Best laid plans and all that! Sometimes problems arise that throw an enormous great spanner in the works. We have witnessed quite a bit of this in recent years – the number of major contractors who have gone out of business has created a sizeable issue for those developers where they were mid-build on a scheme.
For all the reasons any developer will understand, this is one of the very last things you want and the complications that can ensue are myriad. One of the obvious consequences are snags. We have been introduced to several sizeable developments where there are exceptionally high volumes of snags that have just overwhelmed the developer. This then impacts on homeowner satisfaction levels. Nobody wants to move into a property with 10/20/30+ problems, it just isn’t what anyone needs. And if you are unfortunate enough to have this happen to you, at the very least you want a quick ‘clean-up’ and to see the back of it within a week or two – not as has often happened, over a protracted period of many, many months.
Usually, a developer has more than enough on their plate in situations like these to have the energy or resource available to take responsibility for attacking large backlogs of snags. This is where we would always recommend tying it up as a project and handing it to a business like ours. After Build has years of experience handling large, aged, messy snag backlogs. Our approach is as follows:
1. Establish the list and draw a line (often there can be multiple lists – the homeowner who keeps adding to it, the developer, and various contractors. We pull it all into one and then that is ‘the’ list.)
2. Triage – what and where are the most pressing issues? We leave decorative to last and deal with functional first.
3. Team – we work with one of several trades teams with whom we have a solid track history. They have the capability to tackle everything from M&E to decoration to carpentry, tiling etc.)
4. Agree the financial terms with the developer – generally we will charge a fixed-price monthly management fee to own and manage the list, make appointments, handle all communications with homeowners and manage the trade team we put in.
Leaving problems like this in the hope that they will sort themselves out never ever works (for any of the parties). So, if this is where you are at the moment, After Build can help. Want to know more – speak to Mark Fawcitt (Director of Customer Development) on 07342 037810 (markf@afterbuild.com).
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