The persimmon site closest to me we looked at and it seemed ok, a friend brought Charles church who are part of persimmon and their house was fine, a bits needed patching up but other than that ok, the worst part is the sales/after sales they are just so greedy and ruthless! House buying and selling is stressful enough and they make it worse

Aren't Church the 'premium' brand, though, in the same way that a Lexus is a premium Toyota?

So you'd expect them to be finished better, because they cost X% more....

Depends on your budget but I'd say at least 70-80% that I looked at. After buying the house I'd then have to spend thousands fixing issues like electrics and boiler, knocking walls down or building an extension.


The social makeup of all areas changes, you've got just as much chance of a nightmare neighbour moving next door as you do in a new build estate. Yes the builder do sometimes change plans, but then the house down the road can also have extensions, the council can change the roads, open spaces can be bought and changed into houses.

I have just brought a Persimmon Home in the South West (Bristol). It's been one of the worst experiences of my life and has seriously affected our first home buying experience.
Firstly, the house was handed over to us with the keys unfinished. There were holes in the floor, plaster splatted across the floor and on the skirtings, there were marks all over the walls, our newly fitted kitchen was chipped and marked, there were holes that had been filled with plaster and then not rubbed down or painted on - it was a state!
I gave them an opportunity to put all of these errors right by taking the Sales Advisor and Site Manager round the house. I highlighted all problems and said this needed to be completed by the end of the week as we were having our flooring fitted - that we were paying for ourselves! I did not want people coming into the house to finish any work after the flooring had been put down - which I thought was more than understandable. Due to my lack of faith and trust within the company, I hired a professional snagger to come and snag our house. He took the site Manager round the house and the list only grew longer, he was also complying with NHBC standards and was standing 2 metres away to notice any problems/errors.
Both myself and the snagger reiterated this needed completing by the end of the week due to the flooring being fitted the following week.
I arrived at the house on the last day to find out only half the list had been completed. I was furious, that we gave them already two chances to put this house right!! There were still holes in the floor, the skirting's were still terrible and there was still lumps of plaster on the floor, which would interfere with our flooring being fitted! We took measures into our own hands and paid prior the floor to be latexes ourselves - which they didn't fund us for. We were devastated to find our house had not been completed and our flooring was booked to go ahead.
I then sent an email complaining to the Managing Director and Sales Manager and attached photos of house the house was handed over to us. I received an automatic reply confirming I'd receive a response within 15 days - as if I hadn't been trying to sort this out for 3 weeks already!!
15 days came and I STILL didn't receive a response, to which I emailed again. I finally had a response and had a telephone conversation with the Sales Manager who thoroughly apologised on behalf of the company. She arranged for herself to come out and see us along with the Contracts Manager - which was great.
They arrived at the house and I took them round and highlighted my problems. I did inform the Sales Manager that you couldn't see most the problems now our flooring was down and our furniture was in - it was too late...my problem was I gave them numerous occasions, numerous chances and lists of things to put right and it was never completed as promised on the agreed deadline. All they could do was apologise and they offered dot paint the house again, in which I was infuriated by as I highlighted the importance of the house being completed prior to the flooring be put down numerous of times!
That is all they had to offer for the extremely poor level of service they have given us.
I do not recommend Persimmon homes properties, the paint finish on the house was extremely poor, the house wasn't cleaned before it was handed over to us and they make false promises. I can't believe the amount of money we paid and we received a totally unacceptable service.
Your much better off paying the extra and going through Taylor Wimpey, the houses are much nicer and the quality of service and painting and their specs are much better!

I've just bought a 1930s semi, the chimney breasts make character, as do the picture rails and other original features. It's not damp or problematic it's been well maintained and we will carry that on, 2 big double bedrooms and a small single is fine by us. Big windows make it light and airy to be honest. Any house of any age can be whatever you want if you put soul/your own stamp into it. I'm glad people don't like all the same types , it would make it even more difficult to get what you wanted!

