Cala Homes - Has anyone got experience with them?

DettaWalker

Hi,

we're getting close to putting down a reservation on a house (off plan) with Cala in their Parklands development (Reading).
They look good on paper and are supposedly a high quality builder. Did some research online and was fairly satisfied with that. However, you never know.

Has anybody bought off them recently? How was their after sales care? How good were the houses? Has anybody got any experience in how good their building material is that they use?

I've had a thorough look on all show homes - the doors are great quality and handles etc. Carpets seem good but the floorboards did creak when we walked on them (you don't hear it when you're in the room but you can hear it if someone walks in the room above you). Not sure though if the floorboards are still setting in a new house and that will give in eventually but hard to say.
Also wondering about insulation and quality of the heating they put in.

I know the appliances that come with the house are cheap but that's something we can replace as we move in from our old house.

Anyway - any experience with Cala is highly appreciated.

Lastly: we're considering a PX with them and the plot that we want has just been released for sale. We don't have a buyer for our current house (but need one in order to reserve). Cala has offered us a good price on our current house but stated that this means we can't negotiate on their house price. In fact they were very transparent in the whole process, showing us the submitted valuations from both estate agents (and we had a third agent value our house as well).

Has anyone done a PX with Cala and negotiated off the asking price?
We're willing to take a bit of a hit - this our dream house and has everything we want.

DettaWalker

Anyone any experiences at all?

VultureDodger

I haven't, I'm afraid, but have you thought about having a walk around one of their other sites on a Saturday or sunday afternoon? It's always worth stopping to have a chat with owners and asking if they're happy with their home. We've done this a couple of times whilst looking around estates and have always found that people are more than happy to share their experiences.

Hope this helps

googler

They're primarily a Scottish company, and there's loads of their developments North of Hadrian's Wall.

Unfortunately, they all have a consistent Cala 'look', and it's somewhat like all the same houses plonked down at different sites.

Build quality - just by looking at them from the street, I can see that many of them are timber frame construction. This may be what you want in your dream home, maybe not. Have you looked at others in progress on the site, to see what's under the skin?

Fittings - having seen some of their developments after five years or so, I've not been impressed with the quality of the external hardware; droopy front door handles, decaying finish on doors, windows and other fitments, that sorta thing.

I've never bought one nor lived in one, though.

davidmcn

No direct experience, they seem to have an above average reputation (bought a few for clients and can't remember anybody wanting to have a dispute with them, for example).

DoaM

My BIL bought a Cala property (new build) in Paisley more than 10 years ago ... I don't recall it being timber framed - I thought it was fully brick. (Maybe they've changed since then).

The property is generally fine - no better or worse than those provided by most other developers.

googler

DoaM wrote: »

The property is generally fine - no better or worse than those provided by most other developers.

However, for the premium they charge, dontcha think they should be better than 'generally fine' AND better than 'most other developers'... ?

DoaM

I've no idea what they paid or how it compared to other properties available in that area. So I can't answer your question in this specific case.

In the generic case ... if you're paying over the odds / more than for other, similar properties, then yes - you'd expect a better quality product.

babaenglish

About me - Looking for a property in reading, been to Cala homes few times earlier .. Staff is rude and they play tricks with you -- properties are overpriced, however you need to pay premium for new build. i think there is a good scope of bargain if you dont rush ..

GnR

Did you buy at this location, we are also looking at this development and are reading mixed reviews. Especially concerned about only 4 MBPS internet connection reports, when across the street bewley homes have fiber optic.

J.house

I've tried purchasing a 345k home with CALA. They refused to budge on full asking price for the house but have offered carpets, turf(which they said was worth 2,500!), stamp duty paid and 1,500 towards legals if you use their conveyancer. Still too high for us though ;(