David Wilson Homes

[PastaBeeandCheese]

Anyone bought one? Would love to hear your experiences.

We currently live in a house we renovated but want to move for schools. I'm not sure I can face all the work, dust and mess of renovation again especially as we have LOs now.

The house prices for older properties are so high where we want to live our realistic options are a 10 year old 4 bed box or a brand new one.

[fussychica]

They used to be lovely - a cut above many of the others but I don't know anymore as I believe they are part of Barrett Homes now.

[PastaBeeandCheese]

That's how they market themselves and certainly the spec is a lot more comprehensive than my SIL'a Taylor Wimpy where they had to pay extra for seemingly everything.

[ajandjjmum]

I think they have some really innovative designs for family homes - never bought from them though, so don't know how they treat their customers.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

They were originally a family owned company called Trencherwood homes. They have built fairly extensively in this area in the last 10 years well over 3000 homes. They tend to have a fairly obvious style to their properties, but no one has anything bad really to say about them though. People call them Lego homes round there.

[PastaBeeandCheese]

Well I'm encouraged that no one has rushed to say they are awful! I know it isn't a very exciting choice but I think it might be the best way to get enough room in the area we want.

In our budget we can have a tiny 3 bed period terrace or a 5 bed detached DW new build.

The David Wilson homes look lovely for families. I think we are going to give it serious thought this weekend.

[justaweeone]

I used to sell them years ago and met David Wilson himself many a time,they were lovely ,generally well built homes then.Not sure about them now as they sold out to Barratt

[PastaBeeandCheese]

justaweeone DH is so impressed..... He believes David Wilson is the dog on the logo and thinks the company is run by a Labrador retriever. He was thrilled to hear you had met him.

I'm afraid I'm far more serious than him so really interested to hear your feedback. I can't see that people have many bad things to say about them on the Internet and they seem to offer a lot of guarantees with the house.

[wonkylegs]

ATM I would advise caution with all new builds. Check your area and the new build Market. Is the development you are looking at still building and if so for how long?
Many large new build estates have issues if you need to sell on whilst they are still building. You pay a new build premium when you move in but if you need to sell for any reason when development is still going on it's very hard to compete with your slightly worn house compared with the brand new ones.
We are currently looking in an area where we could buy an enormous new build detached at an amazing spec because of this, it seems tempting until you realise how much people have struggled to sell them on, hence the reasonable prices. Two friends who had to move due to jobs had to take massive hits due to negative equity on new build estates that were still being developed. It doesn't apply everywhere but can be a problem.

[FrauMoose]

My brother has one. We saw it when it was still in the process of being built and were not impressed with the standard.

I think the quality is better in older properties - rooms are often more sizeable too/less boxy/more storage space etc, even if there are fewer of them.

[Cezzy]

We looked around a development where several companies had the same outline for the house style but had planned the interiors to their own specs, must admit the DW house was a lot nicer and better thought out than the others, but it's important to remember show homes always look good.

[PastaBeeandCheese]

DH is worried about that wonkylegs. It's just so hard because the houses we like in the older part of the town are so expensive that they make the new build very attractive.

Does anyone know what you can typically expect to negotiate off a new build? I'd imagine they are a bit more willing to reduce the price than a private vendor?

[justaweeone]

I agree with what wonky legs says
I sold David Wilson homes over 10 years ago and they generally were well built and planned houses.More recently I sold for another developer and the quality of the build was often shocking!On that development I saw one particular house type sell for £150 k less that the exact same house type that had been sold 2 years previously.
Also on some new build developments they do not have sufficient or well though out parking combined with narrow roads thus resulting in 'parking wars'.
In addition I also know of another development due to the economic climate where the developers ended up building more social housing than originally planned( not that there is anything wrong with social housing just that they developer did not build what the first people living there already had expected) and on another development the build effectively ground to a hault leaving the the residents effectively living on a unfinished building site without the promised school being built,the public amenities and unfinished roads.
That is not to say that there are some great developments with well built and thought out housing stock.There is room for negotiation on price as they work generally to quarterly sales targets with legal completion in June and December having the most room for negotiation especially if the plot is a 'stock plot' ie finished or almost finished.
Hope that helps.

[boxoftricks]

My parents live in one. Built circa 1996/7. It was my teenage years home. It is very good quality. Really good. However my friend has recently bought a new house last year, and the quality seems a bit..... Not as good. The finish definitely isn't as good, and it feels a bit quick and cheap.
Have you visited show rooms? And been round? Looks like that's your weekends sorted for the next few months......

[NewFerry]

We live in a 10 year old DW home. We've been here 8 years, all our neighbours bought from new, and we bought from a family relocating with work.
The house is great, good size, well built, and has sloping ceilings in 2 bedrooms and a bay window in the front, plus leaded windows so it's not such a characterless box.

I agree with the other posters regarding the fact you pay a premium for buying new, but we've done it before and I liked that we got to know our neighbours really well because we were all new together iyswim.

Do watch the size of the roads though, we all have older teenagers, and have 3 cars per house. 2 fit on the drive, but despite having double garages most of us are too lazy to put 3rd car away so it sits on the road overnight. It's not a problem here, but if the road was v narrow then it could be an issue.

[justaweeone]

By the way I think the dog was called Wellington!

[PastaBeeandCheese]

He will always be 'David Dog' to us!

We've been round the show homes this morning. I'm like a magpie and I'm bowled over by anything shiny and new. DH is far less convinced as he thinks it's a poor investment for all the reasons outlined by OPs.

