Are Persimmon really as bad as the web reviews???

TheRealTomTom

So in our area a Charles church (premium brand of Persimmon) development is going up. I have been reading as much as I can about Persimmon and am wary but really sold on the plot and what it looks like you get with the house. However in the reading, I saw something about the CEO had an independent review that he agreed highlighted problems and things they want to address and change. In keeping with OP how does the question of them and building practice translate to today. Do people have any good experience? Thanks

iampetesmith

I'd never buy a new build, it's just too much of a risk for me. I think people are attracted by the Help to Buy scheme with a 5% deposit, but I'd much rather pay less for an older house that's been built properly.

Our house is a 1920s ex-council one and it's in excellent condition. It's been completely modernised with new kitchen, bathroom and roof and it was rewired in 2001. When it was rewired, I think all the walls were stripped back to the brick and new plasterboard was put in as when you drill into it, you go through the plasterboard and there's a big gap before you hit any brick. The ceilings are also recent as when I boarded the loft, I could see it was new plasterboard so I think the whole lot has been redone. This also means there are no damp issues and it feels like the house is much newer than it is.

Not all people like older houses though, so it's all down to personal preference.

Panda1234

We bought a Charles Church in Humberside in May this year. We came into it with our eyes wide open having read reviews and was ready ‘ride’ them. In the end we had very few issues, with Persimmon/CC chasing us for when they could sort the few snags out

All in all no problems at all

RelievedSheff

iampetesmith said:

I'd never buy a new build, it's just too much of a risk for me. I think people are attracted by the Help to Buy scheme with a 5% deposit, but I'd much rather pay less for an older house that's been built properly.

Our house is a 1920s ex-council one and it's in excellent condition. It's been completely modernised with new kitchen, bathroom and roof and it was rewired in 2001. When it was rewired, I think all the walls were stripped back to the brick and new plasterboard was put in as when you drill into it, you go through the plasterboard and there's a big gap before you hit any brick. The ceilings are also recent as when I boarded the loft, I could see it was new plasterboard so I think the whole lot has been redone. This also means there are no damp issues and it feels like the house is much newer than it is.

Not all people like older houses though, so it's all down to personal preference.

Just to even that view out our previous ex council 1930's semi was built exceptionally badly. It's construction was very poor when compared to our now 1 year old new build. Whilst the old house was dry and had been modernised and redecorated throughout that was essentially just papering over the cracks. The structure of the building was not great and a lot of the problems were from when the house was constructed, not what previous tenants and owners had changed.

We didn't use help to buy when we bought our David Wilson new build last year, instead we part exchanged our old house against the new build which meant that from reservation to moving in was just 3 and a half weeks.

The footprint of our new 3 bed detached house is not a lot bigger then that of our previous 2 bed semi but it just makes use of the available space so much better and the layout works so much better. It is more suited to modern living. We don't have as much land on the plot we are on now which is fine by us as we don't need a huge garden and ended up having to get a gardener at the last house as we just didn't have time to do the garden. But what we do now have is a level plot which is easy to maintain and is actually better suited to us then the previous plot. The garden is all walled off with a lovely high wall which is secure for the dog and very private with no overlooking.

As you say it is all down to personal preference. For us the lower running costs and ease of maintenance coupled with the modern layout and secure garden are what are important.

To the OP, Persimmon have a bad name but not every house they build can be rubbish or they would go out of business. Some estates will be better than others, it all depends on the contractors used and how well the site manager does his job.

Davesnave

iampetesmith said:

Not all people like older houses though, so it's all down to personal preference.

 Our older property (1974) isn't especially well-built, but it's a damn sight more solid than the 1930s house we came from, so age isn't necessarily key to a good build. The best-built house we had was rebuilt in 1948 through War Damage, just when you'd think materials might be tricky to find, but the skills were there and someone official must have overseen everything.

There's often a logical reason for cheap build. Those '30s houses with 1/6 to 1/4 acre plots in our old road were cheaply thrown together on 25cm foundations because of the land developers were giving away. However, now they cram 'em in and still give people only a postage stamp of a back garden. Does it matter? Maybe not if the kids spend all day on the X Box and folks have their Netflix. It wasn't till Covid that some people found their gardens!

Davesnave

RelievedSheff said:  Some estates will be better than others, it all depends on the contractors used and how well the site manager does his job.

 IMO it depends on the contractors and their ethos, full stop . My BiL is a site manager and when his previous firm was taken over, he spent years trying to find another firm that worked to higher standards once theirs had been dumbed-down. He's done that now. It's with what people here would call a 'small builder,' though they still have a considerable presence in the local area.

TheRealTomTom

iampetesmith said:

I'd never buy a new build, it's just too much of a risk for me. I think people are attracted by the Help to Buy scheme with a 5% deposit, but I'd much rather pay less for an older house that's been built properly.

Our house is a 1920s ex-council one and it's in excellent condition. It's been completely modernised with new kitchen, bathroom and roof and it was rewired in 2001. When it was rewired, I think all the walls were stripped back to the brick and new plasterboard was put in as when you drill into it, you go through the plasterboard and there's a big gap before you hit any brick. The ceilings are also recent as when I boarded the loft, I could see it was new plasterboard so I think the whole lot has been redone. This also means there are no damp issues and it feels like the house is much newer than it is.

Not all people like older houses though, so it's all down to personal preference.

