Economy

High-end villas hit by structural defects

By Shen Jingting (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-30 11:36

House inspectors check the quality of a villa. [Provided to China Daily]

A large number of villas and townhomes inspected in Beijing have construction defects and some flaws could even endanger lives, according to experts.

"Compared with Beijing's apartments, even though we also found nearly all of them had quality problems, villas and townhomes have many more construction defects and their quality is very poor," said Jiao Nanbo, secretary-general of the House Inspector Management Association of China.

Jiao said he based his indictment on the inspection reports from the 10 percent of Beijing's villas and townhouses that have been subjected to a home inspection.

He said the inspections were mostly carried out at the behest of the owners - and the results were almost always very negative.

Common problems with high-end homes inspected include cracks in walls, water seeping into basements and poor seals on doors and windows.

In extreme cases, some of the homes were found to have structural cracks in walls and floors that threaten the integrity of the home. He said these were often due to deficiencies in the foundations.

"It may be because villas and townhouses are not high-rise buildings, so the construction companies relaxed when they laid the foundations," he said. "In addition, the building of apartments is usually standardized work, but every villa has its own unique style and defects are easily produced in a non-standardized project, especially when you meet a poor construction team."

He said even defects that appear tiny can evolve into major problems.

In May 2009, Ding Dang, a five-year old Beijing girl was hit on the head by a 100-kg marble fireplace frame at her Napa Valley villa home in Changping district.

The little girl died three hours after her parents rushed her to the hospital. It was reported that the marble fireplace frame was only glued to the wall and had not been attached with a single screw or other support.

Other problems found included inferior electrical insulation can lead to people getting shocks.

"Several weeks ago, when the capital experienced several rainy days, around 70 percent of villas and townhouses I inspected had water leakage in the basement," Zhang said.

Zhang has inspected more than 1,000 houses in Beijing, and most of them were high-end properties.

"I cannot say which villa developments seem to be in a little better condition because they are all bad," he signed.

Karen Lee (not her real name), is a Malaysian woman who married a Chinese man 10 years ago. She lives in a villa in Wangjing area and asked for a house inspection in March last year.

"I did not know what was wrong with my kitchen gas flue, because every time I cooked, the fumes went directly into my bedroom," Karen said.

She also complained about a warped wooden floor and the poor air quality that she suspected might have been caused by interior decoration materials.

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"My two sons were in poor spirits," she said. "I wondered whether it was because of the air."

After the inspection, she followed the home inspector's advice and bought a large quantity of green plants to combat the bad air.

Jiao at the House Inspector Management Association of China suggested people get a survey before buying and moving into a new property.

"Home inspectors can find the problems before you notice them and they can help prevent dangers," Jiao said.

"They will produce a house report that people and developers can rely on to make improvements."

The cost of a home inspection for a 300-sq-m villa is between 2,000 and 3,000 yuan.