[justaweeone]

Ha,David dog!
Think you have summed it up 'new and shiny '.When you look at a show house the are selling you a lifestyle.It used to amaze me how different the show house looked once it had been sold and the new owners had moved in with their own furniture and their various dependants!
If you don't mind me asking,where in the country are you looking?
Having taken on various renovations over the years I still would do it again but maybe I am just mad!

[piprabbit]

You may not be able to negotiate a huge discount - but you may well be able to negotiate some 'extras' or even spec changes if you are early enough. So you might get your flooring included (or upgraded), additional plug/TV/internet points etc.

[mydavidwilsonhome]

Be VERY, VERY cautious. I could recount all my experiences here but there is not enough space. In total, in less than 2 years, we have had almost 6 months of remedial work. Have a look at the photos on www.mydavidwilsonhome.co.uk to get a proper idea. Our neighbours over the road have had similar problems and so have many others.

[PastaBeeandCheese]

Gosh, that sounds awful davidwilsonhome. Poor you.

DH really isn't keen. We went to see a house that is exactly the same sq footage at the weekend but is £60k cheaper.

It needs a new kitchen and family bathroom but en suite is brand new and they are even leaving their purpose made, wooden play house!

I can't face the work we did to our current house and I think DH is agreeing to my compromise that we pay someone to fit the kitchen and bathroom rather than he and I doing it all ourselves if we go for an older house.

[MissNegotiater]

DWH are more of a luxury brand although Barratts own them - I have purchased a property in 2002 from them lived in it and still retain no complaints but this was before Barratts brought them out I believe.

I feel they are one of the builders that actually invest in the external character of the property's in comparison with many others. They pay attention to natural light through larger windows and the whole property as an airy feel to it, where new builds can often feel claustrophobic.

I am part-exchanging as we have reserved last week over the phone for yet another DWH - (part ex property is from another builder not DWH)

However this time they don't seem to budge on the asking price although they have shaved a huge 17% from the selling price off my property in the part-ex offer.
I accepted the part ex offer hoping I would be able to get at the least 10% off their asking price but after refusing my offer of 15% off and for them to pay 4% SDLT. Really struggled to negotiate anything off their asking price the best I managed to get was for them to agree to pay SDLT and they will part-pay towards flooring.

Although I have paid my £500 reservation fee when I go down to formally go through the reservation this weekend - I think I am prepared to walk away if I cannot get them to include any optional extras within the asking price.

I have made a list of upgrades I will like such as to the kitchen, home automation, landscaped gardens, and additional sockets all of which is fairly reasonable considering they have offered so low on the part-ex and are not negotiating on the Property Price.

[slgordon14]

This is an old thread but I thought worth reviving in case anybody is thinking of purchasing a David Wilson home. My experience is that their after sales service is extremely poor and they don't care once you have parted with your cash. They pride themselves on 5 star service but I don't know how they are achieving this as nobody I have spoken to is impressed. All I can say is that you pay a premium buying a David Wilson home thinking you are getting good after care service but this is definitely case. Don't waste your money.

[Fionas245]

This is an absolutely appalling company. Once the house is sold the customer service experience is absolutely terrible. Our neighbours have had similar or even worse experiences with some resorting to twitter to name and shame this company.
In our case, we have owned DWH house for 2 years and for almost 4 months of that time much of the house has been unusable due to works to ceilings and plaster being left on the floor because of incompetent workmen. However, what’s worse however is the complete indifference of management. No response to complaints and although they have a published complaints procedure they do not abide by it at all and management don't care. A copy of the letter to John Dillon (MD South Midlands) is a case in point.

Dear Mr Dillon,

Complaint ref: 474bb570cd

Thank you for your email.

Please note that we have updated our claim to point 7 to include the cost of the paint which we were asked to purchase for the completion of the works. We note that you have not explained your conclusions and that you have refused to pay any part of our claim.

To be absolutely clear, the crux of our complaint is that DWH did not provide adequate or acceptable customer service. DWH did not address our complaints in a professional and systematic manner and failed to follow its own complaints procedure over an extended period. Senior management at DWH failed to respond or take appropriate action in spite of the many reminders. DWH were also negligent in the way the works were carried out causing damage to our property and generally leaving us in a mess over an extended period of time. This is admitted by DWH in a number of emails. It is remarkable that DWH only decided to take appropriate action 3 months after our formal complaint. I put it to you that, DWH exhibited a lack of care which is not in keeping with a modern and forward thinking company and certainly not the ‘5 star’ home builder that we bought into when we purchased the house. As a reminder, I attach a photo of the mess your company left us in. We believe that, had DWH followed its own complaints procedure and provided appropriate customer service and management, we would not have suffered the consequences. The job was scheduled for 5 days not 106 days! We simply do not agree that your responsibility is simply to ‘get there in the end’ ..... how can it be?

Our roof has been leaking for over 9 months causing damage to the exterior walls and damp into the top floor bedrooms. We reported this at the end of March 2016 and filed various complaints including your own web based formal complaints procedure. You commit to responding within 3 days and escalate to management within 10 days. Over 250 days have gone by since it was reported and over 100 days since the formal complaint was filed. What do we have to do exactly to get a response? You and your company are making our lives a complete misery. This is by far the worst buying and customer service experience we have ever encountered.

Yours sincerely
Fiona S.............

[chocolateFanatic]

Hi, we're looking at buying a DWH any suggestions how to get the price reduced seen a 3 bed detached it's over our budget but the floor space on 2 bed is too small. Also, feedback on the quality of the build if you have and experience. Thanks