to pull of frames to replace wood etc. and then the painters will have to repaint it.

I am prepared to let some stuff go but I think some of the work they are just taking the ****! So I rang the foreman and told him, he said he would have a look. But I feel that when I give them a snag list they will do half of the work. I have worked on sites before I have seen how it works. So I think it will come to a stage were I might have to get my solicitor involved what advice could you people give me.

As I have paid a deposit of 8% does the builder have to complete the work or could he just hand me back my money and sell the house to someone else.
 
Did you sign and exchange contracts? And building agreements? If you dont know you will have to ask your solicitor whether a binding contract is in place. If it is, then you have certain protections under the building agreement as work should be of a reasonable standard. You can't usually delay closing for minor matters but there seems to be an accumulation of defective work here. The day you hand over the balance of money you should ensure you are happy with the work done otherwise you will find it very difficult to get the builder back in afterwards. If I were in your shoes I would certainly pursue this firstly directly with the builder, and if he doesnt help then through your solicitor.
 
I think you should be more concerned with the heating, plumbing, gas, ventilation, and electrical work. Cosmetics while annoying can not kill you.
 
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If the work you can see is sloppy I can only imagine what you can't see is like. My own snag list was about 10 pages long and they did about 80% of it. I gave up on the rest. But years later I'm still finding stuff they didn't do right.
 
i am getting the house snaged by a friend who does this. so he will do all the snaging for the plumbing etc. but in the mean time i can see all these other things,I have worked on sites before so i know what is expected.and the work is just not good enough.and you may say that it is only on the outside and it won't harm your house, i don't care i am paying alot of money for this house as anyone else is nowadays. and i won't stand for it.I would not feel right going into someones house and making a mess of it, I have to be held responsible in my job, so why can't these cowboys be!!
 
You pay hundreds of thousands at the minimum for a house. Its not acceptable the the finish should anything less than excellent.
 
It took me 5 months and 4 snags to get the builder to finish my place to what i considered an acceptable state. The builders will try and get away with not doing it in the hope that you give up.

If you are prepared to wait then just keep giving them a full snag list and copying it to your solicitor every time you re-snag. Don't do it with the odd phonecall and dropping down to the builder - document it and submit it formally every time. Otherwise they just won't take you seriously.
 
It depends on the build. A friend house was very well finished. His snag list was less than a page long and most of it was very minor.
 
Send in the snag list and follow it up with a call to the builder, high lighting the important things, also let him know you work in construction and know what you should be expecting (in a nice way of course).

Most foreman want to do a good job and will generally be happy to oblige.
 
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