“Our impeccable attention to detail is at the forefront of our build process,” declares the brochure for Bassingbourn Fields, a housing estate in Fordham, Cambridgeshire “and our high standards are reflected in our dedication to customer service”.
Tell that to the occupants of many of its 100 properties.
For some in this new build community, the name of the developer – Bellway – has become a dirty word.
“We call it Hellway,” one homeowner tells me, after what residents describe as more than two years of chaos and no end of snags – the industry term for defects.
Bellway says it is working on resolving outstanding issues. So what has gone wrong?
“When you buy a new-build you expect some snags – a few cracks here and there,” says Jon Trevenna, 70, who moved into his house in early 2022, hoping for an easy retirement and more time with his grandchildren.
“You don’t expect three major leaks in your bathroom, a downstairs radiator to be plumbed into the upstairs and vice versa, the fence between you and your neighbour to look like a rollercoaster,” he adds.
“There were so many problems, most of the small stuff we had to fix ourselves.”
At first glance, Bassingbourn Fields looks like a textbook modern development, surrounded by countryside.
But the residents we’ve spoken to tell a very different story.
A young woman, who didn’t want to be identified, tells me that within weeks of moving in, the entire staircase collapsed and her husband fell into the understairs cupboard.
“The contractor who came to fix it said there was only one screw in each step. There should have been 14,” she says.
“We’ll leave as soon as we can – too many bad memories here.”
Megan Saint-Denis says she has been waiting three years for the builders to complete crucial repair work.
“We had really bad flooding in the back and they’ve only just come out to dig up the entire garden, which meant we lost all of our plants at a big cost to ourselves,” she says.
“We’ve taken time off work having to wait for people who don’t show up and it’s stressful having to chase them constantly.
“It’s our first house so it’s ruined the experience for us really.”
Bellway has won 5-star builder status for eight years running in the Home Builders Federation awards, and recently scooped the Large Housebuilder prize in another industry-led competition.
Last year its operating profit increased by more than 50% to just over £500m.
Among Bellway’s recent customers, Stephen McIntyre, 54, paid £500,000 for his home but was so disappointed with the finish, he appointed solicitors.
“I could have bought a five-bedroom bungalow in Peebles,” he tells me.
But instead, he says he got:
- a broken toilet
- a cracked shower tray
- a flooded back garden
- an unsecure downstairs window
- an unlevel patio
- leaking sinks and radiators
- unsupported floors
- botched outdoor steps
- out-of-place boundary fences
“In the past two and a half years my wife and I have taken 20 weeks off work and spent thousands of pounds getting everything sorted,” he says.
“We’ve felt like strangers in our own home. I just want Bellway to take responsibility for what they’ve done.”
Bellway has agreed to extend the warranty on Mr McIntyre’s home.
Typically with new builds, the developer is obligated to fix any defects found within the first two years of buying the property.
But homeowners complain of an uphill battle to arrange repairs, which they claim are often inadequate and create even more problems.
Rebecca Fay, who needed her roof retiling, says she feels like her problems are “constantly pushed to the bottom of the pile” and “only people who shout the loudest get sorted”.
Kelly Heather, who moved to Bassingbourn Fields in January last year, says she had no choice but to effectively become a project manager during her maternity leave, chasing Bellway to fix more than 200 snags, including extensive damage to the downstairs flooring.
She says she is still waiting for a shower unit to be replaced.
“It’s been awful. It can take three weeks to get a reply to an email and sometimes we’re just ignored,” she says.
“I got an apology once from the managing director, but he didn’t answer my main question, which was ‘why is this happening?’.”
Kelly thinks Bellway rushed to sell the homes and take the money before the estate had been finished. Other residents blame a revolving door of inexperienced site managers.
Samantha Curling, chairwoman of the National Association of Professional Snagging Inspectors, says they are sadly not isolated cases and “most developers have at least one site they’re not proud of”.
“The supply chain has dwindled but the demand for new homes has increased so it’s a fighting battle to get skilled tradespeople to finish the job,” she says.
“Many have told me they won’t work on new-build sites because of the rates of pay and the pressure to do more than is humanly possible.”
We asked Bellway Homes to explain the chaos at Bassingbourn Fields.
In a statement, it said it was “aware of defects on the site” and wanted to “apologise to homeowners who may not have received the service expected”.
“A new home is a hand-built product, so defects do occur, and often only become apparent once homeowners move into their home,” the company continued.
“As a responsible developer, all of our homes are sold with the benefit of a 10-year Buildmark warranty, of which the first two years are covered by Bellway, whereby we will remediate any defects found in properties.”
While many hazards have been fixed, there are still cracked or overgrown pathways, a flooded drainage basin, and metal pipes or electrical wires protruding into the recently completed children’s play area.
Bellway said it was working on resolving these outstanding issues.
Last month it handed over responsibility for the site’s upkeep to a third-party management company.
Some residents have refused to pay their first bill.