BDW Trading Ltd Reviews 143

We came to Barratt with a completely open mind.

Concern was first aroused in the on-site Sales Office: 3 very young people intent on pushing the homes but knowing nothing about the realities of houses or house-buying. During the purchase process they frequently cocked up: we checked the house before completion and found the Sales people had allowed wrong appliances to be installed in the kitchen, wrong flooring in some rooms, wrong finishes in some rooms, and so on.

The next wave of concerns arrived the day we moved in. They hadn't finished the interior! Three quarters of our stuff had to be stored for a week while they finished off and we camped in the house without our stuff! Meanwhile we discovered all sorts of things weren't working - from the doorbell not ringing; the telephone wires round the wrong way so that Internet couldn't be received; all sorts of similar things.

Managers arrived at the door to apologise, saying they would do ANYTHING we wanted to put things right, but it was all talk and no action. We had to hound Barratt for a whole year regarding "snags" (dreadful defects) throughout the house.

And we weren't the only ones on our estate. Some people experienced much much worse. Some people had to have whole floors taken up and relaid!

The problem with Barratt is that they're a massive organization, and the suits in the offices have no real connection with "the trades" who build the houses. The suits continually advertise for "the trades" and local tradesmen drift in and out of the site, doing a bit of work here, a bit of work there, while continuing to run their own businesses for much of the time. So the workforce are not actually Barratt builders! They are a team of motley tradespeople who actually have no loyalty, and often, no respect for Barratt! Hence the shoddy workmanship.

And that's why you find that you've paid a fortune for a house that hasn't been properly finished! So be warned: you'll most probably need to bark at Barratt for a whole year after moving in in order to get things straightened out.

Better to go to a small family-run building business where they will put some love and care into the building of their homes!

But once you've settled in what do you find? A service-charge bill arrives on the doormat! Barratt have appointed "a managing agent" to run the estate! The bill's higher than the Sales staff said it would be, and each year it goes up and you find you're stuck with this "managing agent" who doesn't answer calls, doesn't know how to fix things, doesn't know when they're being quoted ridiculous prices by contractors!

So much for your "Dream Home" on a Barratt estate! More like a nightmare! Go elsewhere. I would NEVER buy a Barratt home again.

I tried to find out more about the new homes close to where I live. I asked if the houses were freehold or leasehold, I was told freehold, but when I asked if there were any permission fees attached even though freehold, this is termed 'Fleecehold' generally in the media, I was told 'what is that I've never heard of permission fees"
After further questions I discovered that it's a private estate which means although you would be purchasing a freehold house and paying council tax you would also have to pay £170 service charge plus £321 management charges which would rise every year by how much? the girl couldn't say.
Extra expenses also, the roads and drainage are not adopted by the council you would have to be prepared for large ongoing bills for maintaining the roads and drainage sewerage work. I thought that I should see the freehold document and other documents to check how much charges would go up by and to check there were no permission fees - these are where you have to pay to ask ( by solicitors letter) if you could have a pet or build a conservatory or change a carpet or pretty much make any changes, then pay again for the change you want to make, I have seen many people state that they have been asked to pay £5,000 to build a conservatory ( you don't even need planning for that). The girl said no I would not be able to see any documents without committing to buy. I would not buy a car or actually almost anything of worth without seeing the paperwork and checking what I'm buying.
In the past I would just have believed what she told me and gone ahead, but having seen what countless thousands of purchasers have got them selves into in doing that I would not go any further until I'd seen the documents and have them checked by my own solicitor.
Thats the other thing I've seen that all these thousands of purchasers, given confidence by the 'help to Buy ' backing these new housing developments have taken the advice of the development sales people and used the developer's recomended solicitor, who, have failed to alert purchasers that they had in fact purchased a lease not a freehold house as they had been assured they had purchased!
Basically what I'm saying is Barratt can not be trusted, the sales people are totally inadequate for such an important purchase, or, as I suspect are told just the very basics and let the houses sell themselves, or they just lie to get the sale? who knows, just don't buy a new house or flat, go for an old one you'll be safer!

