I was a joiner, city and guilds advanced certificate, 5 year apprenticeship, always took pride in my work. Strangely enough, back in the day, the old sweats always wore a shirt and tie, overalls, pencil behind the ear. Most of the so called tradesmen you see now look as though they’re on day release from prison..
Bang on about the old boys. I started my apprenticeship in '84, working in a factory and I still work in one now. Many of the old school shift men came to work wearing a shirt n tie. Professional pride in what they were was reflected in everything they did.
@@mojorisin8368 NVQ. Brought in as an attempt by commerce and the Govt to provide a quick fix to the systemic lack of investment in all trades over the previous 20 years. An indentured tradesman or an NVQer to work on anything in my house? I know what I'll pick, every time.
I’ll be honest I bought a Bellway homes for six years ago and there was so many snagging problems half of them Bellway refused to resolve Some of them they even didn’t acknowledge or even a problem
A colleague of mine purchased a new house, they were careful with him has they found out he used to a QS for a large building company. However, his neighbour had issues, she took photo's of all the snags and place them on the inside of her car windows, and parked the vehicle outside the showhouse, there were over 100 faults, and the car remained there till the developers sorted all the faults and paid for the independent survey, took them around 7 months.
Mate of mine had to wait almost 2 years before he had a internet line put in and 8 months before they made his drive way. Now it got to the point where he was living in a Travelodge so as he could actually do his job - he was in freelance cyber security. Ended up getting a solicitor involved, lots of money later, he was still unable to back out of taking ownership of the house. To this day, the driveway still needs replacing as the bricks had sunk and flooded. The house cost £320k+thousands more in solicitor fees and hotel expenses.
That’s a great idea. The new build flat I bought in Crawley many moons ago (have since sold) was built by Fairview and they employed a nasty clamping company on day one. Those thugs would have clamped that car instantly. Poor first time buyers were being clamped while moving in ffs but there were no spaces as the road wasn’t even built. Fcuking scandalous.
@@taffman1 yeah the new build estate road was private I guess for a long time and way before the clamping rules were changed. Often the police would be called but had no powers whatsoever. Nasty nasty people those clampers.
I'm a domestic cleaner and fixtures and fittings in every new build house I work in are appalling. Bathrooms in particular seem to be very low quality, and most of the internal doors are little better than sheets of cardboard. I love working in old victorian/20's/50's homes, the new builds are just a depressing task.
My Brother purchased a bellway house in Hassocks West Sussex, i snagged it for him when he got the key. One side of a4 in 20 minutes of little bits and bobs. Ground level at front of house above dpc 🤷🏻♂️ . I caught one of the Bellway bods walking past to point this out and her reply was ‘ i sell the houses I don’t build them’ Absolutely ridiculous !
It's very easy to criticise other peoples work ,are you that perfect in your job ?.a lotvof the time people need to manage there expectations, I bet over 50 percent of your snags fell within in the limits of nhbc guidence.
@@peteramberley9952as a carpenter it isn't that hard the company I work for do single builds there is a snagging list but it is always minor bits that get done the same week or two before the place is even handed over and finished. There isn't any excuse. Half the reason for the shit quality is they put them on price work so it literally incentivizes them to do shit quality work as its the quantity that gets them money
@afriendlycadian9857 I agree in what your saying but can't compare single build too large volume house builders which now days are only interested in profit and are under pressure for deadlines and there managers / directors bonuses.but a lot of the problems as you say are subbies working on price and not giving a shit about anyone else and if they get goonered they will start again Monday for someone else
Working in the finishing trades is a nightmare as you have to fix all the previous cowboy work to get your own job done. Shocking, but happy it's now in the spotlight. Great video.
I think that's why the masonry snags are my favourite. You know a brickie is going to have a fantastic day coming back to fix some of the shockers in these videos.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, you Sir are an absolute legend, I’m sometimes embarrassed to be a human being with shoddy and dodgy work like that, kind regards to you Mark from Billericay 👍☀️☀️😀🇬🇧🏡
@@stephenc1795 Because they made it so private builders have to get building inspections approved, but Thatcher made it so private inspectors are a thing and no longer require council or local gov to do it. So here you have classic example of corruption being very easy to accomplish.
When I was a bricklayer in the late 90s if the brick was out you had to replace it so you would make triple sure everything was spot on build as if your building your own house and take pride in your work, are teachers at college if it was out of plumb for level by 5ml you couldn't fix it the teacher would kick it down so you would learn, it laziness on terrible workmanship. They need to learn how its done right. Keep up the good work
Just think, this is the now normal standard for houses being built...and people wonder why I don't want to spend £300,000 on a house that isn't even level. Quite literally the houses that Jack built. Get them up, sell them, profit profit profit.
Fantastic video. Me and my boss do external work to houses (painting render, woodwork, replace uPVC frames and windows). We get called out to loads of new builds in North Manchester for various problems. Example, lady calls to say her bedroom window frame 'weeps' when it rains. Eh? Go to the house, and yes, the main bedroom window frame is leaking water, but from where? Knock out the bottom beading and there's a gush of water! Take all the rest of the beading out, take out the sealed unit and discover the window frame has been installed upside down, and the drain holes are at the top, not the bottom of the frame.... Checked the other frames, all the ones upstairs are upside down, downstairs all correct. Bizarre! Next, called to another new estate, customer complaining there are draughts in all the rooms. Outside we looked at all the window frames and found under every cill there was gaps from a few mm's to an inch, and all filled in with black foam, not expanding foam and finished with silicone, but strips of black foam. Told the customer that they should really get the developer in and sort it out as the workmanship was shocking on a £299,999 house!
Dude I have been seeing this sort of thing for many years on many sites. UA-cam wasn't as big as it is now when I was fitting kitchens on site or I would have done videos of what I came across. I have been unable to work for over 13 years now but more of this needs to be shown. Your doing a great job keep it up I have many stories I could tell including one where I was threatened by the area manager of one major builder to fit a kitchen or never work in the Midlands again after I refused to fit a kitchen because the plasterer had only just finished skimming. I can only imagine what problems the buyer had with that house.
