Owning your own home

Yeah true, but only wages can be reduced as the raw materials cost what they cost.

I know some builders make a margin on materials but ours didn't.

Yeah I know it's not going to happen.

We recently moved into a new build property and the builders are working on one of the properties behind us. I went into the garage this evening and it looks like someone has drilled a hole through the wall from the outside, causing a chunk of brick to splinter away. My guess is that it is where they mount the final fencepost to the wall.

In many ways I’m sure it’s pretty inconsequential but I don’t like it. Is there anything I can reasonably get them to do to fix it?

1 Attachment

I'd been thinking the same thing recently.

I think you see the works happening everywhere, but the high end swanky looking stuff is mostly around the south east - i.e. you can get people to do the building, but fittings etc are all bought from nationwide suppliers (no northern discount for taps etc).

Nah, get t fook.
Even in the London.

Most of my family back home, where property prices are about 20% of London, have done loft conversions, extensions, etc

I took to copying in my solicitors, the buyer’s solicitors and the estate agent on every communication because then no fucker could claim thy hadn’t been informed about X or Y.
Seemed to wake up the buyer’s mob.

I expressed my frustration about the buyer’s solicitors to a contract lawyer friend and she said “do they have ‘law’ in their name?”

So to give yourself a better chance of not having a crappy factory conveyancer, avoid any firm with ‘law’ in their name.

See above.

Are you the first owner? It will likely have a 2 year or so guarantee on their work

I do think you get what you pay for with the legal mob. If you choose a solicitor based on a promise to to the job on a fixed low price, you can bet you’ll be dealing with an overworked junior most of the way. I had a paralegal that couldn’t spell, and who was evidently stressed and unsupported. She ended up going off sick and then no one would return my calls. Fortunately this wasn’t for a house purchase. I sacked them in the end. The admin was the only person who took my calls and she told me the partner was in a meeting with the legal ombudsman at one point, which says a lot.

Single skin wall? Cut the brick out and replace it.

If anyone is looking for a victorian style corner sink and mixer tap I've got one going for cheaps.

Bought it for our downstairs loo but it was too big for the space and I didn't get round to sending it back

Officially exchanged!

Keys on Thursday!

Congratulations well done mate!

Congratulations!

(Do you want any packing peanuts? Please take my packing peanuts. Please)

Actually suspect you aren't mad enough to attempt to do your own packing.

we got a ton of packing stuff from @Velocio and we will be self moving slowly as we want to leave most furniture in the flat while its still on the market..

Cheers, a close inspection suggests that the sealant is lifting a bit so will rake that out and replace at the weekend.

On the chimney breast, we had a damp "expert" (City Damp Proofing for those that are interested) that my girlfriend found to look at it.

Guy was a fucking cowboy as expected. Made a load of unnecessary holes with a damp meter, gave absolutely zero explanation as to why it may be damp and then, unsurprisingly, told us that the solution was a chemical damp proof course. All accompanied by some patronising "banter".

Obviously we won't be going with them which means we're still looking for someone to sort the damp if anyone has any suggestions for North London.

Yes single skin wall! I never considered that this would be a possibility but wouldn’t this be more damaging to a wall than the pretty trivial (but irritating) existing damage to the brick?

I'm in the process of buying a house. We've had the home buyers survey back and it's flagged some wet areas on the rafters due to the valley guttering needing repair/replacement. I've had a couple quotes from builders (~2/3k) and now I'm caught in two minds to whether going back with a revised lower offer (5k less) with the works in mind but being worried about the back and forth that will ensue and missing the land transaction tax deadline at the end of March (an additional 3k).

Nice work mate!

Would they not need a party wall agreement to be doing anything to your wall? You can't go round attaching stuff to other people's houses. Not sure what can be done to sort it, but definitely worth having a strong word with them.

contact the site manager and get them to make the repair

What @villa-ru and @musa said + hammer sausages in to their faces

I would have thought it’s worth asking the question.

Since it’s all part of the same new build estate I’d assume they have the relevant permissions already, but I’ll add it to the growing list of things they need to fix.

I might need to jump over the wall this evening check I didn’t do the same thing when fitting shelves inside the garage! It would be embarrassing if there were 10 identical holes on the outside of the wall!