New build houses - who is good and who is bad?

[nammynake]

We’re looking to move house and are considering a new build. Can anyone recommend a developer (we are fairly flexible on location) and also who should be avoided. I’ve heard bad things about the quality of Persimmon for example. First hand experience only please - no rumours!

Any Small Yorkshire-based developers, i.e. building smaller plots rather than the usual 200+ home behemoths?

Thanks

[snotrag]

Just bought on a Space Homes development. Very happy so far.

Buying a new build was the total opposite end of the spectrum to what we had planned, had seen all the horror stories we all know about (Persimmon, particularly!)

All the neighbours seem very happy too, including som who have bought other new builds in the past and been less than impressed.

Early days, and yes there have been "snags" but they are quickly resolved.

Also, as this is PH, my new build has a single garage big enough to fit a car in, with a space to work on it, put a workbench across the back and shelving down the sides. Not many do them like that anymore.

[nammynake]

snotrag said:

Just bought on a Space Homes development. Very happy so far.

Buying a new build was the total opposite end of the spectrum to what we had planned, had seen all the horror stories we all know about (Persimmon, particularly!)

All the neighbours seem very happy too, including som who have bought other new builds in the past and been less than impressed.

Early days, and yes there have been "snags" but they are quickly resolved.

Also, as this is PH, my new build has a single garage big enough to fit a car in, with a space to work on it, put a workbench across the back and shelving down the sides. Not many do them like that anymore.

Thanks. We actually looked at a Space Homes development in Otley last year. Looked good, but it’s so hard to be objective during a 15 minutes show home visit. Thanks for the feedback.

[Nickbrapp]

Who is building in your area?

All the developers vary massively depending where in the country you are, the site manager is the biggest driver to how well the houses are built.

Quality of fixtures wise persimmon is low and cheap, Taylor wimpey, bellway, David Wilson, barratt are all on much the same scale

Redrow are a bit better

stand out ones for me are Cala, strata and avant, all who build really nice houses with good standard spec etc

st mowden build some good looking houses too, but in general they are just a kitchen dinner and a living room.

Specs all widely change across sites too, best way to chose is to look at them all in your area.

[anonymous-user]

We bought a Cala house 2 years ago and I would avoid them like a dose of the clap.

Have spent thousands so far on lawyers and specialist surveyors to force them to resolve issues that have been ongoing since we bought.

To give some insight into their standards; there isn't a single window in the house fitted correctly, interior walls off square by 100mm over 500mm, tiles falling off the roof...

If anyone is interested, I'm happy to send over all the details.

[Stevemr]

Strata build very good houses.

[andburg]

Another happy Strata owner here.

Bought new off plan before a brick had been laid and they have been great. Just before move we had a pipe burst that led to all the grout in the kitchen being discolored, rather than re-grout the entire downstairs the grout has painted/stained by hand which I was wary off but its still good. Aside from the pipe burst there was minor snagging but all sorted and I have not had to call them since. 6 years down the line I've had the built in washing machine replaced as that failed and that is it. Even the stairs wall which everbody including strata said would crack hasn't.

Certainly far from some of the horror stories friends have been involved in (Bovis / Taylor Wimpey / Persimmon)

Might be worth speaking to butcher residential too, no direct experience with them but they're a much smaller local player who are open to changing things up to meet requirements rather than building the same house on every plot.

[Ussrcossack]

Charles church = Percy Simmons

[blueg33]

Ex mainstream housebuilder Director here; here are my thoughts:

Charles Church - they are just badge engineered Persimmon houses (I used to work for them)

Firstly regardless of the reputation of the company, the quality of the site manager makes all the difference in quality.

Persimmon, Barrat, Wimpey, Bellway etc basically all similar, high volume average quality

I would recommend in no particular order:

Hayfield Homes - building a really good reputation
Spitfire - nice quality, feel more bespoke than many, the have even done some new build thatched houses
Redrow - good for a volume builder
Bloor - family run, tend to retain staff, well known to me and Equus on here
Berkeley - some good high end stuff, mainly apartments these days, where I learnt my trade
Cavanna - Small developer delivering volume type sites in the southwest, family owned good attention to detail
Thrive - good reputation
Pye - good reputation

Most of these are smallish - I know for a fact that the chap who runs Hayfield is a real stickler for detail (we was commercial director when I was land director on the same team)

Problem is that not many of these are in Yorkshire. Graham are good, not sure if Nikal have anything in the area you are looking at, but they are mostly city centre mixed use

Edited by blueg33 on Thursday 18th February 16:56

[edthefed]

Avoid Redrow like the plague./ Covid.
Especially anything bashed together by Redeow Yorkshire

[blueg33]

edthefed said:

Avoid Redrow like the plague./ Covid.
Especially anything bashed together by Redeow Yorkshire

That unusual, their QC is usually pretty good - Issues on multiple sites or just one? If its just one it means site management issues rather than group culture or policy

[snotrag]

blueg33 said:

Charles Church - they are just badge engineered Persimmon houses (I used to work for them)

We looked at a Charles Church (2 years old at the time, although some were still in build on same site) and quickly realised they were the same houses, built by the same lads, as the fifty grand cheaper Persimmon homes also being built on the other end of the same site. You might get fancy taps and tiles but the houses were fundamentally being built together at the same time with the same stuff. Badge Engineering, as it were.