You should name and shame that manager. I have also come across arrogant bosses like that in my time and guess what they never get the better of me. They might think that they are at the top of the tree but guess what there is always someone higher than them. Bigger they are the harder they fall.
Haha yeah, I worked for a wanker like that once, he thought the world had to stop turning for some shit little extension or something, he wouldn't graft though, lazy twat, pure bully, full of shit, they all are, seriously I would be embarrassed to admit I worked for them never put them on cv for a reference, laughable cowboys
That’s a palace compared to the Bellway home I purchased. Their attempts to resolve issues generally made them worse and they tended to break something else while they were in. I estimated they did around £35k in remedial works and most of the time we ended up paying professionals to come in afterwards. They refused any compensation for our out of pocket and their regional director just told us to take them to court. We gave up and sold after 3 years. Never again!
I was surprised someone bought my House it was a Bellway but I had been through a lot of snags and like you said more times than not I at to get someone to come in after and redo the work and it ruined a lot of the pleasure of buying a new House, the sales people went from being pleasant to me to making me feel I was the only one complaining on the whole Estate and were quite catty to me I just at to get out the NSBC is not worth the paper it is written on
If you buy a New Built House employ a surveyor to check everything before you pay for the house and move in. You shouldn't have to but it's wise £600 or so to a Surveyor saves a lot of distress and a good builder checking as well it's cheap against the problems you will have to solve later. These videos are yes 'Absolutely shocking" well done for making them.
Hello mate, Aussie viewer with some experience in the local industry here (not a builder but a technician who's worked on the big stuff and the small stuff, new and rebuilds). Not a tiktoker but I've been loving your content and appreciating getting a bit of an education about the UK residential construction industry, absolutely fuckin' shocking and no mistake. As a Greatest Hits compilation this was a top effort, keep kicking arse and taking names my son. Cheers
When i started off in the building trade as a lad i was lucky to work with some top craftsmen . If i built something wrong i’d get a boot in the ass a whack round the back of the head and i’d be ripping it down and rebuilding it. If the trades are getting away with ‘close enough is good enough’ blame the higher ranks for letting it slide.
I learned my business on worksites a bit later than you mate, never got a clip over the ear but was definitely made to feel like a complete fuckwit for doing something stupid on a few occasions. It definitely made me better at my job (not doing that again ffs!) and probably also made me a bit stronger as a person, better able to take a bit of criticism and improve. Pretty sure all that kind of thing is illegal due to "potential emotional distress" and whatnot these days. Cheers ;)
Yep I was lucky enough to work with some really good tradesmen back in the 90's, my dad being one of them. From what I've seen, there aren't many old boys on site nowadays, all young 'uns.
Don't think you know what your talking about. The standerds in the 80s and 90s was horrific. You cant even compare them with the standerds expected off nhbc now. I know ive worked in each decade!! The differnce is there was no internet in those days. If you sent a 'snagger' round the 'good old houses' they would be alot worse than today's modern houses. @MonstaTrapz
You do brilliant work and it's a real eye opener to see what can go wrong. Also can't believe you come up to Scotland and caught the only sunny day of the year. 🙂
I was chatting with the neighbour about how our 1970s houses are not worth the money we paid for them and she said that her friend who bought a new built in Bristol area for a 400£ k mortgage cant even hang a mirroir on her wall...what are the prospects of those homes, sounds like they will fall apart in 15 years, way before the mortgage is paid off..
The crack in the house is heavily concerning yet common issue - newbuilds are bult in rapid speed, so foundation have no time to set in. Back in country where i come, we usually did foundation in autumn, then build rest after spring as the cold period was when most of soil sets in. First time i encountered the issue in UK was when did customer care for Barrat .... not only every single corner cracked, the whole house had crack across it in brickwork, and it was purley becasue of foundation moving .....
Yah, my mum moved into one and every room had “blown nails” in the plaster exposing the scrim tape and carpet was littered with plaster. “Oh it’s drying out” they’d say like it was acceptable. It was the fricken show house too. Her snagging list was shockalockalockin’
@@FuknNoName i have done 2 houses in UK as snagger, and boy the list of things .... i had around 50 pictures ... for house that cost them half a million ... i knew it will be bad but damn ....
I use to be a electrical test engineer for new build houses, covering Essex , Kent and London I never met a builder that was working on new builds that said he would buy a new house. Most work is done by subcontractors that then passed the work on to other subcontractors which was done by a mate for a price and the only thing that mattered is getting as many done in a day
Thank you for making people aware of what to look for, and for shaming the builders who clearly haven't been to college nor learnt properly on the job.
I went into the UK building trade in 1985. I was told at college that they were making changes to the courses to improve the standard and quality of the workmanship. Well I think it ain’t working. 🤪
Looking to buy a new home, these videos are invaluable. Now I know to stay away from Bellway and ill just look at Taylor Wimpey - thanks for the inside knowledge
I am a bricklayer of more than 46 years of trading and I don't understand why the work in the British Isles is so crap. Unfortunately the problems are down mainly to the large building companies who seem to be the only builders that are allowed to buy building land. Divide the large areas to be developed for housing amongst small and medium sized builders. Quality will increase because there will be more competition and you will also get a more eclectic mix of developments reather than the bland boring crap blighting the British landscape. In all my years of working I have never had to go back and correct anything. If I made a mistake I fixed during that working day or the next.
Loving your channel mate. My dad was a builder and always told me to buy council houses as they were the best made. He was a professional, sadly passed away 35 years ago. Now builders are all shoddy, young, weed smokers who don't care.
Depends on the era but pretty much dead on. 50s midlands estates were a bit cheap, post-war and all, but check out the 30s ones, very good still. The main issue council houses faced over time was lack of maintenance.
