Larkfleet Homes

Do not buy a house with Larkfleet. I made that mistake when I bought one on the Oakham development. The whole process of buying the house was messed around and over complicated considering there was no chain. I have now been in since March 2020. My 14 day snagging list has still not been completed and there is no sign of them doing it. The shrinkage that should have been done at 12 months has not been done and they are now refusing to do. My boiler that was less than 12 months old stopped working and when one of their staff fixed it I was left with a gas leak for 3 days. Both my front and back doors have broken several times meaning I’m unable to secure my house and each time customer car have been in no rush to get this sorted. They continue to pass me between each other whilst not sorting my issues.

This is review is regarding the new development at Witheridge in Devon. We visited the site which was lovely and after visiting a similar property on site we agreed to buy and left the deposit required. As the bungalow was under construction we were encouraged by the sale staff any extras would have to be decided upon by various stage of construction. Any extras we would have to pay 50% which was not refundable. We selected the extras and construction progressed. Later on we were asked to visit the site in order for the site manager to go through the plans etc, a round journey of 300 miles. We had sold our house and were waiting to exchange contracts when our buyer pulled out the day before. We informed larkfleet who at first were helpful and would allow us a couple of weeks to find a new buyer. Unfortunately this did not happen and due to a new CEO for the company they decided to place the property back on the open market and sold the bungalow to another couple without informing us . A courtesy telephone call would have helped to ask us how our house was progressing. My wife was extremely upset and so was I as the news came on the anniversary of my fathers death. When we rang we were told MY JOB IS TO SELL HOUSES AND THATS WHAT I HAVE DONE. Later the company rang us to sell the property was back on the market as was completed and ready to go. As we were in the area on another matter we visited the property we had agreed to purchase. I was astonished to see the workmanship in the property so poor , none of the doors fitted would close yet had been painted and door handles fitted etc. Some were twisted or had chunks of wood missing.Being an ex joiner and carpenter I was appalled at the bad workmanship. Some of the extras we had asked for had not been fitted and the rear garden which we had asked to be turfed was like the Devon valleys sloping in two different directions. Even the rear fence was not level and the side gate badly fitted. A week later they again told us the property had been sold again.

We did recover some money but as the carpets had not been fitted we were told it would cost £450 to send them back to the company

In the end we were several hundreds of pounds out of pocket.

Therefore I would recommend be extremely careful with this company as they are nice to you one minute and then will go behind you and ruin your dreams like they did with us

Larkfleet Homes are the worst house building company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with. I have recently moved into a house on the Collingham Brook development. They have absolutely no interest in carrying out remedial work to the property once you have moved in and they have your money. This is mostly due to the fact that they have absolutely no control over their sub-contractors who have zero interest in rectifying their sub-standard work. Their customer service is non-existent. They are not interested in resolving your problems, they just want you to give up and go away - shocking.

I strongly suggest you avoid buying a new home from these, sales office staff are lovely until you have paid the deposit then its downhill from there!!

had two floods, leaking roof twice also, a long list of other problems which haven't been rectified over 2 years later, I wish we had the opportunity to buy an older house with issues instead of this!! Larkfleet know they have first time buyers stitched up with the help to buy scheme, but seriously if you have another alternative TAKE IT!!

This company have ruined my first time buyers experience. I haven’t slept properly in months. Do not buy from them.

No customer service at all they literally do not care. They leave things so long that they hope you give up asking.

7 weeks in and my bathroom still isn’t water tight. Leaking windows and snagging list still isn’t anywhere near complete.

Buying a Larkfleet house is the worst mistake I've ever made. The house wasn't finished when we moved in. The walls hadn't even been finished painting and the skirting boards hadn't been painted. We had a leak in the bathroom that took them months to sort out. The Customer Care is appalling and the worst I've ever experienced. The MD showed no empathy whatsoever and made me feel like I was a total distraction for her. The girl who heads Customer Care is the MD's and CEO's daughter so need I say more. We have decided to take a hit and move as our experience is so bad.  CEO and MD should be totally ashamed of themselves. It took them 12 months to resolve our 7 day snagging list - makes a total mockery of it being called a 7 day form. High staff turnover as total rubbish company to work for so I'm told by their maintenance men and site managers. I wouldn't recommend Larkfleet to anyone if my life depended on it.

I wanted the space of an older property without the maintenance, my wife wanted the clean lines of a new-build, without the tiny dimensions of a modern estate. So we had previously walked away from any new-build homes we've seen, as they've all appeared crammed and pokey, despite the brochures.

