A snagging inspection carried out this week revealed yet more breaches of Building Regulations. You would think that an electrician is familiar with Part P, but we often find errors such as this or sockets incorrectly wired or not wired at all. The below screen shot is from another snagging inspection carried out this past week.
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Whilst most of the issues we raise during a snagging inspection would fall under tolerances set by the likes of the NHBC / LABC, we also occasionally find issues that fall out of the jurisdiction of Building Regulations which are often stipulated for the purpose of safety, as shown in the example from today's inspection:
If one photo epitomizes our inspections carried out in December, I think this one does the trick nicely. This is a sign telling the heating engineer to ensure the fittings are tight, which is hung on a fitting that is leaking.
Merry Christmas everyone, We attended to a developer that considers itself a high-end builder yesterday, and yet it had numerous issues falling out of building regulations and NHBC tolerances.
It goes to show the importance of instructing a professional snagging inspection even when builder's have 5 star ratings, as in our experience it rarely makes any difference. Our busiest months snagging houses is undoubtedly June and December. This is not anything to do with homeowners wanting to move in before Christmas, rather it is in line with the majority of builders' financial deadlines.
In line with deadlines comes pressures on trades and the quality slips drastically... which is when we get the calls from homeowners who are shocked at the quality of house they have been given. If your completion is scheduled for December, we recommend booking your snagging inspection sooner rather than later to avoid disappointment. Whilst many of the issues on a snagging survey will be highlighting poor workmanship, we often find fundamental build issues..
Brick, render and stones are all porous and it is important for cavity trays to be installed to catch penetrating rainwater in the cavity and expel through weep holes. On this house all but 1 window had a cavity tray, and the failure to have installed it here was showing clear signs: the internal living room window reveal paintwork was peeling away and there was a high moisture reading to the bricks at the lintel where the water was trapped.
One of unique selling points as a snagging company is our ability and expertise checking for cavity wall insulation issues. The importance of cavity wall insulation is to prevent air flow as this allows heat to easily escape. As shown here in a new build snagging survey carried out by our inspector Lee just last week, this house had extensive voids and rubble.
The issue with rubble is that it can sit on wall ties or group between the block and brick and act as a conductor for damp ingress.
The attitude that a lot of builders will give in response to rectifying issues is that they build to tolerance. This is troubling to hear considering for an issue to be out of tolerance it has to be quite severe (noticeable to an untrained eye), so why do they aim to produce houses that are only meeting this standard?
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A Snaggers BlogHomeSnag inspectors are experts at inspecting new-build houses. This blog shares real examples to demonstrate the importance of getting your new build house or apartment snagged professionally Archives
August 2023
"I always insist that there is specific provision for snagging," says Thomas Moran, partner at law firm Speechly Bircham. "Reputable developers do this anyway, but there are all sorts in the market, some big, some small, so you need a contractual promise than within, say, a year they will come back to remedy any minor defects in the finishing." read full article here
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