[blueg33]

snotrag said:

blueg33 said:

Charles Church - they are just badge engineered Persimmon houses (I used to work for them)

We looked at a Charles Church (2 years old at the time, although some were still in build on same site) and quickly realised they were the same houses, built by the same lads, as the fifty grand cheaper Persimmon homes also being built on the other end of the same site. You might get fancy taps and tiles but the houses were fundamentally being built together at the same time with the same stuff. Badge Engineering, as it were.

Exactly, I was a CC Director when Persimmon took over CC after acquiring its parent the Beazer Group. Until they we had high quality designs with things like solid walls, concrete floors, and other high spec items. One of the first tasks had under Persimmon ownership was to take Persimmon house type range to an architect and get them dressed up as CC houses eg recon stone heads and cills etc, but nothing major in terms of structure, layout space etc

[edthefed]

blueg33 said:

That unusual, their QC is usually pretty good - Issues on multiple sites or just one? If its just one it means site management issues rather than group culture or policy

Can only speak of my personal experience from one site.
The bodges and poor quality materials / workmanship affect numerous houses though.
Redrow CS generally useless

[anonymous-user]

I found David Wilson to be excellent. Quite a few snags, but no bother in getting them fixed. Build a relationship with the site manager, that always helps.

I've recently bought from a local developer in Gloucestershire. The difference is huge, not in a positive way. Snags take a lot of time to fix and there seems to be some reluctance. I never felt that with DW.

[blueg33]

RJWR said:

I found David Wilson to be excellent. Quite a few snags, but no bother in getting them fixed. Build a relationship with the site manager, that always helps.

I've recently bought from a local developer in Gloucestershire. The difference is huge, not in a positive way. Snags take a lot of time to fix and there seems to be some reluctance. I never felt that with DW.

Be interested to know which. It’s my home turf.

[Nickbrapp]

blueg33 said:

Exactly, I was a CC Director when Persimmon took over CC after acquiring its parent the Beazer Group. Until they we had high quality designs with things like solid walls, concrete floors, and other high spec items. One of the first tasks had under Persimmon ownership was to take Persimmon house type range to an architect and get them dressed up as CC houses eg recon stone heads and cills etc, but nothing major in terms of structure, layout space etc

That’s strange, around here in South Wales they seem to only build big 4/5 bed as Charles churchs and everything else stays persimmon, although with the exception of one site I know of

It’s funny, every house builder just builds the same house. Just like cars, the same thing just slightly bigger

The majority of new builds are a kitchen dinner, bigger ones with a “family area” and a lounge downstairs. Rarely a dinning room, then 4 beds, some are just 3 beds with the room split into 2.

It’s a shame as I like new builds but I really want something intresting and I detest kitchen dinners

[Chicken Chaser]

I like the look of Redrow, they're similar to my old house so would naturally be drawn to them

Quite like Story homes too. Their designs seem to be based around modern living with extra room for office/play downstairs, modest lounge and a decent rear kitchen space with utility.

[ninepoint2]

A point to consider is new builds will be located close together, we bought one when our firstborn came along, was a nightmare, so many entitled aholes who didn't care about neighbours, despite at the time costing us a fair bit (26 years ago), every car I had was damaged by balls or bikes despite them being parked on my own drive. Be very careful, any "ornamental" gardens or common ground will become a focal point for the feral youth to play football on and drop huge ammounts of litter

[blueg33]

Nickbrapp said:

blueg33 said:

Exactly, I was a CC Director when Persimmon took over CC after acquiring its parent the Beazer Group. Until they we had high quality designs with things like solid walls, concrete floors, and other high spec items. One of the first tasks had under Persimmon ownership was to take Persimmon house type range to an architect and get them dressed up as CC houses eg recon stone heads and cills etc, but nothing major in terms of structure, layout space etc

That’s strange, around here in South Wales they seem to only build big 4/5 bed as Charles churchs and everything else stays persimmon, although with the exception of one site I know of

It’s funny, every house builder just builds the same house. Just like cars, the same thing just slightly bigger

The majority of new builds are a kitchen dinner, bigger ones with a “family area” and a lounge downstairs. Rarely a dinning room, then 4 beds, some are just 3 beds with the room split into 2.

It’s a shame as I like new builds but I really want something intresting and I detest kitchen dinners

The big ones will be Persimmon housetypes. they did have big ones in their range. The are probably now all re-designed anyway