Although you might presume it’s going to be a breeze, buying a new-build home can often be a quite problematic start to climbing up the property ladder.
They certainly look the part, are fitted with all the latest mod cons and don’t come with the worries that older properties often do – but upon closer inspection, you can start to find some serious faults.
Whether it’s simply down to shoddy workmanship or the issues just somehow slipped through the cracks remains up for debate, however, the developers behind this new-build need to come up with a very clever excuse to defend this disaster.
Take a look at this sorry state of affairs:
Imagine forking out a whopping £265,000 for your dream home only to find out that the builders couldn’t be bothered to finish the job and that ‘imperfect’ was a generous way to describe it.
There would be hell to pay if that was my pad, that’s for sure.
It turns out that ‘snagging inspectors’ are the unsung heroes of the property world who help people who have just purchased new-builds find all the problems with your home which is supposed to have all the bells and whistles.
They track down troublesome issues such as leaks, heating faults, poor joinery and structural issues which developers fail to point out to potential buyers – and this firm had a field day in this residence near Edinburgh.
TikTok/@newhomequalitycontrol
New Home Quality Control (NHQC) were recruited to comb through a pricey new build situated close to the Scottish capital and they decided to dually educate social media users on the issues which can commonly arise in them.
The business, which dubs itself the ‘UK’s number one snagging company’, shared a video to TikTok detailing the various problems which the property had which would cause the homeowners serious headaches in the long run.
Filming each bizarre find he made, one NHQC employee explained that the issues were both inside and out of the pad which was constructed by residential property developer and builder Bellway.
He explained that a gas metre box had been ‘installed poorly’, meaning that it was tricky to make out the readings and that opening the lid ‘damages the rough cast’.
TikTok/@newhomequalitycontrol
Describing his first snag discovery as ‘shocking’, the lad then moved onto the issues he spotted with the placement of the air bricks – which allow ventilation to enter under the floor and prevent moisture build up.
Continuing the tour in the clip that was shared in 2022, he said: “We should really have a 75mm gap between the air bricks and the ground level, but look at this, it’s a recurring issue.
“We’ve got a poor finish left inside of the patio doors, we’ve got screws missing to the bottom gate hinge, we’ve actually got a broken screw there.
“Right hand side of the ensuite hand basin is smashed up, nice. This light switch is loose. Lovely.”
But the bloke was most taken aback by the way the construction company had left the area under the stairs.
TikTok/@newhomequalitycontrol
He fumed: “I’d really like to know if anyone from Bellway is watching, is this the correct finish for under the stairs?
“Because surely you’d finish it with plaster board, no? We’ve got CLS on show that’s just been painted, we can see all the underside of the stairs, all the components are showing, I mean really. Is this the finish for under the stairs?
“The clients paid just under £275,000 for it, I mean, we can see the joists. What’s going on here? We’ve also got fixings missing underneath the stairs, absolutely shocking.”
Social media users were left stunned by the state of the place, especially for a price tag of that size.
One said: “Absolutely SHOCKING.”
Another wrote: “You’ve put me off ever being slightly interested in buying a new build.”
TikTok/@newhomequalitycontrol
A third added: “State of that! I’d never buy a new house, they just get thrown up, no respect for the work.”
A spokesperson for Bellway told Edinburgh Live: “Bellway is a Home Builder Federation (HBF) 5 star housebuilder with 9 out of 10 customers recommending us to family or friends.
“This coveted award reflects our commitment to delivering exceptional quality as standard to our customers, throughout our construction process, in the homes we create, and in our aftercare and customer service.
“Our customers have peace of mind knowing they have a 2-year warranty from Bellway, with further insurance protection from the National House Building Council (NHBC) for the first 10 years – from initial completion.
“We would encourage any of our customers who are not completely satisfied to contact us directly and give us the chance to put things right.”