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Redrow Homes

23 replies

EnglishBreakfastTea · 27/04/2017 09:35

Hi Everyone, I'm a first time buyer and seriously considering buying a redrow 5 bed home off plan - main reasons for new build is I have two under 2 so can't do much in terms of renovation and every other house I've looked at in my price range, the new builds are bigger. However, the more research I do about new builds and Redrow in particular the more nervous I'm getting!! All the reviews I can find about buying a new build seem to be absolutely awful, and there doesn't seem to be ANY positive reviews about Redrow homes at all so I'm just wondering, is there anyone out there that has had a good experience with buying a new build? And have you had any dealings with Redrow homes good or bad? Thank you all in advance Smile

OP posts:
Harumff · 27/04/2017 10:54

Can't comment on Redrow specifically but we've just moved into our second new buil 3 weeks ago. Had no problems at all with the first and loved it. This one our shower leaked when we first used it but they came and fixed it next working day and are coming back to sort out damaged paintwork at a time convenient to us. It's early days for this house but so far so good. I think new builds get an awful lot of bad press but many people live in them with no real issues and they have lots of benefits too - e.g. ours is boiling 5 mins after you turn the heating on!

EnglishBreakfastTea · 27/04/2017 12:56

Thanks!! I was kind of hoping that all the reviews I've found are because people tend to complain when they're unhappy and hardly ever leave positive reviews, it's good to hear that you've been in 2 new builds and have had good experiences! I hope you continue to be happy in your new home Smile

OP posts:
DartmoorDoughnut · 27/04/2017 12:57

I bought a newbuild Redrow home off

DartmoorDoughnut · 27/04/2017 12:59

Sorry that was the toddler!

In any case it was fine, I rented it out (thanks to a inconvenient army posting!) but never had any issues in the 3yrs I owned it and it kept its value although didn't increase.

sunshinesupermum · 27/04/2017 13:02

My DD and SiL bought a newbuild and had horrendous problems resulting in it having to be rebuilt! They were moved into another house on the estate while the work was being done and couldn't go back to their home for 11 months. They weren't alone in this happening either, but the worst house affected. And the developer queried absolutely everything that was wrong - DD and SiL had to get a surveyor of their own to supervise that the rebuild was up to standard.

The 10 year guarantee isn't worth the paper it is written on, please be warned if there are teething probs you will be on your own to sort them out. Not a good place to be. Sorry OP wouldn't touch a new build with a barge pole. There are plenty of houses that don't need a lot of work doing to them.

Harumff · 27/04/2017 17:03

You're not always on your own to sort out teething problems.... I think it very much depends on the builder and I hate that new builds generally are all tarred with the same brush.

Thereturningwonderer · 27/04/2017 22:44

Totally agree with sunshine to the point that the media got involved. This was 15years ago before social media was big.

Been there, done that. Never again.

theconstantinoplegardener · 27/04/2017 23:04

We moved into our new-build (Linden Homes rather than Redrow) four years ago and have been very happy with our house. The only real problem we had was a toilet blockage that took a few weeks to sort out. Linden did always send somebody out promptly but it just took a few different things before they got to the root of the problem.

We were given the contact details of a specific person to call if ever there was a problem and the system worked very well. Apart from the toilet issue, there were just a few minor niggles - a door that wouldn't close properly, that sort of thing - and they were all dealt with promptly. Based on our experience, we'd happily buy another new-build.

Somebody once told me that if you buy a new build, try to buy a house that you can move into while they are still building other houses on the estate because that way they have builders, plumbers etc on site and so can send somebody round easily if there's a problem.

EnglishBreakfastTea · 28/04/2017 12:18

Thanks so much everyone for your advice! Lots to think about - our house would be completed while the builders are still on site so hopefully any issues could be dealt with quickly. I'll let you know whether I go ahead or not!

OP posts:
UnicornMadeOfPinkGlitter · 28/04/2017 12:25

I live in a town that has huge development on-going right now and the one builders that I haven't heard anything bad about are RedRow.

In fact a few friends saying that they wish that they had brought the RedRow home and not the ones that they did buy. The ones with huge issues here are Taylor Wimpey. Gorgeous houses but not very well built and drainage not very well considered, especially as built on a flood plain that floods every year several times without fail.

sunshinesupermum · 28/04/2017 12:30

theconstantineoplegardener DDs house was Lindens. Bought three years ago. Terrible communications and they denied problems existed constantly. I guess it all depends which development you buy on.

Spam88 · 28/04/2017 13:05

We've been in our Barratts new build for coming up to a year. All problems (nothing major at all) have been resolved very quickly, often the same day as we reported them. Definitely think it's helpful when they're still on site as they just send the relevant workman round without any delays. Really happy with the house as well :) plenty of ventilation (so hopefully no mould!), heats up really quickly, bills are pretty low.

We looked at a Redrow house. Didn't buy it because it was the last one on the development and had a really rubbish garden, and there was also a maintenance fee to maintain the flood defences which made us somewhat nervous... Very nice looking houses though :)

daffdaff · 01/05/2018 12:30

I'm sorry I came across this question late. We have had a Redrow home for 3 years and it's been horrendous and their customer care, build quality, workmanship of contractors they send to fix things has been awful. I want to ensure no one else suffers the stress and cost of this! Hope you found a nice house and had no problems.

