Why don't new home owners receive a User Manual from the builder?

[MM]

If I buy a new car or a piece of high-tech wizardry I'll receive a user guide. But if I buy a much more expensive item like a house I get sweet FA. If anyone asked me where the pipes and cables are routed in my house I wouldn't have a clue. It would be a case of lifting floorboards to locate the buggers.

So why don't we get a detailed specification of the entire property?

I didn't know until three years after moving in that my loft has a hidden aerial booster tucked away. No one told me, least of all the builder. It was just screwed to a joist, waiting to be connected.

When I needed a replacement ball valve for the toilet cistern, I had to dismantle the cistern to match the part. No user guide to say e.g. "The toilet cistern in this property is made by Armitage Shanks with the model number XYZ. A replacement ball valve has part number 123."

So why do we "take delivery" of our most expensive purchase and then it's a magical mystery tour where the onus is on us to find out what we need to know?

MM

[Woodworm]

Quite simple really, very often the builders don't follow the architect's plans and any alterations/additions/omissions are not logged or plans amended to take them onto consideration.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , MM writes

Good point. One for the Govt. web site?

In our case: a rented out flat does.

Copies of all the operating manuals for washing m/c, boiler, etc. together with notes on operating the heat recovery extract system. It sometimes avoids tradesman call outs by the agent which are billed to us.

Not all tenants RTFM though!

Last *failure* I attended was *no heat* to bathroom and toilet radiators. Not surprising when all the TRVs were wound fully open!

regards

[jgharston]

My tenants refused to believe such frippery as timers and roomstats and controlled everything by turning the boiler on and off at the supply.

JGH

[Skipweasel]

Shouldn't matter, if the system has been correctly balanced in the first place.

More common is fiddling with the lockshield valves and /then/ complaining that some of the radiators are cold.

[Bob Eager]

Dunno about new properties, but when we moved out of our last house, I left something much like this.

Loose leaf binder with documentation for all the fixtures, details of stoptaps, all the other non-obvious things.

[Skipweasel]

Here, too. Found it the other day - it didn't contain anything I really needed, but I can imagine for some it'd be useful.

[dennis]

That's a fault, the system needs balancing.

[John]

With many manuals now being downloadable, I keep PDF files in a folder. Could be passed on.

[Owain]

Because car manufacturers are liable for what they make under Sale of Goods legislation, but housebuilders can throw up any old tat with almost complete immunity from redress.

Owain

[John Rumm]

Yup I left a few pages of notes for the next owners on my last place when I sold it... not detailed enough to include cable and pipe routes, but stuff like where to find stop taps, how the TV aerial amp works, notes on the heating system etc.

[SS]

Because car manufacturers are liable for what they make under Sale of Goods legislation, but housebuilders can throw up any old tat with almost complete immunity from redress.

O well I thought for a laugh I would pass this on to my son as he has just recently purchased a new property... Egg on face! :-( they supplied manuals for just about everything including a wiring and plumbing diagram!

[Owain]

As installed, or as the architect hoped for?

Owain

[Tabby]

its extra work, its liable to be wrong, that creates liability, and too often it would men admitting things they'd rather not.

NT

[SS]

As installed, or as the architect hoped for?

Owain

Well thats another matter! I was trying to be a smart A.. Didnt expect him to come back saying he had them. :-( I suspect as per architect as it was part of this governemnt thing to help new buyers 75/25 equity. And they had to be built to some government standard and checked. They have extra wide doors electrics installed should they require a stair lift entry from the street is level in case of wheelchairs and a host of other things I would not normally associate with a new build. Mind you I last bought a house 20 years ago. I doubt they would be allowed to deviate from the original plans.

But then again.......

[Owain]

Street level entry is routine on new build, as are other measures under Part M of the Building Regs.

Owain

[MM]

This is what I shall do when it's time to move. But I was pretty cheesed off when I moved in, having to ring the builder especially to ask one or two things and him behaving with some irritation as if I was disturbing him. Plus, he told me when I was looking around the property that there was "plenty of oil in the tank" only to find when I moved in six weeks later that there was about a cupful left, I couldn't get any oil delivered till after Christmas and had to use a single fan heater for warmth.

MM

[MM]

Spot on, that comment.

MM

[MM]

Good to know, then, that SOME builders are doing it. Now the practice needs to spread to ALL housebuilders, no matter how small.

MM

[MM]

It's extra work, I grant you, but after spending several months building the house what are a few hours to collate the various notes made or should have been? As for creating liability, what for? "Drawing A shows the pipe runs. Exact measurements not guaranteed." That should be enough to indicated where the pipes are without nitpickers complaining that a pipe is 1 mm further east than on the drawing.

MM