Sorry for the lack of updates, I have been very busy!

Crest have made good all of the snags I was concerned about, including the window lock and the faults on the cistern lids. I am very happy with how things have turned out. They have also said that after 6 months they will come out again and fix any new snags we have found.

Primary fixes that were listed in previous post;

1. A small crack on the patio door – this was just glue that eventually rubbed off
2. A fault in the porcelain on 2 of the toilet ‘lids’ – fixed
3. Only 2 coats of paint in some upstairs rooms – 3 coats were applied, but because a roller was used to paint the walls, a paint brush had to be usd above the skirting board, giving the impression of a ‘band’ being visible. Happy with explanation.
4. Some large splodges of white paint on some of the wall, mostly upstairs – fixed
5. An exposed and unsealed piece of wood-end near the bath that would expand if water entered it – not wood, but plastic. Now sealed.
6. Poor finishing on the top of all doors – Not sanded or painted. Actually were painted, but not sanded. Left as they were.
7. Mixture of gloss and emulsion paint inside the built-in wardrobes -Decided against getting this done.
8. Window lock on one of the windows doesn’t work – fixed
9. We are missing a part for the oven – the ‘Cooker Handle’ that helps when taking the tray out of the oven – not missing, just no longer given out by Bosch, manual not updated.

I would like to thank New build inspections for all their help in getting me a satisfactory conclusion.

The carpets are now in, the desk has been assembled and the furniture has all arrived (apart from the sofa).

The only issues that remain are the following;

a) No phoneline. BT cannot put a new phone line in because all of the lines in the cabinet are taken (bad planning methinks!). They need to put new ducting in and new lines to the site, so this will affect every new build on the development. My estimated completion date is 11th December, so with a bit of luck I should have phone and broadband by Christmas!

b) TV reception is poor. We are only allowed to have an aerial in the loft unless the signal is very bad, in which case you can apply for permission to put one outside. I have mine in the loft, and I am restricted to the BBC channels and E4+1 if I am lucky (it’s intermittant). I have applied to Crest to have an aerial fitted externally, and I await their response.

c) Sofa. We are still waiting for delivery of our new sofa, but I have been told by MFI it should be delivered sometime next week.

Well yesterday we got the keys! I got the call at 11:10am from my solicitor to tell me everything had gone through, and I could go and pick up the keys from the site office. When I got there, I was taken to read the Gas, Electric and Water meters and then left to wait for my inspector to arrive.

She arrived at around 12:50pm, and go to work almost immediately. The Assistant site manager from crest had asked if he could watch her at work (!) but she asked if he could come back at the end for a summary. The whole inspection took around 2 hours, and I was impressed with the findings. She was extremely thorough, and picked up things I would never have noticed. Even things that are obvious when you know about them, I would never have thought to look for. I would definitely get another inspection done if I ever buy another new build.

Although largely there were no major errors, there were quite a few minor snags that I would really want fixed. These were (pictures to follow on Monday);
1. A small crack on the patio door
2. A fault in the porcelain on 2 of the toilet ‘lids’
3. Only 2 coats of paint in some upstairs rooms
4. Some large splodges of white paint on some of the wall, mostly upstairs
5. An exposed and unsealed piece of wood-end near the bath that would expand if water entered it
6. Poor finishing on the top of all doors – Not sanded or painted
7. Mixture of gloss and emulsion paint inside the built-in wardrobes.

And I also noticed later on -

8. Window lock on one of the windows doesn’t work
9. We are missing a part for the oven – the ‘Cooker Handle’ that helps when taking the tray out of the oven.

But apart from those things, I am pretty happy with the job that has been done. I will post some more detail on the report when I get it. Crest has agreed to correct all of the snags shown above (apart from 8 & 9 which they don’t know about yet) which will be nice.

We had the home demonstration on Wednesday and it went pretty well. The crack near the patio doors has been sufficeintly filled in, and I am happy with the explanation of its cause. There were a few minor snags that I pointed out, and I was told they would be fixed before we move in, which would be desirable.

On the whole, there weren’t many problems, but i’m no expert – I’ll leave the detailed scrutiny to the inspector who is coming next Thursday. The problem Nik had with the handles on the drawers coming off in the kitchen doesn’t seem to be there, and we have got the same units as he had.

I hear that knowledge of this blog has spread and a few of the builders have seen it – all i can say is good job so far lads, but don’t let me down at the last hurdle! And no christening of the toilets – trust me I will know!

The garage door looks nice…