Barratts Homes - How reliable

lmendonsa05

Hi,

We're looking to buy a new Barratts home in Redhill and would like to know how reliable they are. Keep hearing lots of horror stories on the internet and do not want to make a huge mistake !

Thanks
Lisa

Jorgan_2

I've got a Barratts home, approx 6 years old. I've had two leaking pipes in that time, not major leaks, one resulted in the hall ceiling being replaced. The people with Westbury & Taywood homes on the estate have told me that I'm lucky to have a Barratt built house due to all the problems they have had.

The quality of the build, IMO, comes down to how good the builders & site foreman are, not the name above the site office.

uggstock

dont do it.....ours is 3and a half years old and just discovered all downpipes at all four corners of the house are not linked to the main sewer or even a soakway (which they should be) so all surface water is pouring into our foundations, the downpipes just disappear into gravel and until digging foundations for an extension didnt notice this problem. Now out of two year repair warranty so going to have to get nhbc to sort it out which will involve digging up front and rear garden, tarmac drive way and block paved patio!

Barratt are experts at hiding problems and not finishing the job.

If you do buy, about one week after you move in the site manager will come around and while chatting to you (a distraction) hand you a document to sign, its the 'im happy with my house form' which is very sly, dont sign then any problems should get sorted out quicker!

Andy_Hamilton

The main problem with Barratt is that they subcontract most of the building work.
6 months in and I've:
Plasterwork and painting could have been done by kids!
Had a leaked radiator in hall which ruined 2 week old laminate - I had to ring the contractor myself and scream!- took 1 month of ME writing letters!
Leaking pipe upstairs - Very well handled on a Saturday night which caused no damage.
ALL walls upstairs have "come loose" causing very squeaky floors. They have fixed all of them but it's a complete bodge job!
Once the floors stopped squeaking the downstairs roof started, I now have an extra 200 screws reattaching the plasterboard.
My site manager has absolutely no people skills. After missing 3 appointments he turns up not bothered. I show him the problem and he immediately works out who's fault then gets them in, He then fails to show them the fault and then calls me a liar when I tell him that they have not done what we agreed to and signed to.

You do get a new home but after all the things get repaired it really knocks the joy out of ownership

I don't think its just barratts but I would probably never buy another one new again.

princessflea

Don't do it.
I am in an 18mth old Barratt apartment. Very poorly finished, although things look ok upon first glance.
Its just little things at the moment such as tv aerial points missing, skirting boards not fastened to the wall and radiators in the wrong place etc. We have a huge problem with damp tho which according to Barratts is due to the building getting wet during building (everything in our spare room is covered in mould).
Barratts now claim to have handed everything over to a management company, the management company say it hasn't been handed over...

I also work for a local estate agents and barratts asked us to advertise a local development they were building. We went to view the buildings and found that the floors did not meet the wall, skirting boards not fastened to the wall, kitchens badly finished etc.

I would find a smaller local firm.

terrierlady

not much to choose between the major builders

IveSeenTheLight

Jorgan wrote: »

I've got a Barratts home, approx 6 years old. I've had two leaking pipes in that time, not major leaks, one resulted in the hall ceiling being replaced. The people with Westbury & Taywood homes on the estate have told me that I'm lucky to have a Barratt built house due to all the problems they have had.

The quality of the build, IMO, comes down to how good the builders & site foreman are, not the name above the site office.

Good bit of advice here.
Barrat, used to have a very bad name, but then they seemed to make major steps in improving this by building better homes.
We bought a Barratt House and my In-laws did as well and found both properties excellent.

Maybe they have slipped their standards (we bought 3 years ago) but I think more likely you have to keep on top of the fite foreman and be very critical with the snagging list.

alared

Jorgan wrote: »

The quality of the build, IMO, comes down to how good the builders & site foreman are, not the name above the site office.

This is perfectly true.

ALL builders use sub contractors,who`s main job in life is to sling up houses as fast as they can,grab the money and run.

Workmanship and pride in the job has long gone out the window.
The site manager is held over a barrel by these people and he daren`t say a word.

I once asked a site manager why he didn`t check up on a plumber`s work and if it wasn`t right to tell him to put it right.
He replied he couldn`t say a word to the plumber in case he walked off the job and that would leave him without a plumber and he would get a good kick up the a*rse from his boss.

This is why house prices are so high,apart from the greed of everyone linked to the industry,builders have to keep sending "tradesmen" back to fix "snagging" problem.

If they were built right in the first place you wouldn`t need a "snagging list".

toniwoty2009

hi,
I'm in a Barratts new build flat. We and our neighbours have had no end of problems. The properties are just over a year old and already the roof has leaked to such a extent that people second floor from the top have damp!

Mainly its problems such as finishing. Be VERY VIGILANT with your snagging list and keep pestering them to solve your problems. If they think they can get out of doing something, they will.

Most of us in our block have been told we will need a portion of our ceilings ripped out as they are not attached to the joists properly so everytime you open or shut internal doors it pulls and ceiling and makes a loud creaking noise!

Silly things like - not sealing the bath/shower properly, not connecting wires to the TV aerial socket. One of our neighbours discovered his bath had not been connected (he had a bath and the neighbour below him found water pouring through his ceiling and light fitting) and nor was the washing machine. Another neighbour's front door did not lock for around 6 months before they managed to fix it.

Otherwise its a lovely flat, just make sure you check absolutely everything and be the biggest pain in their a*se til you get it fixed.

Jonbvn

Check out www.snagging.org for info on all new build properties.

lmendonsa05

I think that I am now convinced to fork out the extra £500 to a snagging expert and we will not sign or hand over any money until the snags are fixed.