Ed_MK

Well after looking into these for months. Both during the build and now its completed ...I have come to the conclusion that they are COBBLERS! Its REALLY sad that the only reason most of us take these out is to satisfy banks to get mortgages or to resell the house, as they are blatantly not worth the paper they are printed on ..the use of the word "warranty" is as close to a mis-description as you can legally get ! I have collated perhaps a dozen quotes over the last few months from virtually ALL available ..everything from 1500-5000 Quid and they all are basically the same animal ...and cover ...virtually NOTHING. Why do i say that ? ...surely not ....Well for example, for the first 2-5 years (of the ahem..10yr warranty) they will tell you almost certainly to go back to the trade/company that did the sub-standard work ...ah so its an 8yr warranty then? ..well not quite ...there are a list of exclusions and sub clauses that make a medical textbook look like a post-it note! ...Plumbing covered ....No. electrics Covered ...No ..Roof Covered ...No ....Windows and Doors ....Well No. What about the internal stuff ....Well mostly No ....In fact ANYTHING that is likely to fail is exempt or covered in that many codicils and exceptions its bloody useless! I mean if the house falls into a gaping hole in the earth...maybe ...but from what I am being told, when you DO claim you have to jump through that much tape and rings of fire to get anywhere it can take months (or years) to resolve ..and of course by this time you will have fixed it yourself....they KNOW this ... Banks insist on these for mortgages ...but they are getting virtually nothing ..It's just due-diligence in ignorance..Same with new buyers. some retrospectives dont cover the current occupier/developer at ALL ...but only pass on to any new buyer ...so if you have the house for 6 years ...that is wasted payment as the warranty is dripping away, well for what its worth anyway. Lets compare it to car insurance ....You have a bump ..You make a claim ..and you get paid out ....Simples says the meerkats! ...Now my car insurance is £300, and I am sure if it got damaged then I could get 10x that to have it repaired and not be out of pocket. Yes in the world of the Structural Warranty ...you can pay £3000 and the chance of claiming successfully and for anything like the full amount is close to ZERO, in fact after speaking to people I can't name a SINGLE person that is happy...most got (that famous Yorkshire Stately Home) ..BUGGER HALL Its just sad we have to fork out or hard earned for an A4 bit of paper that is less use than a few squares of Andrex ....I mean of course you may as well wipe your rear end on it .. but its not as soft and absorbent. Best thing to do ...IMHO ...Dont bother UNLESS you need to go cap in hand to the bank for a Mortgage/Loan and even then get the BARE minimum cover required, as long as they accept it as a proof of a warranty (doubled up with laughter cramp here!) ...and of course if you are selling it on as the buyer bank will want it too (more laughter cramps) ..but either way retrospective seems the way forward...If you take it from build inception the only thing you are left with at the end is LESS warranty period and paying a bit more normally for the "inspections" (painful laughter cramps now) ...oh yeah i forgot the inspections ...Thats where a guy with glasses and folder pulls up outside in a Vauxhall Insignia and stares through the Heras Fence at a few pallets of brick..If you are lucky he might poke his iphone in the gap and take a few snaps ...Well he has to prove he is "doing his rounds" to get paid. It allows your bank to wipe their hands of any responsibility for lending you money against a building that could be ropey...And it allows a MASSIVE gang of surveyors and engineers to "big up" the RISC boys revenue stream...Win Win? Except for us that is ....as ultimately we will be out of pocket, initially for the cost of paperwork and almost definitely for any work that will probably not be covered by it Yes...all true ...the only piece of paper worth less is Dianne Abbot's O Level Maths Certificate

Hi All, the issue we have is that we want to borrow some money to finish the cosmetics off. Basically a small mortgage We already have our Building Control Cert .. But one of the things in the bank mortgage advice states that for new builds, a NHBC warranty is "preferred" ...hmmm Also mentions title deeds ... Well we built the house ....so we dont have them..did a search on Google and advice differs ...some say that the Land Registry entry is sufficient, but some say that you need "more" ....list of owners since new, covenants, freehold details etc etc....so what do people consider to be OFFICIAL deeds these days ?

a lot of mine looks to be in the "joining" ....apparently as its over 40 metres it needs a "joint" ...not quite sure what for ...but that has put £700 in that price its the dearest joint i ever bought ! ?

i suppose .... its just getting near the end and finances are thin ..scratch that they are anorexic. <sigh> still cant work out who supplies and fits the meters

maybe they want us all to put windmills up in the back garden ....

7k! Do u live in the Orkneys ?

