News from the coalface aka house builder inside info

[maffo in oxford]

Well. 

I've been made redundant from my old job at a construction firm, we were part of pretty much every sector i.e. from new build to refurbishment, commercial to residential. However, I've secured a job at one of Britain's largest firms, who are nearly 100% committed to residential new build. They are subsidised by schemes such as Help to Buy and public sector subsidies.

I was wondering if people here would like some occasional info from the source, a bit like Honest Agent the estate agent blogger? Not sure that I could provide the more personal details or level of humour, but hopefully some useful facts on the state of play.

All i ask is for the mods to remove the reference to my old location in my username, if possible? Purely to give me a little more anonymity when posting. 

Edited April 27, 2018 by maffo in oxford
typos

[chronyx]

 

23 minutes ago, maffo in oxford said:

I was wondering if people here would like some occasional info from the source,

Absolutely!

Loads of house-building going on my way so the big boys are busy enough.

[maffo in oxford]

The building rate is busy, but sales figures or even just viewings may be a different story.

[chronyx]

3 minutes ago, maffo in oxford said:

The building rate is busy, but sales figures or even just viewings may be a different story.

Agreed - I chose my words carefully!

[Freki]

Would love to hear about desperation in the meeting when confronted to the lack of sales

[Funn3r]

How soon during the construction cycle do sales begin, and at what point does concern arise if sales are below expectations? 

Years ago I bought off plan before construction even started. I assume it is similar nowadays. Where I live there are loads of construction sites with half built houses. How do they know they can sell them? 

[maffo in oxford]

Quite often unit sales will begin with brochures showing what the completed units will look like , this is before a site even reaches individual plot starts ie footings dug!!

At the very least,  a site of say 100 houses will be split into four phases,  and each 25 offered for sale as work progresses. 

Not sure about expected time scales,  from completion to sale just yet.

Edited April 27, 2018 by maffo in oxford

[maffo in oxford]

3 minutes ago, maffo in oxford said:

Dp 

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by maffo in oxford

[Patient London FTB]

2 hours ago, maffo in oxford said:

Well. 

I've been made redundant from my old job at a construction firm, we were part of pretty much every sector i.e. from new build to refurbishment, commercial to residential. However, I've secured a job at one of Britain's largest firms, who are nearly 100% committed to residential new build. They are subsidised by schemes such as Help to Buy and public sector subsidies.

I was wondering if people here would like some occasional info from the source, a bit like Honest Agent the estate agent blogger? Not sure that I could provide the more personal details or level of humour, but hopefully some useful facts on the state of play.

All i ask is for the mods to remove the reference to my old location in my username, if possible? Purely to give me a little more anonymity when posting. 

Oh yes indeed

[maffo in oxford]

I'll do what I can, I may use another username (that's obvious enough) if the mods can't change this one for me.
Bad sales may not be good for my job longevity, but it's work for now. 

[Lavalas]

Sounds good.

Hopefully @The Moderators will oblige. You might want to change your avatar too.

Edited April 27, 2018 by Lavalas

[Bricks n' mortar]

Yes, this will be invaluable.  I started at a national housebuilder in Feb08.  They'd just booked record profits for the previous year, and paid massive bonuses to the directors and smaller bonuses to the plebs, a bit like Persimmon are doing right now.  The sales graph for the year was frightening, and I spent most of my time reorganising sites to be smaller, or to close down completely.  Meanwhile the publicity statements were placatory in nature - "temporary correction", etc.   We were all out the door in October.

Agree, you need some anonymity for this.  If you go with changing your username - have you considered the content of your previous posts?  Nothing to give you away there, is there?

 

[Castlevania]

You should have created a new account before starting this thread. 