If only I could award 0 Stars. Avoid these lot. If I could get a refund and leave this mess, I would.
We moved into our new house at Phoenix Quarter in Dartford in October 2017. Ever since then we have Contractors and Customer Services at our front door. There are too many issues: Smoke alarms going off, doors warped, taps leaking, damaged crooksd kitchen panels, ruined garden, plaster pealing off, wonky toilet seats, creaking floors. I am now proceeding to the NHBC as the constant visits have started to show wear and tare on the flooring. We are using bin bags to collect leaking water under our sinks, I think that is enough said.
Regards, Ehsaan Farsimadan

Moved into a Barratt new build on Longford park in May 2016 and had problems before we moved in.
On the second initial tour I noticed our 50/50 fridge freezer had a 70/30 split door! how does the builder not notice that?
On the day we moved in, we had dirty hand prints on the walls, marks on the brand new carpets, rolls of insulation left in the garage, the list is endless.
We had 4 A4 pages of snagging which were officially finished mid 2017 (over 1 year later).
We know have mould in our little boys room and 1 bathroom, which isnt used often. Someone from Barratts has just been to view and has left without doing anything, apparently its condensations fault. OH, best bit was we were told your not supposed to dry clothes in your house! Basically buy a house from Barratts but dont expect to use the house for living in.
Would never buy from them again and would genuinely put anyone off from buying from them,

We purchased a house on phase 1 and then phase 2 in Banbury (Longford Park). Phase 1 house was sold after a year with minor issues other than appalling after sales care (Barratts don't care after you move in). We then purchase a new home on Phase 2 of the build, the standard of the build quality has dropped significantly from Phase 1.

We have been in the property for 18 months and we have called Barratts out on 17 occasions. We have had leaking Baths and Showers, the tile flooring in the dinning room and laundry room have completely separated from the foundations, holes in windows, back door not able to be opened from the outside, the heating set up incorrectly. The customer services also give out false information in regards to opening hours for emergencies, all in all I will never purchase from Barratts again. Shocking experience at Longford Park Banbury.

We moved into our house in June, the two sales women we dealt with were helpful and accommodating when we had queries. They have since been quick to send people round when we have found any issues with the house. Their website however promised to pay stamp duty to first time buyers which was apparently "out of date" (this is still being advertised on their website) as such we didn't get this addition. This is the only reason I have not given them 5 stars.

From looking at the other reviews it could either be that we got really lucky with the team dealing with us, or that because Barratt don't push Trustpilot reviews people only come here when things have gone wrong as I could not rate them highly enough.

After looking at a number of houses with different developers I found that the sales team were not pushy at all in comparison, but rather just gave the facts and gave us the space to look at the properties we wanted to which was brilliant. Through the whole buying process, the team were very supportive and well informed. After moving in, we've noticed a number of defects, but none have taken more than a fortnight to fix. There was an email and phone number provided and the team have always been available and arranged someone to come out as quickly as possible.

Great quality, great support and would definitely use again and recommend.

I've highlighted to Barratt a couple of times already that the brickwork either side of the garage door is visibly not in alignment (so, is wrong) but they come back advising each piece of brickwork is in line with NHBC standard (where there is no join in the brickwork, NHBC do not consider a wall - fair enough). However, there is a visual impact as pointed out to the site team and managers a couple of times over. Moreover, other houses don't have the problem, so why does mine? Inconsistent standard, lack of attention to detail, ignoring obvious aesthetics, and not really understanding what the issue is. Have to be worried if you shell out a fair wedge to this lot.

Oh, and the extras!! Don't be conned. Get the bare minimum and get proper tradesmen in who'll charge a 1/4 of what Barratt do.