Hmmmm. i have just got my FINAL quote for service connections Water is expensive .....full of zonal charges and this that and the other .. with me digging the trench on own land it still is over £2000 (but we were told to expect that last year) Gas is not too bad ...again I am digging the trench and it is coming in at £800 I just got my electric one from WPD and i nearly FELL Over ....its almost £2500 notes ! I mean all they have to do is connect 1m (yes under 4 foot) on the pavement ...same as gas and then flop an armoured cable in my waiting trench I have notices the "quote" is full of the term "contestable charge" ....i take it that means i can haggle. ...well I have already tried that today and got the old "frozen scapula" thrust at me ... Am i getting done here? ....big time?? ...or does everyone on newbuilds get a Shock with electric ..(see what i did there?) I think i will have a cold bath in Flash Floor Cleaner ...just handling that quote has left me feeling financially abused and fiscally molested ???

i got frustrated and started just stuffing it in ....seems to be working ...fingers crossed

I LOOKED CRAIG ...BUT THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO MARKINGS ON IT i contacted he company that fitted it ...but as they have been paid and i have waited now over a week ...i am getting the impression they dont know ...or dont want me to know their supplier

Evening All. Its along story ...so i will condense. Basically Window company was supplying some bi-folds to go with our chartwell green UPVC theirs was aluminium ...and they asked is for a RAL ....we told then couldnt they just match it and that said they worked off RAL etc etc anyway the net result of all this is that RAL 6021 looks NOTHING like chartwell green ...far far darker So we decided to have them sprayed ...as the "blame game" was going on forever .... A company came out and try as they might they did not have a tape that would stick to the internal rubber seal to mask it ... no problem they said ....we will pull it out ....its a wedge gasket 5 minutes later they handed me a bunch of varying lengths of rubber and said "keep them clean and pop them in once its all dry and unmasked! I had to hand it to them their paint colour was SPOT ON ...but ..... when i went to put the gaskets in 2 days later ...no way would they go...tried using thin tools ..plastic tools euro wedges everything ... any more pressure and the glass would break for sure. Now along came the joiner and he noticed that around the aluminium doors was a detachable profile ...and after a bit of a wiggle and waggle it came loose BINGO ! ...so off i went with silicone spray and a plastic scraper and squeezed it into the profile ...as i THOUGHT it should go ....but it doesn't LOOK right and when i try to clip the profile back on its like there is TOO MUCH rubber on the other side or something ..it must be in wrong So i am hoping someone can tell me how to proceed ..I have some pics of the detachable profile and a rough image of the gasket cross section PS as you look at the pic...the LONG corner of the profile is the bit that sits deep in and effectively under the glass edge...and the tall flattest section is the one that faces into the sun-room. I know the bead MUST go into that rectangle notch some way ...but how is the question What a palava !

thanks for the advice guys ...and where was that coil price please ? The BCO hasn't signed it off yet ...but I am making sure that it is compliant with section H specifically the tank size / no of bedrooms and alarm if no redundancy is built in (single pump) and the fact we are running it to a mains sewer I cant see him having much objection ..but i will run it by him the alternative is cesspit ..and they seem to hate those

Pump station specs are nightmare to evaluate.. *Some systems are quoted as 3in when they are actually only 2.5" systems with a 3" external pipe outlet!..the terminology used is often "kitted to 3"" or "discharging through 3"" with no mention of the ACTUAL pump diameter anywhere ....bit naughty *Alarms are included on some ...but not others ..."Alert indicator" sounds fancy ...but its not an alarm its a red light on the pump to show its getting current *Guide rail and Guide Chain!?! are not the same as they seem ..Guide "chain" is just a bloody chain * Tank sizes are often quoted to discharge height which is how you would want it, i mean if its over that ...its knackered ...but often you will hear "brim capacity" which means basically to overflowing I have 4 quotes in front of me ...so I will make a decision on Monday

Sorry ..me again! does anyone know why the suppliers say am better running the 90mm pipe to the manhole 37M away ? If i was to Boss it up to 110 it would be a quarter of the price ...I take it they have their reasons ? (apart from getting another 400 notes from us)

engineer said on our ground 600mm would be adequate ....but we KNEW we sat low and wanted to basically minimise site waste AND make sure we were high enough for a long flow..so ASKED for a 1000mm "foundation" ( i KNOW they KNEW very well what we meant, and WHY we were doing it ... and we had a datum on the site too) But when it came to the pour we were told that the 1000mm we were quoted for wasnt 1000mm of concrete it included the base block and kick brick and these are 400mm and so based on OUR datum we are now 400mm BELOW where we thought ... So ..we have 60+ tonne of subsoil to move about ....and are now pumping up (sigh) It's done and dusted and I cant go over the old argument ...needless to say get any term clearly "defined" in writing...but now it is what it is

Yes ...and i think its what we have settled on after talking to Anglian Water contractors Basically on our side of the fence will be a 3in Single Pump (solid handling at 65%)with a 1000L tank, guide rails and Automatic Alarm the outlet will be at 500m below DPC it will feed into 90mm pipe and run 30 metres down the wall of our in-laws into a new manhole that they are installing and then gravity out to the main sewer a further 25m this will mean we can fall gradually to a trench that will only be a metre at MOST (if that) at the inlaws corner ..(which is well past the narrow between houses) I am getting prices of between £1500 and £2300 for this setup (almost identical) ..including all the fittings to take 2 x 4" waste feeds and am told i basically REPLACE the planned manhole wit this station ..and away we go! I cant work out why the costs vary a bit ....but i do know that a 50m roll of 90mm drainage pipe is lot of money anyone got any advice .... (or a coil of 90mm!)