Taylor Wimpey homes?

[nightowlmostly]

Hi, we are looking into moving to Biggleswade in the near future, and there is a development of Taylor Wimpey homes there that looks ok.

Does anyone have any experience with the company in general, or buying with a part exchange deal? The houses look lovely (in the photos), but it seems a little too good to be true.

Any advice or info greatly appreciated, thanks!

Our first home was a Taylor Wimpy one, it had been built to a high standard. We bought it second hand, but of new builds I've seen it was certainly a better company, not the best, but better. Some companies I would be wary of, but not them IYKWIM.

Our house is a Taylor Wimpey house and I have to say I have no complaints with it at all. The noise proofing between us and our neighbours is really good, one neighbour had a new baby and we never heard it (even though they kept apologising in case she was noisy). Noise wise between floors could be better (if I'm in bed I can hear the telly unless I tell DH to keep it down), that kind of thing. But generally I've been v pleased with it.

Oh and negotiate .. we didn't (not really) and only found out later that our neighbour paid £40K less than we did and they moved in the same day as we did.

Sorry to hijack but I have been looking at the Part Exchange deal for Norwich - has anyone had any experience with them over this.

Thanks everyone, seems like you all had mostly good experiences.

minibmw, did you part exchange at all?

We are going to look at showhomes next week, don't know what to expect in terms of a hard sell, any experience anyone?

No, we didn't, we had both sold our properties independently so it wasn't a problem, but we've considered doing part-exchange for our next property if we go for a new home again. Only problem I've seen is they don't tend to give a market price valuation (usually lower), plus generally you need to be buying something about 30% or higher of the value of the house you want to move to (that may have changed though, so don't take my word for it).

Mini is right. When I looked there needed to be a 30% difference, which is fine for us because we will go from a 2 to a 4 bed. Just wondered myself what the process was like.

i have friends who part exchanged. they described it as the best move ever. they agreed price for their house with the builder, who then had the right to market the house ( i think for a month before completion). however, they felt no pressure to keep it immaculate as it was a done deal for them. they then didnt worry too much about the new property being finished on time etc because they didnt have to be out of house until it was ready.

i would have thought in todays market it looks like an even better deal.

be aware that new builds do not hold their value - especially now.

Sorry but I haven't heard good experiences of Taylor Wimpey homes at all. My friend has one and there are tonnes of faults with it and with other houses on her development - major things for her included problems with the boiler and shower. The only bonus is that they are under the new build guarantee so she has managed to get some of the faults dealt with. I can't believe how shoddy it looks inside a year after it was built though!

I live in one by Taylor Wimpey in Norwich. Not the developments you are looking at though. The finish is not great tbh. Most faults have been rectified but a lot of the plastering is atrocious also our outside brickwork looks as if Noddy did it. If you do buy one from them, you can get a professional snagger in to list the faults, rather than do it yourself. I have no idea the cost but I personally think it would be worth it. Also if the saleswomen are called Yana or Annaleisa then they are complete airheads. They went from our development to Queens Hills.

Thanks for the information smashingtime and Fimbo. Maybe I will stick to the older houses and see if I can squeeze a bit more out of the sale of my house to make up the difference.

I guess each development is different but I can honestly say the quality and finish in our house was great. We've been there 6 years and it now needs a complete repaint inside, but it has had 6 years of us living there to contend with (in Colchester). Plus we've been told its worth about £45K more on the open market now so I wouldn't assume they never hold their value (or raise), as I say it probably depends on the development, size of development and where it is.

Each development more than likely is different, mini. We were told to go and look at the showhouse which was the same house type we were buying at another development. That house was lovely with georgian window panes and proper concrete window sills, lovely porch over the doorway. Other houses were up in the development and all had the same features. When we saw ours after it was finished we were so disappointed. We had plain windows no windowsills and no porch. Tbh it look like a different house. Apparently they had overspent on buying the land in my village and had to cut back somewhere........

If the contract you signed with them had been for a particular style and kind of house and that isn't what they delivered then whether or not they overspent or not is not your problem and you should have had a comeback with them. Did you ever take it up with them ??

We had someone out from head office. The showhome was apparently an 'idea' of what the house would be like and that was that.

That's quite strange .. we signed up to a particular type of house, were given a set of plans so we knew exactly what it should look like, plus we were invited to go over at least two times to monitor it as it was being built to make sure it was happening exactly as we'd been told. Plus we didn't sign over the final monies until we saw the finished product. Were you never offered any of that ??

Ha ha no. . Obviously we had the plot type & internal plans but were never told it would not be "exactly" the same finish externally as the show home. The interiors are but the exterior no.

Hi there. My first post here on Mumsnet....Has anybody here dealt with Taylor Wimpey in Borehamwood or knows anyone who has bought one of their flats/houses at Oaktrees on Elstree Way (used to be Oaklands College). Would just like to know any positive/negative experiences. I am looking all around Herts but B'hmwood only place I have considered so far with Taylor Wimpey Homes... Many thanks in advance.

We moved into TW new build May 2010, regretted it ever since...would never deal with them again. Snagging still outstanding, house not watertight, during the first winter here every house on the development lost every inch guttering (no exaggeration-it made national news!). Planning criteria has not been met. Local MP now on the case.

We didn't actually move into our taylor wimpey house.

It was still in the process of being built when we put a deposit down. We were given a completion date of 31st october. We visited weekly to see the progress on the building work and were getting concerned that not alot was being done. We were assured that it would be ready on the completion date.

However.....we went to see it the previous week and stopped packing. We knew it wasn't going to be ready so put ourselves on hold.

Again we were told it would be finished.
We visited on the 30th october and we didnt have an upstairs, literally. There were no internal walls no bathrooms, no stair rails and no fitted kitchen.....we were supposed to be completing and moving in the following day!!!!

We pulled out there and then. They tried to get us to wait 2 weeks as they assured us the house would be finished. but we had buyers waiting to get into our house and needed something now.
We bought another house and kept an eye on the progress of the wimpy house it finally got finished in March!!!!

The same thing happened to someone else that was moving into the same street. She was given comlpetion for july/august didn't get in until November.

I haven't heard anything good about TW developments here TBH. The quality is really shit as well apparently
The best thing you can do if buying from them is to google reviews and complaints and see what experiences others have had