We have just reserved a Leith house from Persimmons (200k) and all these stories are giving me nightmares! Too many what ifs, but I want to give them a chance

I'm always reading that every building company will have their own snags and you always hear about run negatives, never the positives!

Urghhh, have I made the right decision...

I have also reserved a persimmon. My friend bought one 5 years ago, she had a few issue to begin with but seems happy overall. Im happy so far with everything. Fingers crossed we don't get too many issues

why are people so happy to spend hundreds of thousands on a house they have never seen or tried before, once you step through the door, the place has lost thousands already in value.


Not worth the risk tbh


if you bought one and has problems and they are still building new houses, out a flag outside saying 'Don't buy Persimmon' and they will start listening as potential buyers will be put off.

[QUOTE=tylerae95;73060082]I have just brought a Persimmon Home in the South West (Bristol).

Bought,,bought.....

Out of all the builders Persimmon are generally the worst and most of their houses are timber framed pre fans.

in 2016 we bought a two-year old two-bed Persimmon flat as an investment property.

There is nothing wrong with it, it is immaculate. If there was anything wrong, the previous owner must have had it done.

The estate is still being built and the road outside the flat is not made up to the finished standard because of constructor's traffic, but we are assured it will be when all is complete.

I've bought a Persimmon house in the past and wasn't impressed with the quality and finish. And the snagging wasn't easy to get seen to. The room sizes weren't great either but all that may vary by site.


I am now in a Bellway home which is much better in all aspects. If I was to ever get a new build again I'd pay much more to go with a Bellway over a Persimmon as they'd probably be my last choice

Who is it that you employ or go through to check for all the snagging issues?

Can you let them go to work the day you get the keys?

There should be tougher laws on this for buyers, it's not as if it's a piece of furniture or a stereo which you can hand back if faulty

You will always find bad reviews,,, people who are happy don't bother bragging about it,, you only get the negatives,, and be it Barrats, persimmons, David Wilson they will all have bad reviews, as stated previously no-one puts good on the internet,,, best advise, is go to the area you are looking at, and knock on some doors and ask questions,,, we joined the Facebook group of the estate we were purchasing on with Persimmons and asked questions, so far so good

You can upgrade to get the best !
You knew the sizes of the rooms from the plans before you purchased , so why moan ?

We have bought Persimmons and are really happy ,, there are unhappy customers with every company, you don't hear of the good ones only the problems,

I've on my 2nd persimmon home (via Charles Church) and I'm happy! There will always be bad stories. I had snagging issues but generally the Site Manager cooperated well, I had to nag on a few of the issues but everything got done.

I've just bought a David Wilson new build next door to a Persimmon estate -literally half way down my street the DW development ends a Persimmon begins. I can't stress enough how much I'd discourage you from buying Persimmon. Unlike DW their site has no play area/green spaces, very narrow roads with not enough parking, their side of the street floods in poor weather. My Persimmon neighbours can't park in their garages as they weren't build to the specified size on the plans - I actually heard one of their sales people say they 'wouldn't be quoted' on the measurements in their own plans!! The finish on the road and pavement is very poor, raised drains (due to lack of tarmac/finish) and that's without mentioning some of the horror stories my new neighbours have told me about their personal experiences with gardens flooding into the house, wonky walls, awful customer service.

When buying 'new', be the second one in rather than first, that way someone else has been through the pain. The quality you'll get will be very regional as developers all subcontract, so it depends on the quality of the locals and how good the site manager is!

So because you can spend more money you can get something better so you aren't allowed to bring it up as a negative? In that case nobody can ever complain about any house as you can always pay more to get a bigger or better quality one


It is about value for money and the finish and quality was not what it should be for what we paid

We have just reserved a 3 bed in East Midlands. One thing we forgot to mention, we assumed it would be in was the fencing in the back garden. Is this classed as standard or it is an extra you pay for?