Be careful with the price. I don't know how they charged me 26k more than my neighbor who has the exactly same house. Paid for 3 bedroom house but the third one looks like a cage only can fit in a smallest baby cot nothing else. Had leaking ceiling and cracked garden fence after moved in 3 months. The customer service is the worst, have to ring and ring, no response. Wouldn't commend Barratt homes developments to anybody.

Having read the other reviews I thought 'they can't be talking about the same company, surely'? We placed our deposit back in January 2017. The sales team couldn't have been more helpful, answered all our questions as openly and honest as they could, considering we had just put a deposit down on a plot of grass, soon to be our house. Simone from the sales team emailed regular updates and even photos of how things were progressing, inviting us round any time for a coffee and a chat. We went along and chose our upgrades, which cost a hefty £11k on top, but so well worth it, no point in going for the cheapest and having to have the disruption and expense at a later date replacing things. The tiles in the kitchen are well worth the money, and Barrett even deducted the cost of the original flooring from our bill for us. A few delays in building were encountered due to the weather but they soon got on with things in spring and summer. The house was finished and ready to move into exactly when they said. The overall finish is really very good, a few minor snags were encountered, a scratch on some internal doors and one of the TV sockets didn't work, but a call to the 'after care team' (who log any faults for remedy) had these sorted in a matter or days. We did have to wait a little longer for a scratched glass to be replaced but that's hardly Barratt's fault. We were kept fully informed by Amy the site manager who was brilliant and seemed to be everywhere looking after the building site AND the newly built houses. I would happily recommend this builder to anyone, the houses are to a high standard, the sales team are honest and open and the after care is exemplary. (Barley Fields, Nr Selby) Oh forgot to say. 'You know when you buy a new car and they give you flowers? Not Barrett's, they give you tea, coffee, milk, cups, spoons chocolate and a host of other goodies to help you through your moving day...what a lovely touch.

Bought a property 4 years back at their Hendon Waterside development and assisted my Aunt with her purchase of a Barratt homes property in South London. The property was finished to a good standard. The only issue with dealing with Barratt homes is they are clearly driven by targets and in my experience bend the truth. e.g. verbally informed us of allocated parking space upon reservation however rescinded that later down the line to an unallocated parking space. Informed us we had to use their list of solicitors, however later down the line it transpired they were not on the panel regarding my lender so had to switch, losing money but after a bit of a fight got that money back from Barratt homes.

My advice, if you deal with them, be alert and vigilant and do not take anything they say as gospel, check for yourself, get things in writing and do not allow yourself to be pressured or bullied regarding deadlines. I managed to get a huge discount on the flooring due to bluffing and telling them I would get my own flooring. Be confident and tough and do not be scared to challenge anything they say.

Purchased a new Barratts home in August 2016 at the new Ness Castle development in Inverness, and whilst I can say the standard of construction is very good, the lies, attitude and general sneakiness of the sales and customer service staff has been totally unacceptable, and truly unbelievable at times.

We were treated like royalty up until the deposit was made for the house. After that we were a major inconvenience to the sales targets in the sales office and the customer service team located in the other end of the country!
The sales woman lied to us regarding the availability of the landscape drawing, the inclusion of a retaining wall and what the standard inclusions were to be in our new home.

I work in Construction myself, and am very familiar with contracts, etc. This wasn't a mistake on my part - this was a deliberate string of lies in order to lure us into paying the reservation.

We were contacted by the MD, who was simply repeating statements and not answering my queries. No one at Barratts have been able to answer my very simple questions about how we were lied to - we still have issues outstanding. I would much prefer to be talking to someone at Barratts sorting the problems, not writing this review!
5 Star Builder notation is a joke within our development and ALL of my neighbors.

They have even recently removed the only honest sales person from her position in the development, after making her relocate to Inverness for the job!
They don't look after their staff or their customers - be very cautious.

Paul

I moved into a new Barratt Home in June 2016 in Westbury, Wiltshire. Buying and choosing features for my new home was an easy experience.