@@draconianTL Definitely. My house is 30's, Ex council house. Solidly built and was well maintained by whoever has had it over the years. Only had to replace the heating system and some new windows and doors. Always remember my Sister buying a new build in the 80's and my Dad just use to shake his head when he'd visit her, along with banging the plaster and getting his spirit level out. Explainig how badly built it was 😂
Omg this is shocking will have to keep our eyes open. We’ve always bought a new build 4times & never had the snag list this bad. Our last move was 22 yrs ago & we did our own list & the builder then Laing homes no longer in business. We had mattresses & vanity units in the garden the grass was of poor quality & the list was 10pages long. Thought the build quality would have improved now but guess it’s just as bad. Thank you for sharing your videos
How do some of these snags get fixed? Like the ground level being too high and air bricks covered, do they come back and lower the ground level? Brickwork out of tolerance, how do you even begin to rectify that, apart from knocking the house down and starting again? Internal walls out of tolerance, do they knock them down and start again? Genuinely interested to know how they rectify these issues. Please go back to a property and do a follow up video to show us if the issues ever get sorted.
Well I think that's the issue isn't it, most the issues don't actually get fixed. Because you probably do have to just, level it and start again for some of these issues they probably have a cost and risk analysis that basically makes the call. It's cheaper to just sell it as is, don't tell anyone and pay a small fine if they get forced to later down the line.
So what is the fine? I have a certificate from the developer saying it meets nhbc guidelines but it doesn't. Who fines them? Who rectifies the work or do the compensate you? Is the buildmark insurance null and void if you bring up the issues but it's not resolved?
I am building my third orangery in facebricwork on a Redrow site just outside Newport having to follow the existing brickwork . All three are at least 25mm high to gauge between DPC and lintol height. Totally unacceptable when I worked on sites over twenty yrs ago . And believe it or not Redrow have one of the better names in my area😂
Need more like you showing up these dodgey new building estates. I live in Devon and we have massive developements going up around our little seaside town. Over two thousand homes less than a mile away have been built over the last 2 years and more to come. On walking around the new estates in different states of build you can see the absolutely atrociuos lack of skill that is used. Then they cover it in render, plaster, mastic etc. A lot of the fittings used in and outside certainly aren't in keeping with the amount of money they are asking for these bodged built domiciles. It makes me cringe when I see people moving into some of these houses they have paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for. If only they had seen what I had as their newly acquired home was being built, sad very sad.
I'm in Devon and I have my own little Roofing firm. You wouldn't believe the state of some of the roofs and how many we have repaired or had to reroof. It's honestly mind blowing, oh well, it guarantees me work for years to come, at least.
I did the turfing at a luxury development in Malvern back in the late 1990s Bovis had built a £500k house on the local dumping grounds for a hospital, we spent weeks getting the broken glass out of the ground before we could lay the turf. They must have known, it was on the surface from day one. Your vid shows nothing changes. Depressing, even our crappy wonky 30s property (built by apprentices by the looks of it) is better than some modern hovels.
Hard to believe these tradesman don't actually do it on purpose. Mistakes happen but lots of these almost seem intentional. Don't know how they sleep at night!
David Wilson are Persimmon basically. The only house builder i tend to work on is Jelson Homes. One of the much better firms but have been slipping recently. At least theyre built well so we can put a good roof on them.
Two words " absolutely shocking" 😂 ... No seriously you should see some new houses built by Dennis Family homes in Australia ... Just absolutely shocking!!
I love these videos. Although I don't live in a new build I now have serious doubts about the last 5 trades I have let through my door, things I have seen and thought were normal and acceptable before am now suspecting each and everyone of them may have lifted my leg. The building trade needs to fall on its arse again! Also don't local councils inspect building inspectors to sign this shit off on the new builds. Last time I saw mine he had a nice tan from his holidays, wonder who paid for that fecker?
I’m a stonemason/bricklayer with 35 years experience in the game … two C&G’s … please don’t buy a new house … I only work on property that’s old and solid …
I'm not a builder or involved in a trade in any way. Is it even possible to fix a lot of this stuff? For example, the ground level being too high to the airbricks or the walls not being plumb?
You can't fix it to make it correct as such, but if the walls are garbage you can try to shore them up they're sturdy enough despite not being vertical. Also there's margins in a lot of building regulations that make sure mistakes (illegal ones) don't become dangerous.
I just remembered, many years ago, early eighties, looking around a show house, Barrett’s, the first thing I noticed while in the living room was daylight coming through under the front bay window!!!
I used to operate telescopic handler. I would not touch new house with barge pole. Council had a dwarf building inspector. Who never went above grojnd level onto first floor etc. Could not make it up.
Many years ago, as a major supplier to the construction industry, one of my customers when he heard I was looking to move locally, a national house builder offered me a new build with a 40% discount, and choice of plot, wow, I purchased a old build, built in 1930, I was moving from a 1870 build- guess what, it was built correctly.
Because rules have changed. It used to be that all the houses on site were checked, now they are only required to do a percentage so the housing company cherry picks the best to be inspected
I`glad my house was built in the 30`s,,solid as a rock and any work needs doing, i do it myself ...i can only blame myself if i`m not happy !....They`ve just built 60 new homes around the corner and i bet you would have a field day there .....
Anyone had any experience with wain homes or bloor? We’re looking at both of those developers and there builds look pretty good compared too a lot ,but I’m not a builder and the house is going too be our retirement home so we’re looking for a home which is well built . Any advice or recommendations are welcome we’re looking in the greater Manchester area
Always get a pro snagger if you are thinking of buying a newer or new house. Project Managers fu** things up so much due to so many constraints, the QC and anything resembling quality is just thrown out to save money, time and meet ridiculous deadlines.. With deadlines like that, just don't bother building cardboard toilets for people to pay for life and live in... The only way I'd eve rbuy a new build is if i bought the land and had the house built to my specs. Waiting to win the lottery first lol.
