Snags - what Developers are up to!!!

SPM

Hey there all,
I would like to raise peoples awareness of how badly the new houses are being finished off by developers in Ireland.
Firstly developers are greedy as hell and second they make my job hell. I am a surveyor and an engineer and have just set up a surveying business in Ireland after coming back from the uk. I cannot believe my eyes... I have not completed a snag with less than 150 faults since starting It appears that developers must be using child labour due to the standard of the "finished product" and here are just some of the things for you to watch out for...

1. poor preparation of surfaces prior to decoration
2. overflow pipe higher than water tank
3. poorly hung doors
4. fittings not horizontal or vertical
5. no ventilation hose fitted to extractor hood
6. hinges missing on tall fitted units
7. crap tiling nuff said
8. crap carpentry work - mitres & architraves
9. fuse box not properly attached
10. second coat of paint required to the entire area
11. plumbing installations behind kitchen units
12. Kitchen counter not sealed
13. No trap in washing machine/dish washer waste trap - stinks
14. uneven floor
15. wooden floor not fitted under skirting boards
16. Damage to doors and windows
17. toilets not properly fixed to floor
18. Grouting to tiling work
19. Mastic to bath and sink
20. Water pressure
21. kitchen units not closing flush
22. sink attachment method
23. not painting behind radiators
24. no handles on inside of airing cupboard
25. doors not closing properly.

and the list goes on if you have anything to add to the list, please do so.
I enjoy my job, but find it laughable the condition of the properties I have to inspect. I end up telling the foreman how to build a house from the bottom up most of the time.... do they think they can get away with it....

ircoha

I could double that list
the reason they get away with it includes the excess of demand over supply, the lack of inspection and the rampant corruption at all stages of the process from rezoning to completion.

Most developers will not even accept service of a snag list,
It will all be fine until a child gets poisioned with CO from heating system or fumes from incorrectly fitted toilets or fried with a faulty socket or falls out an upstairs window with faulty child lock and then there will be gnashing of teeth and some poor Pole or Slav or Lat or Chek or Esto or Lito foreman will be charged while the the developers will continue to live in their gated houses and fill the FF tent at Galway races.

Look at the mess re the pyrite: they are laughing at the owners

We get what we voted for.

Ps

after coming back from the uk

one way ticket?

SPM

ircoha wrote: »

Ps one way ticket?

I wish, things were going great till the bubble burst... Havent done a days work in about a month!!!! nothing selling at the mo... gone from 5-8 snags/surveys a week to absoultely nothing....

So I'm off to africa to build schools!

Mellor

Was the 150 snags per single house or per block of houses?

I could add some horrible ones to the list. I'm currently snagging a large development, and the contractor is a joke. Seriously some of the things I have seen, it is taking ages because I have to block of units (maybe 20 pages for 4-6 units), come back to check and point out which ones to need to be finished, the come back to recheck again. Then externals are separate.

The ones listed above are general bad worksman ship, I have come accross some real incompetance.
Some of the best include:

• Gas boiler flue discharging into the attic
• Soil Vent pipe finishing in the bathroom (at toilet level)

dfcelt

You really have to wonder how some of these houses get signed off. Its laughable to see some aspects but certainly not for a person who has shelled out 300k+ for a property. My sister moved into a 3bed semi (6months ago) & is lucky enough to have 2 cold taps in her wc downstairs :rolleyes: She'd just carpeted the upstairs bedroom (had yet to move in) when she noticed this. Got on to builder who was still on-site & he said she'd be better off leaving it as is cause they'd have to lift the flooring upstairs & it'd leave the place a mess The arrogance of some in this industry is shocking. Hopefully the slowdown in this sector will force them into a rethink but its doubtful.

yop

I see where you are coming from OP, my sis paid 500k for a house, talk about a pile of sh1te!!

They had to rip a line of bricks out over the bay window, why, because the forgot the damp course, in all 50 house!!!!!!! Then the put in a different mortar in the joint!!
When doing it they loosened a tile on the bay, and never fixed it, its in the eves now!!!

Last time I was up I had to fix 7 doors as they could not close, they had to tile the sun room 3 times, I am not kidding, each time they tiled it was sloped!!!!
Stairs creak, no internal insulation (its a timber frame) etc etc etc etc

No one checks them, they pay off the engineers, who have no pride in their work.

JOKERS, bit like our politicians, a rule onto themselves. Over paid jokers

davidoco

dfcelt wrote: »

Hopefully the slowdown in this sector will force them into a rethink but its doubtful.

Hopefully they will get plenty of time to think about it when they are back labouring for a brickie.

MugMugs

yop wrote: »

No one checks them, they pay off the engineers, who have no pride in their work.

Hi There,

I am from Dublin and heading to Louth soon enough however have hit a brick wall !

I cant find a snagger that I am happy with. I phoned a guy who did my mates place but he refuses to leave Dublin full stop ! He did tell me though to be careful of a crowd I was considering as they dont really snag whats important. He said that the run of the mill guys you get just focus on stuff like paint cracks and skirting boards and dont pay any attention to the important stuff like Structural integrity, Cracks and so on....

