Homebond

anatalist

Question for somebody who knows the answer for sure:

On completion of a home to be insured by Homebond, do Homebond send an engineer to check out and sign off the house as built to standards, on their behalf?

Victor

Moved from Accommodation & Property.

muffler

anatalist wrote: »

Question for somebody who knows the answer for sure:

On completion of a home to be insured by Homebond, do Homebond send an engineer to check out and sign off the house as built to standards, on their behalf?

In a word - yes.

The works are inspected at various stages and if all is well on completion then you get a cert from them.

anatalist

muffler wrote: »

In a word - yes.

The works are inspected at various stages and if all is well on completion then you get a cert from them.

Thanks, muffler.
My house was issued with a cert. and,within a year of being built, the roof was condemned by an independent firm of engineers. Was I just unlucky that the faults weren't spotted or have others had similar experiences?

RKQ

anatalist wrote: »

Thanks, muffler.
Was I just unlucky that the faults weren't spotted

Depends - what exactly is wrong with your roof?

In fairness to Homebond, they only make 3 or 4 inspections. The final inspection is normally just before internal plastering.

Assuming the majority of Homebond houses are in housing estates, which normally have "pre-fabricated" roof trusses - then faults with the truss would be down to the truss manufacturer. Spans, fixings etc would be designed by the manufacturer.

I hope your problem can be quickly rectified, good luck.

anatalist

Thanks, RKQ

The house is a one-off; the roof is a 'traditional cut roof', as described, with clear illustrations, in Homebond's own building manual.

My own engineer apologised when I confronted him with the damning report; no offer of a refund of the handsome fee he had awarded himself, though.The builder, too, put up his hands, seeing the game was up and remedied the shortcuts he took during the building.

The problem only came to light when I had to put the house on the market a year after completion; an intending purchaser had a structural survey done which identified the roof problem. Needless to say, I lost the sale and only managed to sell it for many thousands less later, because the housing market collapse was well under way.

Which led me to asking the question about Homebond's role in assessing construction quality, and how they go about it.

Have I been dealing with more than two cowboys?

Any more comments appreciated.

muffler

Im curious now. What is the purpose of this thread?

I assumed your first post was a general query but you are now describing the problems that occurred in your roof. The matter was covered by the HomeBond guarantee and the builder has rectified it and you are not out of pocket.

Is this a witch hunt against HomeBond or is there another motive?

anatalist

muffler wrote: »

Im curious now. What is the purpose of this thread?

I assumed your first post was a general query but you are now describing the problems that occurred in your roof. The matter was covered by the HomeBond guarantee and the builder has rectified it and you are not out of pocket.

Is this a witch hunt against HomeBond or is there another motive?

Thanks for your reply and questions, muffler

In my first post, I put a question out there requesting replies from people who know the answer "for sure". The "for sure" is important because I sought authoritative answers; not guesswork. You supplied the answer for which thanks. Moreover, no-one has stepped in to contradict your claim. It is possible I will broach the subject with Homebond.

Yes, I went on to describe the problem in more detail, in a post which was addressed to RKQ, by way of reply to his question "what exactly is the problem with your roof". This was for his information, since he asked the question.

I do not know how you arrived at the conclusion that the problem was "solved by the Homebond guarantee", since I made no such reference. I repeat that I confronted my own engineer and the builder, who immediately owned up, and sorted out the problem. At no stage in this process were Homebond involved.

Then you state "you are not out of pocket". I do believe I stated that I was at the loss of many thousands as a result of having to sell in a collapsing market, something which would not have happened had the initial sale gone through.

Finally, no, this is not a witch-hunt but what you have told me about the role of Homebond means that, in this particular case, they may well have questions to answer. In posting the thread, my motive was two-fold:

1. to obtain an answer to a question posed - supplied by yourself
2. to alert casual readers of this thread who might be contemplating building their own home of my experience, so as to benefit from it.

muffler

anatalist wrote: »

In my first post, I put a question out there requesting replies from people who know the answer "for sure". The "for sure" is important because I sought authoritative answers; not guesswork. You supplied the answer for which thanks. Moreover, no-one has stepped in to contradict your claim. It is possible I will broach the subject with Homebond.

You know if you want to get into nit picking then I'd advise you to read the forum charterparticularly this

Whilst advice might be sought/given, posters should make every effort to verify advice expressed herein with an independent and knowledgeable third party. The advice and opinions expressed on this forum are not those of Boards.ie Ltd. and the management accepts no responsibility for what is written and posted here.

. If your house was registered under the HomeBond scheme then you would have got some form of certificate (cant recall the exact title - something like HBG 47???) and while it may not actually state that the works are 100% correct it basically states that they will stand over the structural elements of your house for a period of 10 years. Their engineers should have inspected the works at different stages.

But this is where Im still puzzled. You should have the documentation and if not your solicitor would have it so why ask the question here? Perhaps it is just confirmation you are looking for.

anatalist wrote: »

Yes, I went on to describe the problem in more detail, in a post which was addressed to RKQ, by way of reply to his question "what exactly is the problem with your roof". This was for his information, since he asked the question.

Thats fair enough but I was surprised to see that as I initially thought you were looking to possibly have your new build covered under the scheme.

anatalist wrote: »

I do not know how you arrived at the conclusion that the problem was "solved by the Homebond guarantee", since I made no such reference. I repeat that I confronted my own engineer and the builder, who immediately owned up, and sorted out the problem. At no stage in this process were Homebond involved.

No. I didnt say that. I said that it would have been covered under the scheme and that was assuming that it was a structural fault as you had outlined previously. Instead of contacting HomeBond you had the problem rectified by your builder.

anatalist wrote: »

Then you state "you are not out of pocket". I do believe I stated that I was at the loss of many thousands as a result of having to sell in a collapsing market, something which would not have happened had the initial sale gone through.

Apologies if you mis-read that. What I actually meant was that you weren't out of pocket in having the repairs carried out.

anatalist wrote: »

Finally, no, this is not a witch-hunt but what you have told me about the role of Homebond means that, in this particular case, they may well have questions to answer.

Now you are new to this forum and far be it for me to stifle debate but I should point out that legal matters cant be discussed here. The usual format is to lock or delete the thread. If you feel aggrieved with HomeBond - and from what you have posted I wouldnt be happy either - then you really do need to seek legal advice.

anatalist wrote: »

In posting the thread, my motive was two-fold:

1. to obtain an answer to a question posed - supplied by yourself
2. to alert casual readers of this thread who might be contemplating building their own home of my experience, so as to benefit from it.

In relation to point no. 1 just make note of what is contained in the charter.

Point no. 2 is a fair point. Im assuming that you aren't on your own. Mistakes are made in every profession and sometimes it is people like you who can suffer as a result of those mistakes unfortunately.

Now in conclusion Im happy to leave this thread open for others who may wish to post their experiences (good or bad) of Homebond but only if the posts are in compliance with the charter. If the legal end creeps into this or if any posts are slanderous or libelous then the whole thread is doomed.

muffler

forgot to add - this might be of help.

anatalist

Thanks for the reply and the useful information in both your replies, muffler.

I know for sure that a cert was issued by Homebond since I remember watching my solicitor reading it in her office; I never got to see it myself and I assume it is now with the purchaser's solicitor.

I have the information I was seeking so I have no further use for this thread.

Thanks to you and to RKQ for the valuable information.