At least there was a half hearted attempt at ironing in the pointing. I know some one who bought a Red Row house, but it was built during the covid lock down. There is also the problem of 'price work' where the contractors cut the prices for work so low the technitians have to work flat out. Then there is the give the Clerk of the Works a 'bung' to pass it, but even so, the workers who put that together, threw them up. They are worse than 1970's council houses. The cement ratio is one to four, not one to six. My friend took photographs. The brick guaging looked like a 12 year old had done it. I don't know how much immigrant labour, if any, were involved with that, but the trade is notorious for employing unskilled , unbqualified people because they can't get the staff, and in the eighties I found i was working with did a six month government training course for a brick layer, he was useless. I doubt from experience the workers were given enough time to do the job properly and most of them were not up to it in the first place. Nothing has changed. I did see a housine project in Wales I was very impressed with. Properly ironed in pointing, right cement sand ratio, neat guaging and the inside was finished properly. Nice square ceilings and wall.
It's a common thing nowadays, and they're allowed to get away with it too. I had a similar experience with David Wilson homes. Those absolute amateurs built my house and when I moved in i found a broken window, my French doors wouldn't open fully cos the hinges would smash holes in the plaster on the walls. Massive gaps between skirting board and the wall. Dented front door etc. Plus I didn't even get any compensation and when I phoned them there was never any management available to talk to.....how convenient!! Totally incompetent cowboys.
I don't know how common it is but I've heard of a new limited company being set up to do the building and when complete it all gets wound up leaving no-one to chase for the problems.
Seen that before on kitchen base units, usually 2 plasterboard screws or whatever can be found on the floor. Pisses me off as I take my time when I fit kitchens, always using 100mm screws for the base units. Happens a lot with a certain kitchen company that has lots of multi fit teams.
Is this a result of the new fashion to 'buy off the plan' rather than wait until the house has been built before you hand over your money? One thing I've noticed about new builds is that they never seem to mix the packs of building materials so when complete you have a large and ugly patchwork on the walls and roofs. Years ago a brickie would collect bricks from two or three stacks and lay them randomly, the same with roofers when they do the roof.
I have over the years fitted several kitchens and shower rooms myself as we have moved. Having seen these cowboys I am now going to give myself a break. I would never as an amateur been happy with any of these jobs. I was a trained mechanic and I think all decent tradesmen work to a certain standard and to a 3 step method 1 Having check what needs doing complete the job to a good standard 2 Check the job is correct and complete before being satisfied with your work 3 Tidy up after yourself Basic really is it not.
Genuine question. If you buy a house with defects like you have shown where do you stand with getting things put right, it in fact you can put things like out of plumb brick??
It's rather doubtful you were able to figure out what's multiple separate occupations in one go. A more likely version is you did what seemed best to a DIY approach, resulting in something that has a lot of potential issues. Lemme guess: Wooden walls with overlapping boards for the outside? You've had no calculations done on your insulation fire rating?
@@SanderSA-ny3lh there is no manual trade you can not teach yourself to do. In my experience tradesmen are taught how to do it wrong on site, then walk away after 3 years and consider themselves "qualified". Every single regulation is freely available online, just slow down, read and do it, if you cock it up then pull it down or take it back and try again, when it's your own build you start as you mean to finish, correctly.
I was a joiner, city and guilds advanced certificate, 5 year apprenticeship, always took pride in my work. Strangely enough, back in the day, the old sweats always wore a shirt and tie, overalls, pencil behind the ear. Most of the so called tradesmen you see now look as though they’re on day release from prison..
They probably are.
Bang on about the old boys. I started my apprenticeship in '84, working in a factory and I still work in one now.
Many of the old school shift men came to work wearing a shirt n tie.
Professional pride in what they were was reflected in everything they did.
I couldn't give a shit what they wear as long as they do the job properly.
@John Martinez Unfortunately you won't find that out until its too late. That's why first impressions matter. It's not rocket science.
@@mojorisin8368 NVQ. Brought in as an attempt by commerce and the Govt to provide a quick fix to the systemic lack of investment in all trades over the previous 20 years.
An indentured tradesman or an
NVQer to work on anything in my house?
I know what I'll pick, every time.
As someone who owns a flat and will soon be selling it to buy a house this channel is an one of the most important ones I’ve ever subscribed to.
I’ll be honest I bought a Bellway homes for six years ago and there was so many snagging problems half of them Bellway refused to resolve Some of them they even didn’t acknowledge or even a problem
Don't buy new!!!
A colleague of mine purchased a new house, they were careful with him has they found out he used to a QS for a large building company. However, his neighbour had issues, she took photo's of all the snags and place them on the inside of her car windows, and parked the vehicle outside the showhouse, there were over 100 faults, and the car remained there till the developers sorted all the faults and paid for the independent survey, took them around 7 months.
Mate of mine had to wait almost 2 years before he had a internet line put in and 8 months before they made his drive way. Now it got to the point where he was living in a Travelodge so as he could actually do his job - he was in freelance cyber security. Ended up getting a solicitor involved, lots of money later, he was still unable to back out of taking ownership of the house. To this day, the driveway still needs replacing as the bricks had sunk and flooded. The house cost £320k+thousands more in solicitor fees and hotel expenses.
The car is a brilliant idea
That’s a great idea. The new build flat I bought in Crawley many moons ago (have since sold) was built by Fairview and they employed a nasty clamping company on day one. Those thugs would have clamped that car instantly. Poor first time buyers were being clamped while moving in ffs but there were no spaces as the road wasn’t even built. Fcuking scandalous.
Couldn't clamp her car, as she parked it on a adopted highway.@@FuknNoName
@@taffman1 yeah the new build estate road was private I guess for a long time and way before the clamping rules were changed. Often the police would be called but had no powers whatsoever. Nasty nasty people those clampers.
I'm a domestic cleaner and fixtures and fittings in every new build house I work in are appalling. Bathrooms in particular seem to be very low quality, and most of the internal doors are little better than sheets of cardboard. I love working in old victorian/20's/50's homes, the new builds are just a depressing task.