Can anyone suggest a good snagger for me ? Even if you cant post public and could PM me I would appreciate it.

sinnerboy

add to list

1 - omits fire collars to svp and rwp s passing through appartment floors
2 - balconies , to be drained to falls , more like paddling pools
3 - when in en suite bathrooms - crouch down to floor level - is the partition base not genlty arching above the floorboards ?
4 - self closing fire doors - don't
5 -smoke seals missing from fire doors
6 -air vent louvres fitted inside and out . No ope however .
7. sw drain discharges to foul ( now how did THAT happen ? ) don't let them away without a CCTV inspection ( Certifying architect I mean - beyond scope for snagger I suggest )
8. Party wall / roof fire stopping ommited ( site visit 1 - tiles on site - will have rockwool for next visit - site visit 2 - all tlies in place , "we have photos" Site Visit 3 - camera lost / broken / virus ate photos . Strip back tiles no rockwool ( now how did THAT happen ? ) - go back to site visit 1 and repeat untill your sanity is exhausted as long as well as your fee income . Client wonders if you are "not a little fussy ?"
9. Break up for Christmas and leave partly installed rwps to saturate gable end walls . Dry by Paddys Day - All's well that ends well ( Ok I know I am moving away from snags here but I'm on a roll )
10. Intumscent paint to steel support beams - similar to item 8 . Plaster was cut down , ceilings were redocorted . He tried to claim Dayworks!
11. Stepped DPC's not stepped . Or missing . Or stepped but choked with mortar
12. turn on shower - soak the kitchen ( trap not connected )
13. Gypsum under WC "for tiler" . WC rocks like Bon Jovi

BASTARDS

mcguiver

I drove across the country a few years ago to do my snag list, after a quick run around I called in the Foreman and asked him to show me one room that he would be happy with....he couldn't.

Supply and demand, for the last decade we were quing up to buy, things are changing.

Mellor

sinnerboy wrote: »

add to list

1 - omits fire collars to svp and rwp s passing through appartment floors
2 - balconies , to be drained to falls , more like paddling pools
3 - when in en suite bathrooms - crouch down to floor level - is the partition base not genlty arching above the floorboards ?
4 - self closing fire doors - don't
5 -smoke seals missing from fire doors
6 -air vent louvres fitted inside and out . No ope however .
7. sw drain discharges to foul ( now how did THAT happen ? ) don't let them away without a CCTV inspection ( Certifying architect I mean - beyond scope for snagger I suggest )
8. Party wall / roof fire stopping ommited ( site visit 1 - tiles on site - will have rockwool for next visit - site visit 2 - all tlies in place , "we have photos" Site Visit 3 - camera lost / broken / virus ate photos . Strip back tiles no rockwool ( now how did THAT happen ? ) - go back to site visit 1 and repeat untill your sanity is exhausted as long as well as your fee income . Client wonders if you are "not a little fussy ?"
9. Break up for Christmas and leave partly installed rwps to saturate gable end walls . Dry by Paddys Day - All's well that ends well ( Ok I know I am moving away from snags here but I'm on a roll )
10. Intumscent paint to steel support beams - similar to item 8 . Plaster was cut down , ceilings were redocorted . He tried to claim Dayworks!
11. Stepped DPC's not stepped . Or missing . Or stepped but choked with mortar
12. turn on shower - soak the kitchen ( trap not connected )
13. Gypsum under WC "for tiler" . WC rocks like Bon Jovi

BASTARDS

pfft, thats standard there sinnerboy

how about

1. 100mm SVP ends in the HP where it is duct taped to a 32mm waste pipe, this waste pipe continues vertically to exit on the roof.
2. Gas boiler flue discharges into attic
3. SVP terminates internally, c.1.5m from the WC
4. Additional attic trapdoor installed in a bedroom, this was not on the plans, to make it worse this additional trapdoor is the same size an an A4 sheet, almost to the mm, infact shorter in the width

Jimbo

Mellor wrote: »

Gas boiler flue discharges into attic

Thats pretty unbelievable.
Ive seen vents in shower rooms discharging into attics. Pretty inexcusable

blindman

Where do I start? Worst I have seen, Well its either electric wires in the wrong place, plumbing in the wrong place or the toilet in main bathroom flushing into the wall cavity, no waste pipe fitted on outside wall, not even a hole in the outside wall for a sewer pipe, this was discovered after house was handed over.
I know of 1 house that was built back to front.
Regarding things that affect my job, walls, ceilings, windows unlevel or square. customer wanting curtains 1 inch off floor, I have to ask at which side because of slope on floor.
I usualy have to hang blinds and curtains out of fresh air because no grounds have been supplied by builder.
All of the problems I see are after the snag list is sorted out and the customer has moved in.

sydthebeat

personally i like to see a bit of forethought put into sanitary installations.... thats why i recommend they put a 9mm plasterboard under pedestals and toilets. Ever seen a tiling job where the tiler has to cut the profile of the toilet or pedestal....

sydthebeat

sydthebeat wrote: »

personally i like to see a bit of forethought put into sanitary installations.... thats why i recommend they put a 9mm plasterboard under pedestals and toilets. Ever seen a tiling job where the tiler has to cut the profile of the toilet or pedestal....

Often better to tile the floor and then fit the sanitary ware, that's how we did it.

scooter 007

Deleted User wrote: »

Often better to tile the floor and then fit the sanitary ware, that's how we did it.

you cant do this in a scheme of houses they sell them as builders finish so the people who purchase the house can pick out there own tiles that they want in there house .in a private house the plumber would get the bathrooms ready for tiling and leave the customer tile there bathroom and then fit the ware at that stage

Mellor

scooter 007 wrote: »

you cant do this in a scheme of houses they sell them as builders finish so the people who purchase the house can pick out there own tiles that they want in there house .in a private house the plumber would get the bathrooms ready for tiling and leave the customer tile there bathroom and then fit the ware at that stage

Of course you van do it, in all situations.
If the toilet is in before the tiles for what ever reason (bulders finish, lino spec floor etc), when tiling its easy to unbolt and raise the toilet.