Since moving in, there were several snags which took up to 8 months to get fixed (including one kitchen cupboard door which had the wrong one replaced 3 times!). The biggest issue has been an exceptionally creaky bedroom floor which has still to be fixed.

I wouldn't be put off buying through Barratts again but I would take these issues into consideration.

The Barratt homes at Woodhouse park Nottingham is a well planed scam. Please don't waste your money over this overpriced poorly built homes built and sold to you in an extreme rush. We reserved a house on the claims of getting flooring and stamp duty offer which they said was going to end by 5:30pm on that day(6/8/17 Sunday). Before the reservation the salesman and the lady talked like they will offer us anything and kept nagging us saying pay that £500 to reserve and then we can show you the plot and all the options you can have. We are a young family and first time buyers we got double conned by their explanation and the attractiveness of the help-to-buy scheme, so we reserved the house straight away. The moment you reserved the house, the things turned in to a different take. The first info came out from the lady was that there will be HS2 (if approved) running in 500m distance to the site. Immediately I felt dubious. But we made up our mind, thinking its fine because HS2 might never be built. But I am sure they certainly hid it on purpose. And then came that we have to decide our extras within two days before the roof goes up and that we have to pay 25% upfront for any upgrades. For this they gave us an appointment. We went there again for this appointment and started choosing the options. One by one we began to realize…. the standard flooring they offered is rubbish and we need to upgrade if we are to live comfortably in the house that we are about to put £278k down. So we wanted to choose better carpets and flooring such as tiles and panels etc. The guy showed us bland and cheap looking options for tiling and carpets and they all looked the same and had no any statement, and certainly looked like not worth spending a penny more. We really like the ones in the show house so we asked if we can get those, but they said that tile is discontinued! We felt utterly lost and trapped that if we go for the standard we get just basic or if we throw a few thousand bucks we still don't get to choose according to our taste. We deliberated over many options over a few hours and if we go for the minimal luxury that we could afford, the cost went up to £8k extra. We came home without making any decision because we honestly felt we were conned. There were a few other things that generated doubts in us too. Such as, when we wanted to tile the upstairs bathrooms, the guy said we don’t recommend tiling upstairs, because after the build is finished the walls move and the tiles can crack! When we said we want to paint the house and if we can hire one of their painters, the guy said we don't recommend painting the house for 18 months because the walls are wet, meaning you basically have to live in a plain white house with no decorations but white plaster boards for one and half years. When we asked if we can change the gas top, the guy said ask the manufacturer! And when we asked if there is any possibility of a future loft conversion, the guy said the trusses are not strong enough, so we don't recommend loft conversions or using the loft for any storage. With all these 'we don't recommend' stuff, we honestly felt and realized, he might as well not recommend the houses for living at all. We felt we are going to buy in to something that is just built on a wood frame with a wobbly roof on it, and that we have no way of putting our own print into our house comfortably despite it is being built for us and we are paying extra for the upgrades. There were no flexibility at all. And finally, when we came back home, we received an email from their sales only to get to know that it is next Sunday (13/08/17) that their offer of stamp duty and flooring ends and not last Sunday; that is when we were rushed to reserve!!! Needless to say, we have now come to full understanding that we have been a victim of a well-practiced con drama. We might get our £500 back, we might not, but either way we have decided not to go forward. We have learnt our lesson. We want to share our experience, because we don’t want any first time buyer like us to go through this con. This was with Barrat Homes Woodhouse Park site, Nottingham.

Unfortunately there is no option for 0 stars. Unbelievable they give themselves 5 stars- completely misleading buyers!
Absolute disgraceful customer service! After paying a reservation, don't believe for one second that secures the house for that price or within the 'reservation date'. Sales staff and 'director' WILL increase the price if they're close to their bonus and another buyer also wants the house- regardless of agreed exchange (day before in our case), be prepared to lose money spent on solicitors and mortgage valuations..... Oh and WHEN they do screw you over- (notice I don't put IF) good luck getting your reservation fee back. Previous reviews back this. You've been warned- AVOID
BARRATT TREGWILLYM GATE, NEWPORT.