Thanks for your hard work, domestic cleaning is hard work
So true..
@@pauliepaul3697 Why, is she cleaning your house?
@@robovac3557 he's shagging her
@@robovac3557
Your life got any better since posting this?
My Brother purchased a bellway house in Hassocks West Sussex, i snagged it for him when he got the key. One side of a4 in 20 minutes of little bits and bobs. Ground level at front of house above dpc 🤷🏻♂️ . I caught one of the Bellway bods walking past to point this out and her reply was ‘ i sell the houses I don’t build them’
Absolutely ridiculous !
brought ????????????????????????????????????????? bought
It's very easy to criticise other peoples work ,are you that perfect in your job ?.a lotvof the time people need to manage there expectations, I bet over 50 percent of your snags fell within in the limits of nhbc guidence.
Omg , who the fk is doing this work Def not tradesman, I'm not a tradesman but looking at this horror , vents , gable ends etc etc
@@peteramberley9952as a carpenter it isn't that hard the company I work for do single builds there is a snagging list but it is always minor bits that get done the same week or two before the place is even handed over and finished. There isn't any excuse. Half the reason for the shit quality is they put them on price work so it literally incentivizes them to do shit quality work as its the quantity that gets them money
@afriendlycadian9857 I agree in what your saying but can't compare single build too large volume house builders which now days are only interested in profit and are under pressure for deadlines and there managers / directors bonuses.but a lot of the problems as you say are subbies working on price and not giving a shit about anyone else and if they get goonered they will start again Monday for someone else
Working in the finishing trades is a nightmare as you have to fix all the previous cowboy work to get your own job done.
Shocking, but happy it's now in the spotlight. Great video.
I think that's why the masonry snags are my favourite. You know a brickie is going to have a fantastic day coming back to fix some of the shockers in these videos.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, you Sir are an absolute legend, I’m sometimes embarrassed to be a human being with shoddy and dodgy work like that, kind regards to you Mark from Billericay 👍☀️☀️😀🇬🇧🏡
its just market, it just works mate, pay the price for privatising the building industry! Thanks Thatcher!
@@SMGJohn How can you blame Thatcher for disgraceful standards and absolutely no concern as to how these houses were left.
@@stephenc1795
Because they made it so private builders have to get building inspections approved, but Thatcher made it so private inspectors are a thing and no longer require council or local gov to do it.
So here you have classic example of corruption being very easy to accomplish.
@@SMGJohn Wow I didn't know that, thanks for the info
When I was a bricklayer in the late 90s if the brick was out you had to replace it so you would make triple sure everything was spot on build as if your building your own house and take pride in your work, are teachers at college if it was out of plumb for level by 5ml you couldn't fix it the teacher would kick it down so you would learn, it laziness on terrible workmanship.
They need to learn how its done right.
Keep up the good work
Just think, this is the now normal standard for houses being built...and people wonder why I don't want to spend £300,000 on a house that isn't even level. Quite literally the houses that Jack built. Get them up, sell them, profit profit profit.
Fantastic video. Me and my boss do external work to houses (painting render, woodwork, replace uPVC frames and windows). We get called out to loads of new builds in North Manchester for various problems. Example, lady calls to say her bedroom window frame 'weeps' when it rains. Eh? Go to the house, and yes, the main bedroom window frame is leaking water, but from where? Knock out the bottom beading and there's a gush of water! Take all the rest of the beading out, take out the sealed unit and discover the window frame has been installed upside down, and the drain holes are at the top, not the bottom of the frame.... Checked the other frames, all the ones upstairs are upside down, downstairs all correct. Bizarre! Next, called to another new estate, customer complaining there are draughts in all the rooms. Outside we looked at all the window frames and found under every cill there was gaps from a few mm's to an inch, and all filled in with black foam, not expanding foam and finished with silicone, but strips of black foam. Told the customer that they should really get the developer in and sort it out as the workmanship was shocking on a £299,999 house!
I bought a new property in Turkey 20 years ago .Just sold it .The work was great .No problems at all .They could show these builders how its done.
Dude I have been seeing this sort of thing for many years on many sites. UA-cam wasn't as big as it is now when I was fitting kitchens on site or I would have done videos of what I came across. I have been unable to work for over 13 years now but more of this needs to be shown. Your doing a great job keep it up I have many stories I could tell including one where I was threatened by the area manager of one major builder to fit a kitchen or never work in the Midlands again after I refused to fit a kitchen because the plasterer had only just finished skimming. I can only imagine what problems the buyer had with that house.
You should name and shame that manager. I have also come across arrogant bosses like that in my time and guess what they never get the better of me. They might think that they are at the top of the tree but guess what there is always someone higher than them. Bigger they are the harder they fall.
Mate these big developers are just scumbags.
Haha yeah, I worked for a wanker like that once, he thought the world had to stop turning for some shit little extension or something, he wouldn't graft though, lazy twat, pure bully, full of shit, they all are, seriously I would be embarrassed to admit I worked for them never put them on cv for a reference, laughable cowboys
That’s a palace compared to the Bellway home I purchased. Their attempts to resolve issues generally made them worse and they tended to break something else while they were in. I estimated they did around £35k in remedial works and most of the time we ended up paying professionals to come in afterwards. They refused any compensation for our out of pocket and their regional director just told us to take them to court. We gave up and sold after 3 years. Never again!
At least you got rid of it!!
I was surprised someone bought my House it was a Bellway but I had been through a lot of snags and like you said more times than not I at to get someone to come in after and redo the work and it ruined a lot of the pleasure of buying a new House, the sales people went from being pleasant to me to making me feel I was the only one complaining on the whole Estate and were quite catty to me I just at to get out the NSBC is not worth the paper it is written on
If you buy a New Built House employ a surveyor to check everything before you pay for the house and move in. You shouldn't have to but it's wise £600 or so to a Surveyor saves a lot of distress and a good builder checking as well it's cheap against the problems you will have to solve later. These videos are yes 'Absolutely shocking" well done for making them.
