The contract should stipulate all finishes, including floor and wall
tiles, work surfaces, sinks taps, doors, archways, windows, doors etc.
A developer will typically charge you £20 extra to change a single
electical socket into a double socket, even if he hasn't started building
the house. That's £20 for each socket, if you want double sockets
throughout the house, that's a lot of money.
They'll also charge you extra for tiles that are more expensive than
the ones they stock. If you want to change a doorway into an arch,
they'll charge you for that too.
All these things will be in the contract, or an addendum to it if you
change things after the contract is signed.
Some things you need to make sure are in the contract include:
Stage payments. Stage payments should be linked to specific
performance, such as completion of concrete frame, completion of electical
installation, completion of the finished floor etc, and there should be a
strict time frame for these stages.
Completion of the property. The date of final completion should
be specified in the contract and there should be a penalty clause for non
compliance.
Guarantee. There should be a minimum of a years guarantee on the
building and all furniture provided by the builder. (By furniture,
we mean doors cupboards, locks hinges, taps, etc, including any white
goods the builder provides). If you buy your own white goods
(Washing machine, fridge etc), the the onus is on you to make sure you get
a guarantee with them
Snagging List. This is not usually actually in the contract, but
it is related to the guarantee. When the developer hands over the
keys, and before you make final payment, you go round the house, and check
to make certain that everything works as it should, to make sure that
everything is finished off professionally and that nothing has been
forgotten about. The snagging list is the list of defects that you
find as you check everything.
Title Deeds. There should be some guarantee built into the
contract that title deeds will be provided within a certain time frame.
You may want to hold back some money to make sure that this happens.
