Gleeson Homes

D.L.M

Hi,

I'm new to here as a member, but often look through the forums as I find people's advice to be quite useful on here. I'm wondering if anyone has purchased a home with Gleesons. They're a no-frills developer so their homes are relatively cheap. I just wondered what people's opinions/experiences with them are? I've found an old thread but nothing too recent. So thought I'd start a new one to try and gather a bit more information as I can only find "positive" comments that are on Gleesons main website, so I figured it'd be biased.

I'm worried I've dropped a clanger by reserving a plot with them. The sales advisor isn't too helpful at all, and has been really abrupt when me and my partner have asked for more information regarding our reservation. This is our first house purchase so we clearly wanted as much information about the property as we could get, but the sales advisor is really reluctant to release any information and keeps telling us that they'll post it out or ring back, but never does. We reserved using the save & build scheme and with that we were told that we should have had regular meetings to check how the build/site is progressing, and how our savings are going on. We've not been contacted once for a meeting since we reserved in August. We haven't been contacted at all really which I find concerning. The only time we've had contact is if we've called, but like I say, the advisor is that abrupt and rude that we feel like we cannot ask any questions or ask how the site is progressing in regards to our plot being started.

I understand that if the advisor has no news then there's not much cause to call, but you'd think that we'd have had at least one letter or phone call since we reserved in August- or at least one meeting that we were told we should have had.

I'm wondering if this was a sign of worse things to come as the build progresses, or if I've just fallen unlucky with a bit of a rude sales advisor.

Any information would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.

Hoploz

Have you been to the site to see how the building is coming on?

What timescales were agreed at the time of reservation?

Leo2020

Never dealt with Gleeson other than I looked into a house with them on a site near us, I had a look at the brochure and prices and decided that they were too small for the money. This was before any of the houses were built, we now live not far from this new site and I am glad that I decided not to purchase as they look tiny. However, that has nothing to do with the quality of Gleeson as a company just my preference.

According to Gleesons own website you should get a meeting quarterly with them and then 6 months before the house is due to be completed you will need to apply for a mortgage.

I would remind the sales advisor of the quarterly meetings and see what they say. From my own experience of another developer house builders seem to forgot what they are meant to be doing and when. Don't rely on them because if you do you might find your the one who ends up suffering - keep on top of them.

Purchasing a house is an expensive business and you are understandably wanting to know whats happening. As your first purchase you are probably feeling a little unsure and nervous.

Why not arrange a meeting to discuss this face to face? It is harder to fob someone off then. Or send an emailing asking for information and telling them that you will be pop in in say a weeks time to collect the any documents rather than having them send it out.

Leo2020

If anyone is interested Save & Build: http://www.gleeson-homes.co.uk/uploads/schemes/savebuild.pdf

D.L.M

Hi all,

Thanks for your replies so far.

We reserved August 2014 and were told roughly a year before completion which suited us as we only had £6000 saved at the time, so thought it'd give us plenty of time to save a sufficient amount for the deposit and furniture. We both currently live with our parents so need to buy everything to go into the house too.

We've had a look at the site and things seemed a little slow but recently homes seem to be going up pretty quickly.


The sales advisor doesn't seem to want to know us at all and when I've asked to meet up I've been told something along the lines of "there's no news so what's the point. I'll be in touch after the first fix".

As it's our first purchase we have a lot of questions, especially in regards to what extra costs we may incur that we don't expect. The advisor stated that they supported first time buyers and would guide us every step of the way. Yet I feel that we've kind of been left to fathom a lot of it ourselves, which I guess is fair enough as we can't expect someone to hold our hand throughout it all. But we're sort of wondering what steps we should take in terms of our mortgage because a mortgage promise only lasts so long, and since we don't have any indication of a date, we don't know if it'd be too soon to sort this now or not.

Mostly I'm just worried that since we haven't had much of a good experience so far, the house itself may have issues that end up going unresolved because of this lax approach they appear to have.

ethank

The sales people are supposed to keep you engaged withnthe process. This is a turnoff.

C_Mababejive

What an appalling way to treat a valued customer..

D.L.M

Hi,

I agree, it's not how I'd treat a person. I suppose some people just aren't meant to work in an atmosphere that's "people focused", and I assume that the sales advisor is one of those people.

Maybe we've just been unfortunate enough to encounter a bad sales person, and the house will hopefully turn out alright. I'm hoping that perhaps someone on here may have dealt with Gleesons before, or currently and have had/ are having a more positive experience- or at least be able to advise the best course of action if their experience has been similar to ours.

I wasn't sure if we were expecting too much in wanting to ask the advisor questions about the property and the progress of the plot. I'm guessing there are other first time buyers on the site too, so perhaps it gets a bit repetitive in answering the same questions from everyone. Maybe that could be why the sale advisor only wants to speak with us when something is actually happening?

I just hope this isn't the start of worse things to come as I really like the home we've reserved. It's just the attitude of the sales advisor that makes me feel a little dubious about what lies ahead with the house.

Leo2020

D.L.M wrote: »

I wasn't sure if we were expecting too much in wanting to ask the advisor questions about the property and the progress of the plot. I'm guessing there are other first time buyers on the site too, so perhaps it gets a bit repetitive in answering the same questions from everyone. Maybe that could be why the sale advisor only wants to speak with us when something is actually happening?

No you are not expecting too much - your spending thousands so you should expect to have your questions answered.

In regards to the mortgage - an offer usually last 6 months - hence why in their guide they advise to get a mortgage offer in place about 6 months before completion.

Extra costs to expect - depends really.

Solicitor

Mortgage Advisor (although if your using Gleeson I wouldn't have though they would charge for that, not sure though)

Your first months mortgage payment will usually be higher than normal - so make sure you have a little extra. Might have to pay a mortgage set-up fee although this can be added to the mortgage.

Moving costs - as you don't have your own yet this shouldn't be too much of an issue. However, I would recommend that you don't plan on moving stuff in on the same day as you don't know what time you will get the keys.

You won't have a TV aerial so you will need to pay for one fitting or get Sky or Virgin.

If you have never lived on your own then it is easy to forget about bills, most think about Gas and Electricity but you might have forgotten that you need to pay for Water (this will be on a meter) and Council Tax. Phone bill. Building insurance is a must and really contents too. Life insurance - I would recommend this to any couples taking out a mortgage as you never know what is going to happen.

Plus don't forget white goods - I don't know what is included with your build but you might need to purchase a washing machine and F/F.

Annual Management Fee for the estate.

Turf is sometimes an extra.

C_Mababejive

If i worked for gleeson homes i would be contacting you, inviting you to site,>coffee/biccies,,a chat,update you on progress ,talk about any issues /concerns you might have.

I bet they would do that if a friend rang up to express an interest in buying a home on the site..

AnnieO1234

If it's a woman whose name begins with a B she is !!!!, don't believe a word she says. Call head office and rattle a few cages.
At the same time we are very happy with our home, it's a large plot not just by new build standards, a 3 bed detached that does look "small" from outside but genuinely is not once you're in.
We moved in relatively early in the build and can honestly say the builders etc on site are courteous, but Gleesons themselves are awful, including threatening letters several months after purchase after we refused to acquiesce to their demands.
A good bonus compared to other new builds locally is our home is freehold which I believe may be common with Gleesons.
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