Hello mate, Aussie viewer with some experience in the local industry here (not a builder but a technician who's worked on the big stuff and the small stuff, new and rebuilds).
Not a tiktoker but I've been loving your content and appreciating getting a bit of an education about the UK residential construction industry, absolutely fuckin' shocking and no mistake.
As a Greatest Hits compilation this was a top effort, keep kicking arse and taking names my son. Cheers
fair dinkum love from England mate 👍🏻
@@pauliepaul3697 Appreciate it Paul, have a good one matey ;)
I like the ''How would you like your ... sir?'' format the most 🤣
Thanks for the work you do. Though it must be difficult doing quality control on a complete absence of quality!
it's like doing an IQ test on someone with no intelligence 🤣
When i started off in the building trade as a lad i was lucky to work with some top craftsmen . If i built something wrong i’d get a boot in the ass a whack round the back of the head and i’d be ripping it down and rebuilding it. If the trades are getting away with ‘close enough is good enough’ blame the higher ranks for letting it slide.
I learned my business on worksites a bit later than you mate, never got a clip over the ear but was definitely made to feel like a complete fuckwit for doing something stupid on a few occasions. It definitely made me better at my job (not doing that again ffs!) and probably also made me a bit stronger as a person, better able to take a bit of criticism and improve. Pretty sure all that kind of thing is illegal due to "potential emotional distress" and whatnot these days. Cheers ;)
Yep I was lucky enough to work with some really good tradesmen back in the 90's, my dad being one of them. From what I've seen, there aren't many old boys on site nowadays, all young 'uns.
Don't think you know what your talking about. The standerds in the 80s and 90s was horrific. You cant even compare them with the standerds expected off nhbc now. I know ive worked in each decade!! The differnce is there was no internet in those days. If you sent a 'snagger' round the 'good old houses' they would be alot worse than today's modern houses. @MonstaTrapz
You do brilliant work and it's a real eye opener to see what can go wrong. Also can't believe you come up to Scotland and caught the only sunny day of the year. 🙂
Well done for giving the best firm a shout out
Brilliant stuff
I was chatting with the neighbour about how our 1970s houses are not worth the money we paid for them and she said that her friend who bought a new built in Bristol area for a 400£ k mortgage cant even hang a mirroir on her wall...what are the prospects of those homes, sounds like they will fall apart in 15 years, way before the mortgage is paid off..
The crack in the house is heavily concerning yet common issue - newbuilds are bult in rapid speed, so foundation have no time to set in. Back in country where i come, we usually did foundation in autumn, then build rest after spring as the cold period was when most of soil sets in.
First time i encountered the issue in UK was when did customer care for Barrat .... not only every single corner cracked, the whole house had crack across it in brickwork, and it was purley becasue of foundation moving .....
Yah, my mum moved into one and every room had “blown nails” in the plaster exposing the scrim tape and carpet was littered with plaster. “Oh it’s drying out” they’d say like it was acceptable. It was the fricken show house too. Her snagging list was shockalockalockin’
@@FuknNoName i have done 2 houses in UK as snagger, and boy the list of things .... i had around 50 pictures ... for house that cost them half a million ... i knew it will be bad but damn ....
I use to be a electrical test engineer for new build houses, covering Essex , Kent and London
I never met a builder that was working on new builds that said he would buy a new house.
Most work is done by subcontractors that then passed the work on to other subcontractors
which was done by a mate for a price and the only thing that mattered is getting as many done
in a day
Thank you for making people aware of what to look for, and for shaming the builders who clearly haven't been to college nor learnt properly on the job.
I went into the UK building trade in 1985. I was told at college that they were making changes to the courses to improve the standard and quality of the workmanship. Well I think it ain’t working. 🤪
Looking to buy a new home, these videos are invaluable. Now I know to stay away from Bellway and ill just look at Taylor Wimpey - thanks for the inside knowledge
Your videos are great. The only good thing about new builds 😂
I am a bricklayer of more than 46 years of trading and I don't understand why the work in the British Isles is so crap. Unfortunately the problems are down mainly to the large building companies who seem to be the only builders that are allowed to buy building land. Divide the large areas to be developed for housing amongst small and medium sized builders. Quality will increase because there will be more competition and you will also get a more eclectic mix of developments reather than the bland boring crap blighting the British landscape. In all my years of working I have never had to go back and correct anything. If I made a mistake I fixed during that working day or the next.
Loving your channel mate. My dad was a builder and always told me to buy council houses as they were the best made. He was a professional, sadly passed away 35 years ago. Now builders are all shoddy, young, weed smokers who don't care.
Depends on the era but pretty much dead on. 50s midlands estates were a bit cheap, post-war and all, but check out the 30s ones, very good still. The main issue council houses faced over time was lack of maintenance.
The Spec on building council houses was high grade than on private housing
@@draconianTL Definitely. My house is 30's, Ex council house. Solidly built and was well maintained by whoever has had it over the years. Only had to replace the heating system and some new windows and doors. Always remember my Sister buying a new build in the 80's and my Dad just use to shake his head when he'd visit her, along with banging the plaster and getting his spirit level out. Explainig how badly built it was 😂
Shocking workmanship and supervision, despite houses/land at astronomical prices. The tradies are not even up to DIY standard.
I think you may be my favourite new video's..so educational and funny. Well done..off you pop in your chopper to drop in on your next poor client. 😏🤣
Love your videos mate and long may they continue....
Omg this is shocking will have to keep our eyes open. We’ve always bought a new build 4times & never had the snag list this bad. Our last move was 22 yrs ago & we did our own list & the builder then Laing homes no longer in business. We had mattresses & vanity units in the garden the grass was of poor quality & the list was 10pages long. Thought the build quality would have improved now but guess it’s just as bad. Thank you for sharing your videos
Nice to see British Tradesmen still have pride in the finish of their work.
Are they British?
@@gpet23 Well they all can't be Polish and Latvian.
Silly question..
What happens when you've put your report in?