Beware of Barratt Homes, they are great up until they have the money in the bank, then they don't want to know. After having the house on leasehold initially I intended to buy the land, however after the first year of being in my new home I found out purely by accident the land has been sold to an investment company without telling us and the new company refuses to sell the freehold to us, as usual when I approached Barratt homes they couldn't care less, the only thing they are interested in is money pure and simple. Don't be fooled by them.

Absolute disgrace of a company wouldn't buy another house from these cowboys. Sales sell you what you think is a dream home far from it . I've been in three and a half years and still need work to be completed. Customer care Manchester are a disgrace nothing is ever Barratts fault there new one is it's maintance wouldn't recommend Barratt homes to anyone 😡

Beware of Barratts Kingsbrook Ayleasbury, They will lie at every instance of the sale. I registered a property at Kingsbrook recently and had a very bitter experience. They actually miss sold me. All the information given at the time of registration is misleading and wrong. Please ask them to confirm every bit in email which they will not, but force them to do so.
They will threaten and force you to go with their panel mortgage advisors (TORC24) and Solicitors. Torc24 is another money greedy firm that will force/convince you to by a life time membership. Later they will play with your application. They have submitted my application twice to the bank (credit check done twice). At first, they said it is banks fault. When bank confirmed that the application was submitted twice, they told me it is a small issue not to worry about it.
At the time of registration, I was asked to choose from two properties adjacent to each other but one was priced little more. When checked about the price difference, I was told that it is just priced like that and there is no difference absolutely. They also lied about the affordable housing on the site by telling me it is for shared ownership.
I got my mortgage approved and then it was discovered that the postcode of the property was wrong on the documents given to solicitor and bank. After a week they got it corrected and finally I received a pack from my solicitor to Sign the contract.
At that point I found the property sold to me was actually miss sold. The property that was priced little higher was actually having two allocated parking spaces. When I questioned them about this the lady at Kingsbrook told me to bother about my property, not to worry about others properties. What a great suggestion. On the contract agreement it is mentioned that they are not clear about affordable housing on the site and now they say it can be rented. It is again misleading. When I questioned them, I was asked to withdraw my application.
Finally I, pulled out from buying this. Lost around 1200 pounds and time but a very happy man now. I have all the evidences to prove them guilty and move to court soon.

I purchased the above property in the North West in April 2012. My initial impressions regarding the quality of the house were very positive & the level of customer service during the completion process was also very good.
Since then I have revised my opinion based on the following issues:
1. Kitchen doors falling off.
2. Peeling paint. Numerous locations.
3. Rusting radiators.
4. Jamming window catches.
5. Kitchen windows seal integrity lost causing windows to steam up.
6. Failure of Tribune hot water vessel on two occasions.
7. Poor quality turf laid over rubble, bricks.
8. Water flowing into garage following rainfall.
9. Water blowing into hallway following rainfall.
10. Failure of cooker fans.
11. Tearing of shower bathroom fitment hose, now thrown away.
12. Bathroom, ensuite light fitments blown due to faulty sockets.
13. All toilet seats becoming loose/detached due to poor design.
14. Kitchen tap failure requiring replacement.
Based on this experience my initial 5 star rating would no longer stand. The quality of the fixtures & fittings is poor as demonstrated by the above.
In conclusion I can no longer recommend a new Barratt house to a potential purchaser.

Bought a new home from Barratt Developments. I have had a lot of issues regarding the standard of workmanship. Poor finishing, roof and drain pipes on set correctly. Doors sticking internally. Missing power outlets. Wiring not correct. Toilets not positioned correctly and worst of all faulty electrics.