Help with New Build - Harron Homes

[sparklesandmoresparkles]

Just wondering if anyone has bought a property from Harron Homes before. (I’ve done a search and can only find one reference to the company on here from @MidnightSheep from 2017). We’ve fallen in love with a gorgeous property, but it’s right at the top of our budget and I want to go in with my eyes open.

They’ve offered us market value for our property as part ex and have throw in about £12k of extras. We’ve not yet agreed as I’m trying to do as much research as possible before we spent the £500 to reserve the plot and start the process. It’s not yet built and will be completed in about 6 months. Unfortunately I’m struggling to find much by way of reviews of the company. Has anyone bought with them and have experience of build quality, snagging process etc?

I know we need to make sure it’s freehold and there are no estate fees, but are there any other things I should be aware of?

Thanks for any help!

I've never heard of them, we bought a new build this year with a smaller company who also had no reviews. So I asked people who live on the estate. Do you think you can do this? There will always be negative responses as everyone has a different experience.

Have you been in a show home? There wasn't one on our development but they let us in an empty finished house that was the same as ours so we got an idea of finish and space.

There are only a couple of the houses that have people living in them at the moment, and they have signs outside saying that they are occupied so please be considerate, so I’m a bit nervous about going knocking. They have a show home of the style we’ve got our eye on and it’s just gorgeous, but I’m aware that the show home is top spec and they’ll have taken a lot of extra care to make it look amazing. So I’m a little sceptical about basing the decision on the show homes. They have a couple that have been built and not sold yet though so hopefully we can go take a look at those to see the quality of those compared to the show homes.

Thanks for your message 🙂 They are a predominately northern builder, I think so depending on where you are, they may not be in your area. We are potentially looking at a smaller independent builder as well so that’s another option. It’s cheaper but not quite as convenient area-wise. And again, no reviews and no estate (it’s only 3 houses and none built yet) although I’m going to ask what other builds he’s done. Did you get much options in terms of fixtures and fittings, floorings etc with the smaller builder?

We're based in Manchester, so not sure where they are?

No nothing. The houses were sold very quickly so there didn't need to be an incentive really. However, my sister has just bought a Bellway and some of the things that came as standard in our house were a paid extra with them. So I think they have a bit of a higher spec than bigger builders.

If you’re on Instagram- use #harronhomes. There’s bound to be property bloggers on there

Ah I’ve just checked and they are Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

I’ll definitely look at the smaller builder as well I think. Harron seem to have a pretty good spec anyway as a starting point, compared to some of the other companies on threads I’ve read. But it will be interesting to see what the difference is across the board. I’m trying really hard not to be led by my heart as it’s a massive expense, but we all totally fell in love! And it ticks soooooo many of our boxes.

Ooh great, thanks Cat I’m on it, but never actually use it, so that’s a fab idea!

Ha - now I know why I never go on it! #unstylish #rubbishathashtags

Hmm not much on there, so I guess they’re a pretty newish building company. But no complaints which seems a good sign so far!

@sparklesandmoresparkles the advantage of a smaller builder is that they often have higher quality standards as all their workers are from within the company. Compared to someone like Persimmon or David Wilson or Barratt who are so huge they contract all the bits and bobs out resulting in sometimes appalling standards of workmanship. I knew someone who was a painting contractor and he said they were under so much pressure to complete the painting on each house in a certain amount of time, they cut corners as much as possible and never used two coats if they could get away with one.

My OH has just bought a newbuild from a family owned builder and the quality is incredible.

Yeah, that’s one of things that’s pushing me towards the smaller builder. As we’re looking for our forever home, I really want to be sure we make the right decision. Or at least as sure as we can be.

People tend to post bad reviews rather than good ones, so maybe it is a positive that you have not found anything.

I would definitely knock some doors. My mum was one of the first occupied homes on her new build site and they had a few people knock their door and never minded.

I think if you were going to buy a new build local small builders will 9 times out of 10 be better than the big ones. They will be relying on their reputation and won't be able to afford to mess up.

That is very true Skiing!

Good to hear Mayday I’ll definitely do so if they are in next time we pop up.

Trustpilot have 119 reviews. I just googled it, came up straight away.

Thanks Cherry I thought I’d been through that, but having read it today I must have parked it to read later. Interesting reading and some mixed reviews there. But good to get some good ones to balance out the negative.

Hi sparklesandmoresparkles, I am the not so proud owner of a Harron Home. I bought my dream in July 2016 but am currently living a nightmare along with most of my neighbours. It's taken me a long time to say this but if I had my time again I wouldn't have bought a Harron. The location and house design and garden are fabulous but the build quality is beyond shocking and getting them to give me what I've paid for is an ongoing battle. I'm a very strong person but this has affected me big time. We have had no end of issues...too many to list and some extremely serious and actually compared to some neighbours we have actually done ok. The bad reviews you see are the reality, the only reason theres not more is that people are terrified of devaluing their properties.
I don't want to trample your dream but please proceed with caution. Think very carefully before purchasing, its time consuming and stressful. Do your homework. Get everything in writing and keep records of EVERYTHING and be prepared for a battle. They are bullies and will do everything they can to not put your house right.

Mixed views here on Trustpilot
uk.trustpilot.com/review/harronhomes.com

Orchardgreen I'm pretty sure some if those good reviews are fabricated.

The John Lewis reviews are bad!

If only John Lewis did houses. At least you could return it for a full refund. Lol.

We purchased a Harron Home on the Dewsbury site, it has become a living nightmare. Almost all of the negative reviews have been deleted from Trustpilot by Harron Homes, I know this as mine has!! Harron will go to any lengths to protect profit. This includes building defect riddled properties. If you are thinking of buying a Harron Home. Don't, its not worth the stress and aggravation. Found this website with more Honest Harron Homes Reviews. www.myharronhome.co.uk not affiliated to Harron homes.

I bought a Harron Homes house in 2005, unfortunately. The house had a great layout, but they were awful afterwards. Snagging was a waste of time, they agreed to nothing, told us it was all normal .. walls that wouldn't hold a screw. The double glazing was cheap and rubbish. The outside wall cracked within ten years. The garden was a mess, full of rubble. The kitchen was cheap and the veneer peeled off some of the cupboards. We had endless problems with the boiler, calling British Gas out nearly every year. The gap between so called detached houses was a very narrow passageway. Our neighbours had stairs that collapsed. I personally wouldn't touch them again.

Sorry, forgot to add the house was in north Yorkshire.

Some of the door frames didn't fit properly. The bathroom was squeezed in awkwardly and the shower plumbing was terrible - it always smelt of bad drains, because the shower didn't drain properly, according to a plumber we had to call out several times to look at it.

We looked at the show home at a site near us. The show home looked lovely but we didn’t buy as the location wasn’t right.

We knew someone who was going to buy a Harron home on a different development but failed to purchase it as the house wasn’t ready by dates promised. The customer service was terrible. It fell through and I cannot remember the outcome but it didn’t leave a good impression of them I’m afraid.

Slightly off topic but even Trustpilot were on Watchdog about 3 weeks ago for removing negative reviews about companies!!

Please please please do not buy from Harron. We moved in to ours 18 months ago and it has ruined our life. The house leaks we've just found out we have no damp proof. Our garden wall fell down narrowly missing our 3 year old. The house is mouldy and customer service is a joke. 30 houses on our estate are in the same boat. If I can stop 1 person from making a mistake then it's worth it