Are the problems corrected?
😂😂 this, the channel is brilliant been pissing myself for ages ...its absolutely shocking , thank you for your entertainment 👌
These companies should be quaking in their boots that you guys are picking up so much shoddy work!
How do some of these snags get fixed?
Like the ground level being too high and air bricks covered, do they come back and lower the ground level?
Brickwork out of tolerance, how do you even begin to rectify that, apart from knocking the house down and starting again?
Internal walls out of tolerance, do they knock them down and start again?
Genuinely interested to know how they rectify these issues. Please go back to a property and do a follow up video to show us if the issues ever get sorted.
Well I think that's the issue isn't it, most the issues don't actually get fixed. Because you probably do have to just, level it and start again for some of these issues they probably have a cost and risk analysis that basically makes the call. It's cheaper to just sell it as is, don't tell anyone and pay a small fine if they get forced to later down the line.
So what is the fine? I have a certificate from the developer saying it meets nhbc guidelines but it doesn't. Who fines them? Who rectifies the work or do the compensate you? Is the buildmark insurance null and void if you bring up the issues but it's not resolved?
Well you can pull out one brick and move your air brick where you want it. As for the out of plumb walls, you get to live with that.
The laugh is them stone wall toppers (domino) is exactly how the guy lays slabs on soil in the earlier clip.
The brickwork at 10.55 is beyond words. I thought Yosser Hughes had retired? Perhaps he subbed it to Stevie Wonder...
Ironically a blind person is actually better with their hands
The site agent needs a talking to ...how can this get passed...absolutely shocking 😅..great video...
I am building my third orangery in facebricwork on a Redrow site just outside Newport having to follow the existing brickwork .
All three are at least 25mm high to gauge between DPC and lintol height.
Totally unacceptable when I worked on sites over twenty yrs ago .
And believe it or not Redrow have one of the better names in my area😂
Need more like you showing up these dodgey new building estates. I live in Devon and we have massive developements going up around our little seaside town. Over two thousand homes less than a mile away have been built over the last 2 years and more to come.
On walking around the new estates in different states of build you can see the absolutely atrociuos lack of skill that is used. Then they cover it in render, plaster, mastic etc. A lot of the fittings used in and outside certainly aren't in keeping with the amount of money they are asking for these bodged built domiciles.
It makes me cringe when I see people moving into some of these houses they have paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for. If only they had seen what I had as their newly acquired home was being built, sad very sad.
I'm in Devon and I have my own little Roofing firm. You wouldn't believe the state of some of the roofs and how many we have repaired or had to reroof. It's honestly mind blowing, oh well, it guarantees me work for years to come, at least.
You should come to Poundbury. You would have a field day.
I did the turfing at a luxury development in Malvern back in the late 1990s Bovis had built a £500k house on the local dumping grounds for a hospital, we spent weeks getting the broken glass out of the ground before we could lay the turf. They must have known, it was on the surface from day one.
Your vid shows nothing changes. Depressing, even our crappy wonky 30s property (built by apprentices by the looks of it) is better than some modern hovels.
SHOKIN! 😂 nice video mate
And this is why prospective buyers should have a building survey. Shocking!
I can't believe the walls are so far out of plum, in my day there was no tolerance it was either plum or pulled down simple
And thus "winkle spanner" enters my vocabulary.
Hard to believe these tradesman don't actually do it on purpose. Mistakes happen but lots of these almost seem intentional. Don't know how they sleep at night!
It’s called not giving a flying fuck
Underpaid, overworked and most likely undertrained aswell, these cookie cutter homes are built to maximize profits at any cost.
The lads that make them are drooling idiots now, they just want to get down the pub. And they sleep fine because they don't give a shit.
As a general handyman i am constantly following ' professional work ' and usually rectifying it to a useful or indeed safe state...
It's the tip of the ice berg. Bellway churns out lots of substandard houses
I bet site managers shit themselves when this guy rocks up in his car 🤣🤣
David Wilson are Persimmon basically. The only house builder i tend to work on is Jelson Homes. One of the much better firms but have been slipping recently. At least theyre built well so we can put a good roof on them.
I love your clips and love the accent 😍
Who pays for the inspection? And what happens with the reports??. Well done for the help people receive from you
Two words " absolutely shocking" 😂 ...
No seriously you should see some new houses built by Dennis Family homes in Australia ... Just absolutely shocking!!
Great to see you celebrating good work too.
I love these videos. Although I don't live in a new build I now have serious doubts about the last 5 trades I have let through my door, things I have seen and thought were normal and acceptable before am now suspecting each and everyone of them may have lifted my leg. The building trade needs to fall on its arse again!
Also don't local councils inspect building inspectors to sign this shit off on the new builds. Last time I saw mine he had a nice tan from his holidays, wonder who paid for that fecker?
I’m a stonemason/bricklayer with 35 years experience in the game … two C&G’s … please don’t buy a new house … I only work on property that’s old and solid …
I'm not a builder or involved in a trade in any way. Is it even possible to fix a lot of this stuff? For example, the ground level being too high to the airbricks or the walls not being plumb?
You can't fix it to make it correct as such, but if the walls are garbage you can try to shore them up they're sturdy enough despite not being vertical. Also there's margins in a lot of building regulations that make sure mistakes (illegal ones) don't become dangerous.
"How'd you like ya brick work sir?" "I'd like it with a bit of suspension" Made me crease
Wait till the City and Guilds tradesmen hang up their tools in 10-15 years time this will be replicated on every construction site .
I just remembered, many years ago, early eighties, looking around a show house, Barrett’s, the first thing I noticed while in the living room was daylight coming through under the front bay window!!!
I used to operate telescopic handler. I would not touch new house with barge pole. Council had a dwarf building inspector. Who never went above grojnd level onto first floor etc. Could not make it up.
Keep it up dude.the sheep gag made me weak.👍
Many years ago, as a major supplier to the construction industry, one of my customers when he heard I was looking to move locally, a national house builder offered me a new build with a 40% discount, and choice of plot, wow, I purchased a old build, built in 1930, I was moving from a 1870 build- guess what, it was built correctly.
