BDW Trading Ltd Reviews 143

Don't buy a home off Barratt. You will regret it. Lowest quality ever. My whole bathroom full off mould as valves weren't screwed together, no heating for the whole winter and residential property management that can not organise cleaners and overcharge!

No sound proofing what so ever. Can hear neighbour turn light switch on and off. Can hear the kitchen draws sliding open when I’m in my bedroom - sounds like it’s in my own kitchen. Can hear neighbours fridge opening etc they are my upstairs neighbour and their kitchen is not even above my bedroom but next room over.
The walls are hollow and not divided by floors in when it’s flats.
Must be bad for fire safety

I have just read all these revues and am horrified, together with recognising so many complaints that match my own. The quality is appalling in my Barratts home (4 years' old): exterior brickwork uneven, adjacent window handles on double windows do not match height wise (one handle higher than other), ditto with window vents, one window fails to open as metal hinges broken off, we face the sea and experience much salt laden wind - window metal should have been stainless steel to prevent corrosion but is not and Barratts is refusing to address this colossal mistake, the sealant around the frames of some windows is failing (cold air comes in) and the sealant around the edge of the glass sitting inside the frame has in places the same issue (Barratts fixed some of this and I have now discovered many more incidents), garden was uneven and lumpy, topsoil put straight onto compacted builders rubble, in winter 2 inches of water lapping against back of house, lawn squelching (Barrats did eventually come and fix garden. It took them two goes. Drainage was added plus topsoil and garden flattened. But lawn is still too wet and grass struggles to grow due to thin layer of topsoil.) I have had a mixed experience of Barratts' response - at times they have responded immediately to issues, at other times I have had to spend time persuading and arguing to get them to come. My guarantee is up in a few months and I am very focused on going through the house inch by inch to make sure I report everything in time. This is very stressful.

As I am sure our Barratt home cannot be the only new home with a problem with water logged gardens (I know there are many on our estate alone) I wondered if the following advice might help those with similar problems. We moved into our new Barratts house one year ago and, when it rained, the garden and flagged area in front of the kitchen retained water to such an extent that it even floated the heavy rubber outside door mat! Also, when we stepped on to our garden we sank into the turf and water washed over our shoes.
However, completely by accident (when looking for ‘bog-loving plants’ on the internet!) I came across this very useful piece of information regarding NHBC regulations. If this sounds like your problem garden, look up "NHBC STANDARDS GARDENS new build inspections", paying particular attention to items 9.2-D5 and 9.2-S6. These state:

"GARDEN AREAS (up to 20m from the habitable parts of the home)
9.2 - D5 Garden areas within 3m of the habitable part of the home shall not be waterlogged. Waterlogging of garden areas within 3m of the habitable part of the home should be prevented by drainage or other suitable means
9.2 - S6 Garden areas shall be adequately prepared for cultivation Construction rubbish and debris should be removed from garden and other areas around the home. The ground around the home can be compacted by machinery and storage of materials during construction as well as
when topsoil is being replaced and this can affect the structure of the soil and
its draining capability. Where this occurs within 3m of the home appropriate action should be taken to suitably restore the drainage characteristics of the soil. Any ground disturbed during construction should be re-graded to conform to the general shape of the adjacent ground.
Subsoil should not be placed over topsoil and any topsoil disturbed should be reinstated. Garden areas should be provided with topsoil to a thickness of not less than 100mm. The topsoil should not contain contaminants which are likely to present a hazard to users of the garden area."

We brought this to the attention of the site manager and two drains were installed in our garden and next door’s. No more waterlogging.
If you have this problem, do speak to the Builder/Site Manager/ Customer Care, quoting the NHBC reference. They will be delighted to hear from you.

Wish there was a zero star option. Knowingly missold my property (house) by failing to disclose the terms of the leasehold. My house is now unsellable and I’m stuck in this hell. Barratt CEO failed to answer my complaint appropriately passing the buck onto the solicitors (which they forced me to use). I am
In this for the long haul however and I know it will eventually get sorted and they will be forced to address this immoral practise in courts / select committees / parliament etc

Not made aware of leasehold terms and conditions, scam.
House built to poor standard

The house itself is good. However. When reserving we were told the local council wouldn’t take on public open spaces on new developments due to government cutbacks and there would be a maintenance charge. A year later we discovered the local council would have taken on the land and maintained it with our council tax payments. Turns out David Wilson Barratts own several maintenance companies and charge new homeowners through these unregulated uncapped maintenance fees for extra profit. They lied to us. They get one star. So do your homework. As some awkward question. Fleecehold. Home owners rights network. I’ve have complained. They don’t care. Their response was “take is to court” Dismal practice for a National Homebuilder.

Terrible experience.

I get woken up every morning by my next door neighbours walking, talking, and opening cupboards. They are not even being loud - the soundproofing is simply non-existent.

Not a great experience to have a home which you avoid. I will have to put my bed in the hallway so I can get enough sleep to function properly.

