Feature entry

Oxley Woods is an unusual looking place for sure. Some people love it, some people hate it… I love it.
People come by the coach load to look about the development, take photos and generally have a good nose around. But far fewer people get to see Oxley Woods by night.
Last night the moon [...]

Full moon over Oxley Woods

The drip drip effect at Oxley Woods

by Paul | posted in Problems | tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

It’s not been long since we moved back into our home at Oxley Woods. The newly installed windows are a vast improvement over the old. Personally, I prefer their appearance, but most importantly, so far, they’re proving weather proof! We’ve had rain, we’ve had snow, we’ve had wind… and so far so good, the water has remained on the outside of the property!

So, for the first time since June 2008, it seems our Taylor Wimpey and Wood Newton constructed eco house is water tight!

Unfortunately, it’s water tight, but still, in the case of one room (and the skylight area, of course), still rather wet.

Our Son’s bedroom is at the front of the property. It has a corner window, the same design and orientation as the kitchen on the ground floor. Unfortunately it gets wet. Very wet.

A couple of days ago I grabbed some photos, it wasn’t actually anywhere near as bad as it can be. Below show his bedroom window, our daughters window in the neighbouring room, our bedroom window, and finally the kitchen window for comparison.

Front bedroom

Middle bedroom window

Master bedroom

Kitchen window

As you can see, there’s quite a dramatic pool of water in our Son’s bedroom.

This is not unusual. It’s been very bad since we moved back in, and following a meeting on site here at Oxley Woods last week with Wood Newton and Taylor Wimpey we’re not even sure what’s going to happen. It seems they don’t really know what the problem is (sound familiar) and why this particular section of glass is suffering so much, when all others around it are not. It’s not a hot room in the winter, and it’s not unique in it’s style/position (other than elevation, it’s much the same as the kitchen, which by rights should be the “damper” of the two rooms.

Our son doesn’t breath more than myself and my wife combined, or even probably much more than our younger daughter in the next room. We don’t hang things on the radiators… there just seems to be a problem with the glazing in his room.

We really hope this gets resolved as soon as possible, as water on wooden windows cannot be a good thing, neither can the damp in a children’s bedroom, and the fact the water runs down the recently painted walls, leaving run marks as it goes, certainly isn’t pleasant at all.

Meanwhile, if you have any suggestions as to what could be causing this, please feel free to comment below, as we feel we need all the help we can get to resolve our problems right now!

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Warped and wondering at Oxley Woods

by Paul | posted in Problems | tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In July 2008 we reported an issue of a warped fridge freezer door. That’s eighteen months ago. During that time, several doors have been sent to the site by the supplier Symphony, apparently all also warped, or warping. This has been ongoing the entire time we’ve been in the property.

We spoke about this once again towards the end of last year. Apparently Wimpey were going to talk to their head buyer and sort this problem once and for all. It did seem they were taking it seriously, but as I said, from our point of view it’s been a year and a half of living with an increasingly warped door, a faulty product, and we seem no closer to getting it fixed.

The fact that Symphony appear to be continually supplying the builders with replacements that are also faulty is neither here nor there from our point of view. We paid our money to Wimpey and it is, of course, their responsibility to make sure we get wait we paid for, a product of suitable quality.

Anyway, this is what the door looks like, at the top from both sides, and at the bottom. Quite a difference I”m sure you’ll agree.

Fridge door

Fridge door

Fridge door

Anyway, last week (January 2010, remember, this problem has been present since July 2008!) we were told once again about Taylor Wimpey talking to their head of buying talking to Symphony to get this sorted. The same thing we were told over a month ago?! I’ve no idea what’s been happening in the mean time, but this is another example of us waiting… and waiting… and waiting… and putting up with a substandard product, and here were are, a year and a half down the line, and it feels like we’re getting nowhere fast.

Maddening.