I live in a ten year old bellway and its absolutely SHOCKING! I do not know how building control signed it off.
Because rules have changed. It used to be that all the houses on site were checked, now they are only required to do a percentage so the housing company cherry picks the best to be inspected
Great videos, do you underground drainage quality checks ?
Quality workmanship! Good job houses are cheep !!!!!
I`glad my house was built in the 30`s,,solid as a rock and any work needs doing, i do it myself ...i can only blame myself if i`m not happy !....They`ve just built 60 new homes around the corner and i bet you would have a field day there .....
Thats atleast a punnet of plums out of plum 😂😂😂😂. Absolutly shockin!!!
Will you be posting responses or updated repairs! Be good to see how these girls respond to these inspections
Anyone had any experience with wain homes or bloor?
We’re looking at both of those developers and there builds look pretty good compared too a lot ,but I’m not a builder and the house is going too be our retirement home so we’re looking for a home which is well built .
Any advice or recommendations are welcome we’re looking in the greater Manchester area
Love your content! Keep up the laughs!!
Always get a pro snagger if you are thinking of buying a newer or new house. Project Managers fu** things up so much due to so many constraints, the QC and anything resembling quality is just thrown out to save money, time and meet ridiculous deadlines.. With deadlines like that, just don't bother building cardboard toilets for people to pay for life and live in...
The only way I'd eve rbuy a new build is if i bought the land and had the house built to my specs. Waiting to win the lottery first lol.
My new build house as got lots wrong with it, but they won't do anything as it's me who's got to pay for it.
At least there was a half hearted attempt at ironing in the pointing. I know some one who bought a Red Row house, but it was built during the covid lock down. There is also the problem of 'price work' where the contractors cut the prices for work so low the technitians have to work flat out. Then there is the give the Clerk of the Works a 'bung' to pass it, but even so, the workers who put that together, threw them up. They are worse than 1970's council houses. The cement ratio is one to four, not one to six. My friend took photographs. The brick guaging looked like a 12 year old had done it. I don't know how much immigrant labour, if any, were involved with that, but the trade is notorious for employing unskilled , unbqualified people because they can't get the staff, and in the eighties I found i was working with did a six month government training course for a brick layer, he was useless. I doubt from experience the workers were given enough time to do the job properly and most of them were not up to it in the first place. Nothing has changed. I did see a housine project in Wales I was very impressed with. Properly ironed in pointing, right cement sand ratio, neat guaging and the inside was finished properly. Nice square ceilings and wall.
I'm sure I've seen that site before, oh yeah it was on here in a 1000 bricks per day video
How many plums out of plum killed me 😂😂
It's a common thing nowadays, and they're allowed to get away with it too. I had a similar experience with David Wilson homes. Those absolute amateurs built my house and when I moved in i found a broken window, my French doors wouldn't open fully cos the hinges would smash holes in the plaster on the walls. Massive gaps between skirting board and the wall. Dented front door etc.
Plus I didn't even get any compensation and when I phoned them there was never any management available to talk to.....how convenient!!
Totally incompetent cowboys.
Best roofing I've ever seen
Well done for crediting reputable companies and naming the crap developments
How do you get over these problems? What can you do with brickwork 13mm out of plumb? Or ground level that's too high for the air bricks?
I don't know how common it is but I've heard of a new limited company being set up to do the building and when complete it all gets wound up leaving no-one to chase for the problems.
Seen that before on kitchen base units, usually 2 plasterboard screws or whatever can be found on the floor. Pisses me off as I take my time when I fit kitchens, always using 100mm screws for the base units. Happens a lot with a certain kitchen company that has lots of multi fit teams.
That car hold is a REAL SHOCKER!!
Is this a result of the new fashion to 'buy off the plan' rather than wait until the house has been built before you hand over your money? One thing I've noticed about new builds is that they never seem to mix the packs of building materials so when complete you have a large and ugly patchwork on the walls and roofs. Years ago a brickie would collect bricks from two or three stacks and lay them randomly, the same with roofers when they do the roof.
Now thanks to you my house is absolutely shocking and my wife is ridiculous
Make this man Minister for Building Inspections. Or something.
THAT BEARD? Absolutely shocking 😂😂
the garage is insane
These are absolutely Shocking!
Nice one lads, for some, it's there first buy...
I have over the years fitted several kitchens and shower rooms myself as we have moved. Having seen these cowboys I am now going to give myself a break. I would never as an amateur been happy with any of these jobs. I was a trained mechanic and I think all decent tradesmen work to a certain standard and to a 3 step method
1 Having check what needs doing complete the job to a good standard
2 Check the job is correct and complete before being satisfied with your work
3 Tidy up after yourself
Basic really is it not.
Genuine question. If you buy a house with defects like you have shown where do you stand with getting things put right, it in fact you can put things like out of plumb brick??
Should see what we did on the foundation on that house
Reminds me of Churcham Developments projects in Defford, Worcestershire. Yep, I do have the photos taken contemporaneously.
SHOW US THE BLOODY PHOTOS, OR IT DID NOT HAPPEN.
1:27 extra storage under the stairs !
I built my own house with no prior experience. After 8 years the only identifiable issue is fading paint in places. The house is rock solid.
It's rather doubtful you were able to figure out what's multiple separate occupations in one go. A more likely version is you did what seemed best to a DIY approach, resulting in something that has a lot of potential issues.
Lemme guess: Wooden walls with overlapping boards for the outside? You've had no calculations done on your insulation fire rating?
@@SanderSA-ny3lh there is no manual trade you can not teach yourself to do. In my experience tradesmen are taught how to do it wrong on site, then walk away after 3 years and consider themselves "qualified". Every single regulation is freely available online, just slow down, read and do it, if you cock it up then pull it down or take it back and try again, when it's your own build you start as you mean to finish, correctly.