Advice please :Charles Church (Persimmon Homes)

[soullimbu]

HI everyone! I have reserved a plot which is being built at the moment by Charles Church which is part of persimmon homes at Cumnor Hill, Oxford. Since joining this site I have seen huge complaints about the developers and now I am very much worried.

Should I still go ahead with the purchase or should I back off! I am confused Please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[tiptree]

my advise is think long and hard.I moved in to my brand new home mid 2006 and everytime it rains our sinks back the toilets fill to the rim and HALF A MILLON pound houses at the end of the development have human waste going onto there lawns and nothing gets done,we have even got our MP involved and still as i sit in my kitchen i can hear the sinks guggling.It would appear the pump that was installed isnt big enough to take the strain so backs up with heavy rain fall.so dont buy if it has a pump house installed.

[soullimbu]

Thank you for your time and advice.

I'd love to hear some more views please, from other members before I commit to it.

[willyj]

Persimmon have a poor record, Charles Church, a trusted name before Persimmon acquired them, is the brand for their upmarket homes.
At the end of the day it is down to the site manager, the back up he is getting from higher up and the time he has got to achieve completion.
A look around the site should give you a clue as to what to expect with the finished product. Is it tidy, are the roads kept clean, the hoarding well built, painted and clean, the sign board up to date on proper timber posts and clean? Is the plant parked tidily after hours, walkways marked and signed, how detailed is the safety notice board? Are skips marked for different types of waste?
You should get a feel of how the job is managed. If there are piles of rubbish accumulating around skips that seem to be dropped randomly around the site, mounds of excavated spoil lying around, signboards and hoarding uncared for and lorries spreading muck up and down the roads it is probably best to walk away.

[Chuck Sidfrum]

Employ surveyor to check property, ideally at construction stages before ceilings/plasterboard covers up hidden issues.

Especially check floor joist installation. Suggest you have a retention (retainer?) of monies, written into contract, so if/when Charles Church don't resolve warranty issues, you can pay for it to be done privately.

Be aware of difference between Charles Church Actual Build Standards, NHBC Guidelines, & NHBC Technical Standards - they are all different things.

A site manager told me, 'if we built a house to NHBC guidelines it would be a pretty funny looking house'.

I personally would never purchase a Charles Church home, they have ruined the whole experience for us. Lowest specification, poor workmanship, ingnoring suppliers instructions and advice.

[Tony]

It is good advice Chuck and a real possibility if you are having your own house build or are buying from a low volume builder. However, you will struggle to get the mass builders to let you do this. It is not in their interest.

[soullimbu]

Thanks you all for your advice! We have thought long and hard and have decided to purchase a 4 bed det house in cumnor heights (Charles Church). Fingers crossed that there are no major problems. Apparently the site manager has won few awards
We will be using a snagging inspector (newbuildinspectors) after it is completed (March) to get a professional report on our new build home. I just hope that they would build the house properly.

[Tony]

I don't think an NHBC "Pride in the Job" award is an indicator of quality. I would expect all site managers to have pride in the job - it is a reward for mediocrity. I would hope that they could all get one.