A man says he discovered 178 snags on his new build home and when contractors were appointed to fix one issue they left his car covered in paint. Mr Harford, who does not want his first name published, bought the Persimmons Home property in Ebbw Vale on June 28 this year.
When exchanging contracts he informed the developer that due to his experience as a construction site manager, no snag would be left unseen but he was assured the property had been "snagged" by three separate and senior members of the construction site.
Mr Harford, whose wife was pregnant with their third child at the time, stressed how desperate they were to move in straight away to the three bed £260,000 property on the Carn Y Cefn estate. He is now warning anyone against buying a property from the construction firm and swore he would never repeat the mistake again.
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The 37-year-old said: "We sold our house and wanted to buy a new build because we didn't want to have to do any work to it, but how wrong were we. I found 178 snags when we got the property and it has been an absolute battle to try to get them back to rectify it."
One of the issues Mr Harford found was with the external walls where they are out of plumb (not level) and not within tolerance (the allowance for any deviation on a wall). Mr Harford claims when he brought this up with Persimmons homes they arranged for the company that applied the render to correct the issue, this hasn't been resolved, but paintwork was carried out.
He said: "They (an external company appointed by Persimmon Homes) painted my property to address the render issues, as a result the painters splashed my brand new vehicles with paint. Persimmon appointed a local valeting company who tried to remove the paint but they couldn't get it all off so they (Persimmon) gave us £2,000 to compensate us."
Another issue is the path outside the property which Mr Harford said is at the wrong level, this is causing his front garden and front garden path to become waterlogged. Workers have started work on rectifying this issue but the path has been left in a ripped stateup for the last two weeks. According to Persimmon, the local authority is expected to attend the area to inspect the issue before work can continue.
"There are tiles on the roof still damaged, an electrician who came to do work on the house told me that the fuse board was all wrong and it was potentially dangerous, they did fix this when I flagged it up to them but I don't know how it was signed off in the first place."
WalesOnline has seen photos of a number of the snag issues which include cracked plaster and paintwork, damaged external bricks, and exposed nails on a fence. There are also screw holes in a fascia board where it was screwed incorrectly and an external disconnected tap has been left on the property where it was replaced. Chips to internal walls are also present which Persimmon has agreed to rectify.
"I have tried reasoning with the developer on numerous occasions but it would appear they've had our money so we are not priority no longer. They continue to build and the issues will get bigger and bigger with many more complaints."
Mr Harford said the family did not move into the property until August 1, to allow some of the issues to be corrected. Persimmon gave them £2,000 as a gesture of goodwill for the issues. He has also been given a date of November 25th for patching work to rectify damage to the internal walls.
He added: "I would never in my life buy another Persimmon Homes Property and neither would I be willing to recommend. My fear is that when we want to sell the house it will be downvalued as a result of walls not being in tolerance and other issues."
A spokesperson for Persimmon Homes East Wales said: “We have already apologised to Mr Harford and his family for the inconvenience caused. We have sought to address any issues promptly once we’ve been informed, and have the customer’s agreement for the works.
“While most have now been completed, our dedicated site and customer care teams remain in regular contact with Mr Harford to ensure the outstanding works are completed as soon as possible.”
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