From what I have been reading up in, Persimmon conducted an independent review of their practices and released it publically, basically shaming themselves. 
There is a new Ombudsman for new builds, with tighter laws in place to make them more accountable (it's amazing what you find out under pressure). 
A friend who works as a site manager for large builds (not on Charles Church or Persimmon) has said that 2 years ago you could have given him for free a Persimmon or Bovis home, however he has seen changes in the industry that is hopefully shifting the mentality of maximum profit over safety and quality. 
I appreciate each site is going to be different, but I the more I read, the more I see on the ideals that every house was a new build once and buying an old house can have just as many issues. 
I am currently in an 80's estate and the house is pretty solid, but we have had leaks, found a few oddities but you put that down to one of the problems with houses. 
My sister lives on a new build estate (Carla homes) and has had a great experience with a lovely house. However recently their neighbours walls became waterfalls during heavy rain. The site teams had to fix it as it was a major problem. It was just a random chance, that yes can happen on a new build, but I have seen it across the spectrum of all buying. 
The draw for us (after having some fears allayed by my friend who works on new builds) is that it is much bigger than all the similar properties at the same price point (I also appreciate the price is going to rise with all the extras you need to add in a new build) but also the Part Ex potential for selling and moving. 
I am still wary and am going to keep my ear to the ground as people move in to the already built homes, but I am not as worried as I was with all the (Perceived) changes from the company around working practices and the building legislation going forward.

RelievedSheff

TheRealTomTom said:

iampetesmith said:

I'd never buy a new build, it's just too much of a risk for me. I think people are attracted by the Help to Buy scheme with a 5% deposit, but I'd much rather pay less for an older house that's been built properly.

Our house is a 1920s ex-council one and it's in excellent condition. It's been completely modernised with new kitchen, bathroom and roof and it was rewired in 2001. When it was rewired, I think all the walls were stripped back to the brick and new plasterboard was put in as when you drill into it, you go through the plasterboard and there's a big gap before you hit any brick. The ceilings are also recent as when I boarded the loft, I could see it was new plasterboard so I think the whole lot has been redone. This also means there are no damp issues and it feels like the house is much newer than it is.

Not all people like older houses though, so it's all down to personal preference.

From what I have been reading up in, Persimmon conducted an independent review of their practices and released it publically, basically shaming themselves. 
There is a new Ombudsman for new builds, with tighter laws in place to make them more accountable (it's amazing what you find out under pressure). 
A friend who works as a site manager for large builds (not on Charles Church or Persimmon) has said that 2 years ago you could have given him for free a Persimmon or Bovis home, however he has seen changes in the industry that is hopefully shifting the mentality of maximum profit over safety and quality. 
I appreciate each site is going to be different, but I the more I read, the more I see on the ideals that every house was a new build once and buying an old house can have just as many issues. 
I am currently in an 80's estate and the house is pretty solid, but we have had leaks, found a few oddities but you put that down to one of the problems with houses. 
My sister lives on a new build estate (Carla homes) and has had a great experience with a lovely house. However recently their neighbours walls became waterfalls during heavy rain. The site teams had to fix it as it was a major problem. It was just a random chance, that yes can happen on a new build, but I have seen it across the spectrum of all buying. 
The draw for us (after having some fears allayed by my friend who works on new builds) is that it is much bigger than all the similar properties at the same price point (I also appreciate the price is going to rise with all the extras you need to add in a new build) but also the Part Ex potential for selling and moving. 
I am still wary and am going to keep my ear to the ground as people move in to the already built homes, but I am not as worried as I was with all the (Perceived) changes from the company around working practices and the building legislation going forward.

I'm not sure what the standard Persimmon spec is for their new builds. We didn't have to add any extra's to our DWH home. It came with turfed garden, outside tap, power in the garage etc. We also managed to get a good deal to start with. We got a great price for our part exchange property, £10k deposit contribution, stamp duty paid, legal fees paid, moving costs contribution and of course there were no estate agents fees to pay.

The only thing we would have added was USB sockets in some of the rooms but DWH wanted £85 per socket to do this. So we found out what make the sockets were and bought and fitted them ourselves for £10 per socket. Quite a saving when we had 13 of them we wanted to change!

Mickey666

Derboy said:

Davesnave wrote: »

You buy a pig in a poke when purchasing any new build, and you usually pay a premium price to do it.

Regardless of the national house builder's name, I wonder why anyone does it. Special monetary deals? Part-exchange? I'm sure I can't see the attraction.

Here we go again. Every house in the country was a new build at one point...

True (obviously!), but times change and so does the quality of build.   Mine was a new build about 450 years ago and still in good condition because of the quality of build.  How many of today’s new builds will last 100 years, never mind 450?

RelievedSheff

Mickey666 said:

Derboy said:

Davesnave wrote: »

You buy a pig in a poke when purchasing any new build, and you usually pay a premium price to do it.

Regardless of the national house builder's name, I wonder why anyone does it. Special monetary deals? Part-exchange? I'm sure I can't see the attraction.

Here we go again. Every house in the country was a new build at one point...

True (obviously!), but times change and so does the quality of build.   Mine was a new build about 450 years ago and still in good condition because of the quality of build.  How many of today’s new builds will last 100 years, never mind 450?

I'm sure people have been saying the same thing since god was a lad!!