ED_Neighbour

Yes, I posted a negative review about Build Team on this forum and on NappyValley.net and both have been removed. My review was considered and honest so I am at a loss as to why it should not be left for others to read. I thought that is what these forums are all about.

I am hoping that due to the latest suspicious activity, the removal of this thread http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?30,1387520 is just a temporary measure. I spent a fair amount of time putting forward a considered and informative review of Build Team on this forum and I would hate to think that my time has been wasted. I would also like to think the administrators are not easily persuaded to delete genuine posts that have contributed towards the forum's popularity and credibility.

Goodness, I'm so sorry to hear that Zoe. I hope you get things sorted out soon. Very very stressful.

My experience with Build Team is uncannily similar to TC1?s. It caused me enormous stress, time and money. We too faced a slow and tedious architectural process, a reactive approach to project management and a lack of advice and guidance throughout the design stage. Needless to say we decided not to work with them for the build stage. I guess I hadn?t really considered the downsides of working with a large Design & Build company with hundreds of clients. That said, their design team is actually quite small and you can see they struggle to give each client the service they claim to. I had many gripes, some more consequential than others but all of them were incredibly irritating and frustrating. It was very clear that I was the one that had to drive the process forward, since my ?project manager? was purely reactive. I was continually calling and emailing them and the amount of chasing I had to do reminded me of what it was like to buy a house. Even more annoyingly, my calls were never returned by a call but by email only, meaning a series of 3 ? 4 questions would takes weeks to unpick. Like TC1, senior management were very reluctant to step in when needed, an apology was rarely offered and there was one instance when I felt I was being lied to to cover up a mistake that resulted in our planning application being delayed for 3 further weeks, taking the process almost 12 weeks. Apparently, Build Team were unaware that Lewisham Planning Authority (LPA) required us to display a public notice outside our house. They say, it is something they have never had to do with any other local authority and for LPA it was a new initiative that they had not been made aware of. I quickly called LPA who confirmed this policy had been in place ?for donkey?s years?. I think it is really telling that Build Team had to cover their mistake in such a way and demonstrates a lack of honesty and sincerity. Our design manager also caused unnecessary stress during the party wall (PW) process. BTW, we did not use Build Team for our PW agreement as we wanted impartial representation ? something our neighbours certainly appreciated. Just after planning permission was granted, our neighbour quite legitimately wanted us to amend our plans. However, we were told we would need to dramatically alter our design to comply, which would require submitting a new planning application! Clearly, I was really alarmed by this news, yet my cries for help were met by a lack of concern and a lot of confusion. I tried to escalate my case but I quickly got the impression from the rest of the team that the design manager had jumped the gun and perhaps a redesign was not required. However, rather than admit fault, they would only tell me to consult my contractor and this wasn?t within their remit. After 3 weeks of chasing for a clearer explanation and no call from the director, Dan Davidson, despite my request, I gave up and chose to seek help from another company. Whether you face problems with Build Team or not, I do feel the need to point out factors that will undoubtedly affect all clients. 1) POINT OF CONTACT: Their office based team is small. Take a look at the ?Meet the Team? page of their website, where the names, job titles and CVs of each employee are listed. I rarely had the opportunity to speak with any of the senior team, even when something went wrong. Most of the time communication must go via a ?project manager?, who?s experience and skills are more akin to an admin assistant ? again check out their ?Meet the Team? page. My project manager was a recent university graduate with a short amount of work experience in PR. Inevitably she was unable to answer my queries and ended up being a middle man / gatekeeper. 2) CLIENT CONTACT: Despite Build Team?s sales pitch, you will initially be offered one method of communication ? having to pass everything via the admin assistant. Only once you get frustrated, will any other form of communication be offered and even then it is very restrictive. Don?t be fooled by the promise of a tailored approach ? everything is very reactive and inflexible. 3) TWO STAGE PROCESS: If you decided not to use Build Team for the Build Phase, be very aware of the clause added to their structural calculations document. ?In the event that a contractor other than Build Team Holborn Limited is appointed to execute the works, Build Team Holborn Limited accept no liability whatsoever for the specification, calculation or other information as it so exists pertaining to the proposed works contained herewith.? If we had chosen to work with an independent structural engineer that was not aligned to a building firm, we would not have faced this restriction which I think is fundamentally important. 4) FEES: Build Team have lots of fees that are not disclosed before signing up with them. For example, if a sewer is discovered in your garden that affects the build, Build Team charge a hefty fee to sort this out. At this point you will be tied to them, so there is no incentive for them to charge competitive rates. Be warned! If, after reading these reviews, you are insistent on working with them, ask for a full list of fees. Not only will this give you an idea of future potential costs, it will also provide you with an itemised list of all the potential problems that could arise during the design and construction phase. Some of these problems are unavoidable, but some can be anticipated far earlier in the process than Build Team let on. The sooner you know about them, the more options you will have to resolve them. You do not want to be at the company?s / contractor?s mercy later down the line! In summary, I certainly did not feel Build Team strived to resolve my issues in an open, honest and collaborative manner. I could not wait to stop working with them. In hindsight, I wish I had worked with an independent architect and structural engineer as I would have had open access to speak to them, rather than an admin assistant. I also got the feeling that the design team had no incentive to offer the most appropriate and cost effective solution for me. It was almost in their interests to design something that was more expensive to build ? yes, we had the option to go out to tender, but ultimately other contractors were all quoting off the same specification. Cynical perhaps, but this is impression Build Team have left on me.