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Water on the ceiling, no fix on the horizon at Oxley Woods

by Paul | posted in Problems

So. We’ve got a LOT of catching up to do for sure. But lets start with one of our ongoing, long lasting, water related issues.

We’re not talking leaking windows (touch engineered hard wood), but problems with the skylight, or roof, or something. Nobody seems certain what the problem is!?

And here in lies the cause of much of our ongoing suffering and frustration with our Oxley Woods eco home. Not only are problems taking forever to fix, it seems that half the time a “fix” isn’t even available.

In early December 2008 we reported our problem of a worrying wet patch on our ceiling by our skylight on the top floor. It wasn’t addressed until November/December 2009, when we moved into temporary accommodation while our windows were replaced and various other repair work (and associated damage!) was underway. Here’s the original post on the blog concerning our wet ceiling: Skylight proves a damp squib.

Water mark in context

Cracking up

The initial thinking was that this was due to a cold bridging problem, and work went underway to insulate the area around the cavity under the skylight.

Following the repair work, our walls, ceilings, and in some cases carpets were also repainted in an effort to make the property right as “good as new” for when we moved back in, and to put an end to the “patched look” our walls and ceiling were suffering from after a series of checks and repairs.

It took only a matter of days following our return for this problem to resurface. This past Wednesday (end of January 2010) Wood Newton and Taylor Wimpey were at the house again. They agreed with other comments made previously that it is not down to condensation (which we’ve been testing for personally anyway), but they do not know what the problem is, or how to fix it, and we’ll have to wait for better weather (better since Dec 2008?!) before they can investigate fully and (hopefully) come up with a solution.

Here’s what our “fresh” (as of December 2009) ceiling and walls by the skylight in our Oxley Woods home now look like (photo taken on the day of upload/posting)…

Skylight problem

Skylight problem

As you can see, it is stained yellow, cracking, and bubbling. Very unsightly, and very frustrating, not to mention upsetting to have in our “as new” fully repaired house.

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Merry Christmas

by Paul | posted in General, Good stuff | tagged as

Just a quick note to wish all residents, readers and visitors to this blog a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Apologies for the lack of updates to any blog watchers, believe me, there’s a lot of catching up to do with our continuing tale of trials and tribulations at Oxley Park!

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After the open letter… How’s it been for you?

by Paul | posted in Good stuff | tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Many of you reading this blog will be aware of the open letter sent to Taylor Wimpey, Wood Newton and RSHP last month.

Over 30 properties responded with a “Support Slip 1″, which meant that the occupant(s) of those properties supported the open letter, and also they had at least one outstanding issue with their property. Some people attached covering letters, tales of woe, which really were quite sad to read. I hope that everyone who signed and handed in a support slip 1 are being dealt with better now.

Around 20 properties responded with the “Support Slip 2″, which was showing support for the resident’s letter of complaint. However the residents in these properties had no outstanding issues at the time the letter was sent. I’d personally like to thank everyone who signed and handed in a support slip 2, because it really shows that people here care about the neighbourhood and their neighbours. I’m sure that your support has helped spur Wimpey and Wood Newton into action.

In all we dropped the leaflets and letter through just over 70 houses. So the response was, as we’ve said before, pretty overwhelming. We had no idea how many people were unhappy. Obviously we spoke to a few neighbours before going ahead with the letter to all concerned in the design, manufacturing and sales of our homes, but we didn’t know just how representative a sample they would turn out to be!

We said in a previous post that it seemed like Wimpey and Wood Newton were reacting in their own way to the strength of feeling, and sheer volume of complaints. Talking to more residents, and speaking with Wimpey customer care it seems like things have certainly been stepped up a gear or two.

We were concerned we’d scored some sort of “own goal” in trying to get the best for all residents, as our window report and other issues seemed to be slipping further and further back. But following our meeting with John Green and Nigel Mitchell (Wood Newton and Wimpey) earlier this week our concerns have mostly been addressed there too.