[maffo in oxford]

5 hours ago, Bricks n' mortar said:

Yes, this will be invaluable.  I started at a national housebuilder in Feb08.  They'd just booked record profits for the previous year, and paid massive bonuses to the directors and smaller bonuses to the plebs, a bit like Persimmon are doing right now.  The sales graph for the year was frightening, and I spent most of my time reorganising sites to be smaller, or to close down completely.  Meanwhile the publicity statements were placatory in nature - "temporary correction", etc.   We were all out the door in October.

Agree, you need some anonymity for this.  If you go with changing your username - have you considered the content of your previous posts?  Nothing to give you away there, is there?

 

Na, not really. I'm probably being a little premature with the paranoia to be fair! ? I shall try to convey the situation as accurately as I can without giving the game away. I will try not to use anything that tallies too accurately with official data.

Ga, hope things don't go badly for you considering. 

[Diver Dan]

On 27/04/2018 at 11:16, Freki said:

Would love to hear about desperation in the meeting when confronted to the lack of sales

I'd like to know if they can't sell a house, is punting it sideways into their lettings subsidiary a common occurrence?

Edited April 28, 2018 by Diver Dan

[maffo in oxford]

First piece of info.

One site in the home counties has gone through a change of management (either main manager or the assistant) eighteen times in 12 months!

[dougless]

• Thanks Maffo sounds like there are some serious problems re management/sales/pricing or something...

[maffo in oxford]

Quality (especially materials) and work conditions are pretty poor, but senior management expect everything to run like clockwork.  They also appear very reluctant to pay trades for repairs, aftercare and snagging.

 

No wonder that there is a high level of dissatisfaction amongst purchasers of the companies' output, and management struggling to cope with the pressure. 

Edited May 10, 2018 by maffo in oxford

[Andy T]

which materials are poor quality? bricks / timber / roof tiles / windows / other ?

[chronyx]

52 minutes ago, Andy T said:

which materials are poor quality? bricks / timber / roof tiles / windows / other ?

Yes. 

[leonardratso]

2 hours ago, Andy T said:

which materials are poor quality? bricks / timber / roof tiles / windows / other ?

managers

[Guest]

On 10/05/2018 at 16:47, maffo in oxford said:

Quality (especially materials) and work conditions are pretty poor, but senior management expect everything to run like clockwork.  They also appear very reluctant to pay trades for repairs, aftercare and snagging.

 

No wonder that there is a high level of dissatisfaction amongst purchasers of the companies' output, and management struggling to cope with the pressure. 

Do you get the sense that corners start to be cut mid build just to get the job done? I wonder whether there's a pressure to complete and sell before market tanks?

[GregBowman]

8 hours ago, Grab_Some_Popcorn said:

Do you get the sense that corners start to be cut mid build just to get the job done? I wonder whether there's a pressure to complete and sell before market tanks?

Shite large scale building has the dubious reputation of being like this irrespective of the economic cycle 

[maffo in oxford]

Generally it's the final fittings I.e. Door sets,  kitchen units, upvc doors and windows, ironmongery,  plumbing items like radiators that are cheap and nasty. Aggregates,  bricks etc are much of a muchness. 

11 hours ago, leonardratso said:

managers

?

 

8 hours ago, Grab_Some_Popcorn said:

Do you get the sense that corners start to be cut mid build just to get the job done? I wonder whether there's a pressure to complete and sell before market tanks?

Not in my experience,  the corners are cut at the planning and spec/buying stages. The trades can only build with what they are given. 

Edited May 15, 2018 by maffo in oxford

[Majorpain]

1 hour ago, maffo in oxford said:

Generally it's the final fittings I.e. Door sets,  kitchen units, upvc doors and windows, ironmongery,  plumbing items like radiators that are cheap and nasty. Aggregates,  bricks etc are much of a muchness. 

Not in my experience,  the corners are cut at the planning and spec/buying stages. The trades can only build with what they are given. 

If you want to win work supplying in the construction industry these days, you need only one thing:  the cheapest price!

Funnily enough quality does suffer massively as a result but sadly very few people care.