AntonioBanderas · 23/12/2018 14:27

We looked seriously recently at a new 4 bed house in one of Redrow’s developments in Hampshire. The houses looked good, but we were concerned about poor build quality even in the “show” home. Our concerns increased when we sat down with their representative - an awful creature. Walking home later, we joked about her being an odious, commission-seeking vulture. We then talked to 2 separate friends (actually friends of friends) who had bought in other RR developments and that confirmed our initial suspicions. They said they had experienced poor build quality and terrible service. We now plan to renovate where we are instead. I think a lot of these are being sold artificially with help to buy and other schemes, and may fall in price over next 10 years because or poor build and planning quality.
One of the friends told me she will sell soon because she believes her RR development will be like a violent slum within 5 years.

JohnDoe1 · 25/12/2018 14:31

Avoid Redrow! I've bought a new-build from them, and the quality of everything is terrible.

To begin, let's talk about their finishing: when we came to look around our finished place before moving in, the finishing was non-existent, and we pointed this out, to which they replied "oh it's like that in all of our builds" - they had to do something about this, and did so poorly.

Next, I'll mention the in-built appliances: this build was advertised as luxury, but the appliances said the exact opposite - all the energy ratings were terrible, and if you looked up the price of everything you could see it was on the very cheap side - the freezer was not frost-free! In the beginning, our fridge didn't cool properly, and an engineer (from the fridge company) determined it was because it was thrown around, then turned on too soon after putting it there - this was from someone from Redrow or their building team, and just an example of their incompetency. The fridge company said we can't replace it with a new one, it would be refurbished, and when we told Redrow customer service of how unacceptable this was, they were unready to do anything about this - eventually after a couple weeks (in which we had to suffer without a fridge) they decided they would swap it out with a new one from one of their other properties.

The builders and commissioners were clearly incompetent, we had a big leak at the start (which we luckily caught straight away), and multiple minor ones after that, which is something you would not expect in a new build. Whenever we reported something like this to the Redrow customer service, they would play us around and not set a date for their plumbers or engineers to come, and would take forever in getting back (even though that was their job) - I will mention that these plumbers and engineers were still all on site, but the customer service people would still take many days or even weeks in some cases. One time, because of a leak in the kitchen, we had to check under the panels on the floor and dry up any water there, and we found trash there from the builders - this was a place that they thought we would never look, and just decided they would leave it there (and I do recognise this is not directly Redrow, but they do have to pay attention to these things when they commission - after all, they are the ones selling the house, and are to blame).

After a year, we're still finding new problems (especially those which would arise from poor workmanship and would be covered up temporarily) - the customer service is really terrible, and they would literally stall and play us around and end up not doing anything, after wasting hours of our time (which also meant that one of us would have to miss work and wait around for them). They have now got their money, and know that we can't really do anything - and I will say that I've spoke to neighbours, and they have had and are having countless problems too, and the same experience with Redrow not doing anything.

olszede · 23/10/2019 07:31

I bought a Redrow flat off plan. I wish I could turn clock back. The lifts break down every week and have cost us a fortune to service and repair. The balconies leak and railings are already rusted. In addition the leasehold conditions are so toxic, no one is able to sell their flat.

Reviewer100 · 11/12/2020 12:21

I have seen some good reviews for redrow but my experience is very different and I think it probably depends on the site as different management ect for different sites. I experienced very bad customer service at the Silverend development in Essex. They were very uninterested and unhelpful and left me doing all the chasing. Not sure if this could be some sort of bias towards women/samesex couples but we were in a position to proceed with proof of deposit in the bank and nothing our end to sell. With a mortgage in principal already in place before We viewed so I can only put it down to some kind of bias? Homophobia? They didn’t appear to want our custom so we will go elsewhere.

lollypop345 · 11/12/2020 12:39

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MyReview · 13/10/2021 19:37

YOU MUST READ!! Avoid, Avoid! One of the worst experiences Of our life’s buying a redrow home, one year later review, we have had nothing but problems, we have had electrics with no earch that could of killed someone! We have had blocked drains, sewage backing up in to the house and burst out on the the front of the house on to the lawn, no working fridge freezer for 3 months, no working dishwasher for 3 months, no extractor fan for 3 months, all our drains are not level, waiting in for a whole year for different trade peoples that don’t turn up, all kitchen units a different shade of colour, redrow will do what they can to get a good review on the NHBC Inc a few sweeteners which we fell for as a way of compensation to get a good review that would make out that they were perfect, this is fraud and unfair on other Builders that do a honest job, customers get blackmailed to give a good review, I am now taking this further and going to the papers, save your money and don’t buy a redrow home!!!

muddyford · 13/10/2021 19:54

In a nearby town, a new development overlooking the main road had a bedsheet hung from a first floor balcony saying 'Don't buy Bovis' so I think they were having problems.

Catmummyof2 · 13/10/2021 20:11

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Catmummyof2 · 13/10/2021 20:12

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ImperialQueenofMoo · 14/10/2021 14:20

I thought Redrow were supposed to be one of the better builders because they take their time building properly? Personally, I don't like their floorplans as they all feel cramped and overpriced but I've been in a new build Bellway for 7 years with no issues. I'd buy new build again.

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