With the ever-increasing price of property and the reduction in desirability of the modern home, builders have to resort to new tricks to get the sales to meet their targets.
Have you ever wondered where that singing bird in the show house garden is? The chances are it is a recording broadcast by loudspeaker. Sounds hilarious, but the days of freshly ground coffee smells are over...selling is a psychological activity and this is just one of the ways the house builders and there marketing partners make the show properties more attractive to you.
All new homebuyers should view the show home with a degree of scepticism. It will have every available extra fitted in an effort to entice you to opting for these or even deceive you into thinking they are standard feature. Martyn Maxwell of snagging company Brickkickers, says "I have lost count of the number of times my clients have asked me why I have not listed an item, seen in the show home but missing in the buyer's home."
Show homes are designed to attract you to buy. They are made to look larger by the use of large wall mirrors; glass table tops and even reduced scaled-down furniture! Often fitted out using a superior specification possibly with granite worktops or laminate flooring for example. The show house lighting is always left on to give the impression of good natural light and disguises the fact that a bathroom may not have a window.
The Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 and Specified Matters order 1992, make it a criminal offence to make false or misleading statements but deception within a show home is a grey area. The more reputable builders will fit notices to extras stating that they are not "standard."
Remember, all house builders show homes are "snagged" by several people initially and on an ongoing basis with the decorations in particular being regularly freshened up, which can give a misleading perception of the standard of finish you can expect in the home you actually buy.
Martyn says that "show homes inevitably give new home buyers high expectations which can result in disappointment when they actually view their new home for the first time. The show home gardens are always beautifully landscaped and maintained but the reality of the new home buyer's garden is quite different".
Martyn Maxwell founded Brickkickers in response to the falling standards with some of the mass-market builders nation-wide. He says, "Brickkickers is the only national snagging company, owned and operated by qualified construction professionals. We offer the new home buyer a completely independent inspection snagging report and liase with the builders and warranty providers to ensure remedial works are completed to acceptable standards". "We have found from our own data that the average home we inspect has around 140 defects!"
To ensure that all the defects in your new home are dealt with prior to moving in call Martyn Maxwell at Brickkickers on 0845 226 6036 or visit their website www.brickkickers.co.uk
Martyn Maxwell has recently launched www.snagging.info - a Forum for the new home buyer. Visitors to the website can view buyer's questions, experiences and comments regarding builders and their new home and ask expert advice on a number of topics completely free. This site is operated in association with the new home information website: www.brand-newhomes.co.uk
Written by
Martyn Maxwell