We did receive a response from RSHP as well. However it didn’t really say very much, and had some errors, such as the housebuilder name. I didn’t expect much, but I think I’d rather have heard nothing than something with a real “don’t call us, call the housebuilders” tone to it. Especially when they couldn’t even get the housebuilders name right!

However, there is some good news on that front too. The questions that were put to RSHP were also put to Wood Newton and Wimpey, and Wood Newton (and Wimpey) gave us some answers. A few people wanted to know who was responsible for what. In short, RSHP are responsible for the “concept design”, Wood Newton do the detail design, Wimpey and RSHP sign those off, and then the various manufacturers put the pieces, such as windows, together. Ultimately the buck stops with Wimpey, and Wood Newton.

As mentioned yesterday, Wood Newton have offered some reassurances concerning the problems some of us have suffered, and the looming end of Wimpey’s two year warranty. They wanted to reassure us all that they will look after us. They’ll be around for while yet, and they do want this to work out well for all concerned.

We did drop around another letter asking people how you’re getting on since the letter and support slips were handed in. So far the response has been good, but not that many people have said anything at all. We hope no news is good news, but if you’re still suffering and haven’t had a response from Wood Newton and Wimpey, try again, but also let us know so you’re not missing out on their apparently much improved customer service!

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A step in the right direction

by Paul | posted in Good stuff | tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Last night (6th October) we had a long awaited meeting with our site manager from George Wimpey and one of the directors of Wood Newton. Very courteously this was arranged out of hours to suit our work load and let us get the kids away for the night. So thanks to all concerned for that.

The main purpose of the meeting was to discuss our leaky window problems, but other areas where also touched upon which may be of interest to residents and could be residents reading this blog alike.

For us the meeting was pretty much all positives. We finally know what work will be carried out on our property in terms of sorting out the problems with the leaky doors and windows. The good news is that we’ve seen the drawings for our new windows and they seem to eliminate all potential issues we’ve encountered. We also saw test results for windows currently installed in the most recently built plots, and while a lot of it is quite technical, the results seem very good indeed. Certainly weather proof!

The down side for us is that the work on our property could take a very long time to complete, potentially as much as three weeks. That work can’t begin until the windows have been made, which could be another couple of weeks, possibly a little more. Feels terribly daunting.

We also have to make some decisions about what happens to the family while the work is being carried out. It’s going to be messy and disruptive. Beyond that, it still feels very unsure.

Fortunately Wood Newton and Wimpey genuinely seem to want to look after us during this time. I just hope it all carries through as planned. If it does, we should be home and dry before the winter really takes hold. At long, long last!

It felt from our meeting that the problems we’ve had are still a bit of a mystery to Wood Newton and Wimpey. The answers wont be forthcoming until the windows are out and tested, cut open and inspected. Anyway, from a selfish point of view we don’t really need to know why, we just know it’s happened, it’s been a nightmare, and we have to trust the latest window design and construction will be an end to it all. Fingers crossed!

On a wider scale, John Green from Wood Newton offered some words of reassurance not only for us but for other Oxley Woods residents. They certainly appear aware as we are, that the NHBC warranty is patchy at best, and that, of course, several residents are worried about their situations as time moves on and their two year George Wimpey warranty expires.

The long and the short of it is that John has said, and he’s in a position to be seen as “Mr Wood Newton”, that they will look after customers beyond the two year warranty. This isn’t in writing, and as such it is not a special extended warranty, but there’s no reason to doubt the sincerity of the gesture.

Wood Newton and Wimpey both have a lot at stake here at Oxley Park, if not only in financial terms, but also kudos and reputation (and pride), so it makes sense they look after the residents. In our view the way we’ve been looked after so far simply hasn’t been good enough, but it feels like the builders between them are taking it on the chin and genuinely want to move forward in a more positive and co-operative way. Has to be a good thing, right?