Barratt Homes might look impressive from the outside, but they are very, very cheaply made. If you can hear your neighbours sneeze and use the plug sockets then something is drastically wrong with the build quality.

My experience with this so called company has left me feeling like I've been robbed . They are worse than criminal take your money for house not even built to plan or building regs. Avoid at all costs.Destroying lives and wellbeing . Having to employ a solicitor to sort out this shambles of a company/ dictadictatorship . Disgusting.

Avoid if you are looking at buying a new home with Barratt or David Wilson. Extremely unhappy with the customer service we have received from David Wilson Homes (who are part of Barratt Group) in the Dovecot Mill development. They will be quick enough to take your money but then when there are issues will deny any responsibility to fix them. We are over a year in the house and we still have issues.

In addition, the playpark on the site is seriously unacceptable with glass and sharp stones and bad drainage - their solution is to just cover it up with grass, pass over to the factor and then make the residents pay for fixing it at a future date.

If I could give less than one star I would. If you want a happy life - avoid and go somewhere else.

Fell in love with the property but explained that we had to sell our house first, no problem pay a deposit to secure and complete as soon as possible. When I could not garantee a completion within two months they would only refund £350 of my £500 deposit. I thought all companies were bound by the 28 day cooling period. Barratts believe that they are above that, had I realized I would not have paid the deposit. This is sharp practise, beware any would be Barratt puchaser!

There 5 year inclusive warranty unfortunalty means nothing. My front door handle has faded and is pitted even thou it’s hardly had any use. Also my guttering is leaking I now pray it doesn’t rain at night as the dripping on to the front is unbearable. Barratts have turned around and told me that the handle is wear and tear would you believe after just 4 years!!! They also said they the all inclusive warranty doesn’t include the guttering. Basically once you pass two years then these people do not want to know. What’s made even worse a neighbour has had he’s front door handle replaced please Barratts adleast be consistent!! If I could give them less than one star I would.

Never buy a house from these guys 🤦🏼‍♀️ Lived in a new build property for 3 years (since it was built) weirdly started hearing a noise in my wallls and the smell of damp.. after ripping my kitchen to pieces we uncovered the lovely people who fitted my kitchen had drilled straight through my hot water pipe! I now have a tunnel I’d water going under the wall into my living room 👏🏻👏🏻

I moved into my 1 bedroom 2nd floor apartment at their Charlton Hayes development in Bristol in June 2018 and not long after could hear the people in the flat above me walking around, their loo flush, talking, switch on/off sockets and their front door open and close.
I contacted Barratts to tell them about this and asked them to investigate as was not expecting to hear this level of noise from my neighbours in a brand new modern designed apartment. They never came to investigate and eventually after seeing the site manager in the building he said it was due to the fact the people above me had hard wood floors fitted throughout their flat which they had installed themselves. This staggered me as I specifically asked about this issue when viewing the flat at their "meet the builder" stage when you go and view it part built. The site manager said and I QUOTE " You won't here a pin drop" because of all the sound proofing and insulation between you and them. What an outrageous lie that turned out to be! So you would think that you would be covered by the lease on the building (Barratt own the building btw) which says that any flooring must have sound proofed felt under it. This lease isn't worth the paper its printed on and is not enforceable by anyone it seems as after my protestations about the noise and questioned the lease their reply was "We can't ask anyone to alter internal works in their properties" So would warn anyone buying a ground, first or second floor apartment there that you are going to hear your neighbours above you if they have hardwood floors fitted and not carpets, insulation or not as my neighbour tells me he put it down before the flooring. Other people in the block I have spoken to have the same issue so it isn't just me. I have carpets in my apartment and the person below me doesn't hear a thing. The soundproofing in this building is blatantly insufficient and want to warn anyone out there thinking of reserving to walk away because this could happen to you. I am woken up when my neighbours get up for work at 6am. I am woken up at 3am if they have been out parting. If they are in I know it as can hear them walking around above me. The thump thump thump of their footsteps can even be heard over my TV or when I have headphones on as its like a vibration and is really getting to me now. So much so I dread going home and spend my weekends at my parents house to get at least 3 nights of good sleep a week because I certainly can't get any in my own home. The only ones worth having are the top floor apartments. Do not touch any other floors as you will be in the same position as me. Don't touch them with a barge pole. Oh and like others here the snag list is huge and still waiting 3 months later for things to be corrected.

Just the worst after sales customer service. Very happy to accommodate you when you're in the process of buying. However, it's a different story altogether when you've moved in. They didn't snag the house properly before we moved in and now we're left with a defective Amtico flooring through the majority of the ground floor. We officially complained a month ago to their customer care department and it's at the point now where they are ignoring our emails.

I would also add that some of the finishing in the house is very poor indeed. Avoid.

