One of the hardest tasks for the housebuilding industry today – almost on a par with finding sites for 300,000 new homes a year – is tackling the causes for the rising number of complaints from unhappy buyers. 

Building pathologist Professor Malcolm Hollis, headline speaker at Wednesday’s Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Five Counties Conference, at the Wycombe Swan, quoted the alarming statistic that 51 per cent of the 4,341 homeowners who took part in a YouGov survey last year about quality standards in new builds in England had experienced “major problems including issues with construction, unfinished fittings and faults with utilities”. 

“Bovis Homes, one of Britain’s largest housebuilders recently had to set aside £7m to repair poorly built new homes sold to customers. Its interim boss publicly apologised to customers,” he said.

Although now semi retired from day-to-day practice, Professor Hollis is one of the best known chartered surveyors in the profession with his forensic knowledge of the causes of defects in buildings of all types. Since 1988 he has held the chair of building pathology at Reading University. 

He is the author of several books on the subject, much in demand as a speaker and over the course of his career stretching back to 1963 has frequently been called on as an expert witness in disputes over construction problems.  

“I have inspected houses built immediately after the first and second world wars – and they all had their limitations – but there were fewer complaints,” he told the Free Press in an exclusive interview before this week’s conference at Wycombe Swan.

He admits his view “could be skewed”.

He added: “I was usually sent [to a development] where defects were being alleged or litigation was contemplated. 

“From my experience faults were occurring in the on site construction, resulting in omissions and errors concealed from external inspection. I had to open up floors and walls to see the extent of the problem.

“Most new homes will be timber framed with brick external facings. These houses or flats should be warm, cosy and well insulated with economical space heating. Some do not measure up to that expectation.

“Construction such as this requires precision in the erection of the timber frame with all the designed components installed.

“In sites I have inspected I have found wall studs and floor joints missing resulting in limited sound insulation [between walls and floors], floors that creak, slope and flex leading to cracking and doors not opening easily.

“The brick external skin needs to be designed to work with the timber frame. Windows are fixed to the timber frame,  not to the brickwork. 

“The brickwork needs to allow the timber frame to expand and contract. 

“Errors in the construction cause problems with doors and windows as well as to the wall finishes.”

The construction industry’s equivalent of a medical pathologist says builders have a responsibility for:
*Wrongly installed fixtures and fittings: plug sockets, extractor fans, locks and lights (“if you change these, the builder will not be responsible for fixing problems and it could invalidate the electrics warranty”).
*Faults in the connection of utilities such as gas, electricity and water 
*Doors not opening and closing properly
*Bathroom and kitchen fixtures wrongly installed – a toilet not flushing properly and leaking pipes
*Nail pops – when nails work loose and plaster pops out from a ceiling or wall.

Home owners are responsible for:
*Blocked guttering or plumbing problems due to misuse
*Wear and tear
*Condensation or damp caused by lack of ventilation 
*Doors that won’t close when the owner has fitted the carpet – likely remedy: shave the underside of the door
*Reporting faults as soon as possible