Larkfleet (Larkfleet Rise in Somerset) isn't like that at all and it's the one modern estate which we both immediately warmed to. Larkfleet have really made an effort to create a much more spacious plot and surrounding area and the house itself offers a much larger square footage for comparably priced houses in the area (easily +25%). Snags have been relatively small and cosmetic - e.g. some of the paintwork wasn't the greatest, but overall it's been painless.

Overall the fit and finish have been great and the appliances have been all been to a high standard, including solar panels in the roof which are a nice touch. The house is fairly well-ventilated and cool in hot weather and so far appears to be well insulated and warm now the winter has arrived. No leaks have appeared which can be a new-build issue (and we've had a few storms in recent weeks)

One word of warning; the sales office did try to insist we use their own financial advisers, but they pushed back when I suggested that practice was in fact illegal. They appeared to want to know exactly how much buying-power we had (rather than whether we could simply afford the house price), before entering into negotiations which is clearly remiss. I suspect this is just a sales trick and most people would see that for what it is.

So the only real drawback was their slowness. Both in terms of getting a completion date (we had to extend our mortgage offer and find another temporary place to live as it took longer than 6 months!) and the length of time it's taken them to finish up the remainder of the common areas and roads after the last house completed. Originally planned for the summer, it's now likely to be just before Christmas, which is quite poor.

However, neither of these negatives really affect our enjoyment of the place that much and overall having a much larger house in a nicely landscaped area easily offset these and was well worth the wait.

...Because your 'new house' will undoubtedly have enough faults to keep you busy for years.

If you really have to buy a Larkfleet house, get your solicitor to add clauses so Larkfleet pay for storage and accommodation if the house is not complete on completion day! Therre's a good chance it won't be complete or acceptable.

Budget for an independent surveyor to do a FULL inspection and produce a snagging list BEFORE you complete! Most certainly before you cross the threshold. The sales staff are really nice, the build quality and after care are appalling.

Make sure you check your rights, learn them, you will need them. Larkfleet do not supply you with a completed snagging list when you move in, you get a blank form, they even ask you to wait a while before you send your list to them. Keep copies of the snagging lists as they 'lose' them or forget to read past the first few faults.

From the consumercode site "The Home Builder must have a system and procedures for receiving, handling, and resolving Home Buyers’ service calls and complaints" There is scant evidence of this. The 'customer care' department is managed by a Larkfleet family member, so expect to be ignored or kept waiting months for any sort of response.

Keep any communication in writing so it can be submitted in dispute resolution, if Larkfleet insist on phoning, make sure you email them to confirm what they said.

Personally, I absolutely and completely regret even considering Larkfleet as the builder of my home. Larkfleet are totally unprofessional with no morals, care or consideration for their customers.

If anyone is ever considering buying a Larkfleet/Allison home don't do it.

Completion was 3 months late and then we were handed over a filthy house that was missing all of the extras we had paid for. The outside had not been landscaped and the pathway was full of mud. We could not drive up to the house as the kerb to the road had not been dropped and then a makeshift kerb in a piece of wood was put down around the raised man holes, the whole road was full of builders muck that we had to change our shoes to get to our car.

The snagging is endless and some really isn't snagging but major errors. Vinyl missing from bathrooms shower screen missing and the shower riser. Appalling decoration, dents in walls painted over filth on skirting boards, hob fitted lop sided to name but a few.

Major cracks in window frame which they try and say is cosmetic more like a defect in the window frame.

Customer care are a waste of space everything is red tape even to put a screw in the side gate which is missing screws in the hinges.

Absolute disgrace wish we could turn the clock back

My house at Whittlesey has an integral garage and fumes from my garage get into the house and made us feel unwell.

Larkfleet manager and building inspector agreed that there is a problem but Larkfleet directors refuse to believe them, where is there concern about safety in the houses they sell !!

Problem with petrol fumes from my lawnmower in the garage got into the house and we nearly passed out again, Larkfleet insisting that there garages are air tight!

Complained again today, site manager agreed there was a problem but said nothing to do with him as he's here to build houses ££££

Complained to customer services and was told someone will ring me back, guess what they didn't.

Hope I wake up tomorrow and not overcome by fumes trapped in the cavity, the builder has an obligation to ensure that these houses are safe to live in but don't actually give a damn once they have your money, hope you can sleep ok knowing this, never mind your orthopaedic mattress stuffed with your customers hard earned money should make it easier to forget, Larkfleet motto should be money first ££ customer 2nd !!