In my view the worst ever company to even buy from. A whole list of never ending issues from missing of property, incompetent sales advisors and site managers. Having spoken to a Barratts employee, been informed that all customers are given a RAG status at head office when issues are raised further up the chain! Senior members of the company are brutal and lack simple soft skills or any empathy to the shoddy and pathetic work carried out on their new homes are are definitely not NHBC standard and this too has been shared with NHBC. How this company has been allowed to run with the health and safety issues for all their homes worries me.

My advise to all is stay clear! A rush is out on homes to meet their financial year end targets and at the cost of your home being completed to mediocre standard. They do not have customers best interests at heart and resort to intimidating and bullying behaviour borderline of harassment. Emails and calls are ignored once they have your money. Their own employees take material left over from the homes completed to aid and fund their own interior of their house at the cost of customers!

Wow. What a waste of time it was trying to buy a house from this company.

Didn't even get as far as buying as all the sales pitch led to nothing but a waste of my time after an awful experience.

I should have know something was fishy from the start as they kept telling me what a good company they were and to ignore the online reviews 'all companies get a couple of bad reviews'.

They showed me a house and gave me a big sales pitch on part exchange and how easy it was and how theyd fit around with my hours. Sounded good so said yes.

Next day their head office calld and insists 2 estate agents come round 2 days later or sale is off. I explained i had work but they didnt care and i was forced to take a day off work.

So had 2 estate agents come round. 1 i knew undervalues houses (great to buy from as 10s of thousands under real value) and 1 id never heard of andice been in the area for over 30 years.

After valuations i Heard nothing till next day when they phone and say the estate agents couldn't agree on a price or any market information - 1 said its a great market and 1 said its a poor market.

Because of this they tell me they wont part exchange and i should sell under their assisted sales scheme where it will be 1 of the low valuations - really selling me on the idea here

I said no and made a counter offer which i was supposed to get a response to but its gone radio silence.

Site office call today to ask me whats going on so their headboffice dont even talk to their site office!

It just seems to me that this is one if those companies that promises a lot to get you interested and invested and then give you the worst experince possible.

The whole experince was so bad and customer service so poor that its soured me to a new build.

The review would be higher, if we still were not waiting for a replacment sink, replacement flooring and a garden we can use safely.
The house was 'finished' in April 2018, we moved in June 2018.
The woodwork on bannisters is covered in paint, we've had to have all UPVC filled and made right (looks like someone hit the porch with a digger), we've had to have flooring stuck down as you could peel the kitchen and bathroom floors away and the stairs carpet was bagging and lifting.

The sink in main bathroom is cracked. Still awaiting replacement over 3 months later. I can buy a sink within 2 minutes at Wickes/Homebase/B&Q, unsure why were are still waiting.

The flooring in main bathroom is too small and you can see the floorbaords in the gaps. Still awaiting replacement.

The garden, is lumpy, not leveled and the grass is still awaiting replacement. They removed a dead tree they planted and filled the hole with rocks and sand.

They dug up the front of our driveway and front garden, (without prior notification, illegal as was for non-emergency as we own the land) and still have not replaced the front garden. The grid has been displaced on the driveway due to these works and now when driven over it flips up and scratches cars/catches tyres.

Not to mention they install the canopy on the front of the house with 100+ litres of water trapped inside that just leaked out slowly once fit.

Whilst generally the house is generally okay, plenty of wear and tear from builders when we moved in, the wait time for people to actually sort any issues (that should not be present in brand neew home) is ridiculous. Phase 2 is still being built so it's not like there is a shortage of builders.

We keep getting told we'll srot you after we've met completion dates on other properties. Our house isn't even complete yet. missing a sink. have spent all summer unable to do anything in the garden, only really suitable for a dog, small children fall on uneven surface and a gride raised 2" above grass line.
They need to start looking out for those who've purchased rather than work to imaginary completion dates.

We have issued final date of mid-September for completion of all out standing issues. If not met, further legal action will be taken.
Their level of customer care is disgusting, they'll happily send emails, but no one talks to each other and nothing gets done.
We've had to go behind Barratts back and liaise with builders direct on site to get the smallest things done.

Awful, rude customer service, Most uncooperative customer service I've ever experienced
After 8 years they have still not had the road adopted, in breach of the agreement with our solicitors when we bought the house. This make it difficult to sell the house and DWH(Barratt) don't give a damn. And that is just one on many problems.
I reccoment that you don't trust this company to keep it's word. Probably best to buy from a competitor.

I cannot understand the general rating for Barratts. We purchased a property in April of 2018 (Lantern Lane) and were taken very good care of. Of course before and after purchase you will have to chase to make sure promised add ons and snags are taken care of, but if anyone thinks they don't have to chase people to get work done you are a bit deluded.

All charges were made very clear on application and the team was very honest and not pushy in the slightest for paid extras. Tracy at the sales office was lovely, a pleasure to deal with

Our property had no major defects and all snags were taken care of. It is true that certain fixes took a few months but this was due to external companies dragging their feet and I cannot fault Barratts site office or customer service. Four months in everything has been taken care of to my satisfaction.