Well it looks like I'm the first one here. As I understand the corporate structure at Kier, they mostly build for shared ownership, and have different names for different regional companies, and the Midlands part (called Kier Residential) has been swallowed up by another division - so it might be better to rename this forum "Kier Group" now. The reason I'm not sure about this is that Kier don't seem to know either. I was trying to compare the price of my (shared ownership) house with a similar one that's not shared ownership, and it turns out that despite lots of big Kier banners all over the place, head office don't know about the site at all, the houses here have been pulled from the estate agent, and the sales office on site is permanently empty. The upshot is, that while the houses appear to be for sale, nobody is actually selling them, which might explain why only 3 of 35 are occupied!
Anyway, on to my experience. A month after moving in, it's still a building site, and I'm woken by JCBs driving past at 8am every day except Sunday - but to be fair I was aware of this before we moved in.
Snagging has been a mixed bag so far. There was a lot wrong, but a lot has been fixed, often almost instantly by having a quick chat with a passing brickie/plumber/electrician. One major problem (no shower in the bathroom) has dragged on for nealy month now, but this seems due to communication issues between the builder (Kier) and the housing association I'm sharing ownership with (West Mercia Homes). I'm supposed to report promlems to a third party (Nexus Housing) who manage the development for West Mercia, and were supposed to talk to Kier... the upshot is that I was stuck for a while with Kier saying they needed a written instruction from West Mercia, West Mercia saying talk to Nexus Nexus saying they had sent one, Kier saying that cant tell us if they got one because they only talk to their client West Mercia etc, etc.
I havent really got to the bottom of where communications broke down, but the upshot is that I am on good terms with the site manager, and now the messages have started going through. Kier have promised to go ahead and fit the shower that was on the plans I bought the house from, but not the ones they were using to build the house.
I'll add to this as other issues get fixed (or not, I'm on my third promised date for sealing the window frames properly, and the wonky gas pipe arrangement is not yet agreed as somethingto fix), but my impression of Kier is that the on site people are very helpful, and are genuinely keen to quickly put things right, especially when word gets round that anyone working on our house gets offered tea and coffee!
Anyway, on to my experience. A month after moving in, it's still a building site, and I'm woken by JCBs driving past at 8am every day except Sunday - but to be fair I was aware of this before we moved in.
Snagging has been a mixed bag so far. There was a lot wrong, but a lot has been fixed, often almost instantly by having a quick chat with a passing brickie/plumber/electrician. One major problem (no shower in the bathroom) has dragged on for nealy month now, but this seems due to communication issues between the builder (Kier) and the housing association I'm sharing ownership with (West Mercia Homes). I'm supposed to report promlems to a third party (Nexus Housing) who manage the development for West Mercia, and were supposed to talk to Kier... the upshot is that I was stuck for a while with Kier saying they needed a written instruction from West Mercia, West Mercia saying talk to Nexus Nexus saying they had sent one, Kier saying that cant tell us if they got one because they only talk to their client West Mercia etc, etc.
I havent really got to the bottom of where communications broke down, but the upshot is that I am on good terms with the site manager, and now the messages have started going through. Kier have promised to go ahead and fit the shower that was on the plans I bought the house from, but not the ones they were using to build the house.
I'll add to this as other issues get fixed (or not, I'm on my third promised date for sealing the window frames properly, and the wonky gas pipe arrangement is not yet agreed as somethingto fix), but my impression of Kier is that the on site people are very helpful, and are genuinely keen to quickly put things right, especially when word gets round that anyone working on our house gets offered tea and coffee!