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Oxley Woods, where next week means what?

by Paul | posted in Problems | tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nothing. Apparently.

When Peter from Wood Newton visited last Thursday afternoon, I had to tell him it was not convenient for the painters to attempt to paint the ceilings and walls of our property that same day. The reply came it would have to be “some time next week”. Which seemed fair enough at the time.

Only, here we are, Friday morning of that very “next week”. The painting still having not been addressed.

Have we seen or heard anything of Peter or the painters? Other than when Peter popped by the blog to effectively accuse myself, my wife and mother of being liars on an earlier post? No. Not a word.

So when does “next week” mean?

I’ve asked for clarification from George Wimpey customer care, who also appear to struggle with the concept of time where Wood Newton are concerned, but my request for clarification appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

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Neighbours… Everybody needs good neighbours

by Paul | posted in General | tagged as , , , , , , ,

With all the other fiascos I forgot to mention that a short while ago the long-time empty house next door finally received its new occupants. We have next door neighbours!

Really nice to have a family move in next door, we don’t feel quite so much like the last outpost of Oxley Woods any more.

After living in a place that felt like the middle of nowhere for several years previous, we wanted to be in a community, a proper neighbourhood, and it feels like, as the development is progressing and people are moving in, that’s finally what we’re becoming part of.

Nice.

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The incredible moving goalposts

by Paul | posted in Problems | tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

In late June/early July this year testing was complete on our leaking windows and doors at our Oxley Woods eco house.

A report was compiled, explaining why Wood Newton and George Wimpey believed the house has had such severe water ingress, and remedial work was expected to be carried out quite soon afterwards.

After a while, we were given a date in August. Then a date in September. Then another date in September. As highlighted in a previous post, we simply have not been being told the whole picture, or even the whole truth. It’s a terribly frustrating situation.

Anyway, on Monday morning we received a letter from George Wimpey customer service, compiled on the previous Friday. The letter advises that the tests on our new windows have been completed (not the first time we’d heard this) and had passed on all fronts. I will now quote some of the letter directly…

Having said this I am very mindful that I previously advised you that orders had already been submitted, which was clearly incorrect due to the tests which were requested to be fully completed prior to manufacturing. Now the tests are complete and results (albeit verbally at present are good), I would with your agreement like to set up a meeting with John Green and Nigel Mitchell to go through in detail the results of the tests, the drawings and specification of your replacement windows to put your mind at rest for the pending fitting schedule.

If you are happy for us to arrange said meeting, I would be looking to arrange for week commencing 28th September 2009 onwards, once the full written tests results are in Wood Newton’s hands

May I take this opportunity once again to apologise for any confusion in time frames and indeed hope that if you are agreeable this meeting will benefit you greatly.

OK. So this sounds positive. But, and it seems there’s ALWAYS a but…

I can’t arrange a meeting inside office hours for the week commencing 28th September. I stated as such in an email reply, requesting the meeting be put forward to the previous Friday, or be held outside of office hours so I may attend.

I don’t feel it’s fair to say why, as it’s personal to the third party, but the meeting could not be put forward to this week. The reason given raised serious doubts in my mind about the meeting taking place as assured in the above letter. In fact, I put this in my reply to George Wimpey…

This feels like another pending chapter of our ongoing farce. I truly hope this is not the case.

Well, this afternoon a reply came back from a separate member of George Wimpey customer service, who had been on site today in a meeting with Nigel, and other Wood Newton and George Wimpey management.

Here’s an extract of that email:

…he also thinks it would be better if they could attend the meeting with a copy of the report with regard to the Windows in their possession and they do not expect to receive that for approximately another 14 days

Can you see the discrepancy here?

It’s amazing how many times this is being pushed back, and even when customer service management say sorry, and apparently attempt to put things right, the following afternoon it’s all back again to changing schedules and “confusion in time schedules”.

I seriously don’t know who or what to believe anymore. It’s so confusing. And so, so disheartening.

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