Summerfield Reviews 3

Over the past few weeks the builder continues to ignore the recommendation from the environmental health agency to start work at 8am. From 7.30the begin by banging out the cement drums and the noise continues from there. If you try to contact customer service emails are ignored, if you try to talk direct to the builder on site they just refer you to customer service. Parking in the road by contractors directly outside the house is a daily occurrence and when we ask them not to park there, their response is 'they own the road and can park where they like' this resulted in an argument in the street with them.
We and other neighbours who have issues with the house that are not fix after 2 years are in despair with this builder. Dont make the mistake we made, do nt buy from them

This review is for Summerfield Homes a residential property developer. Summerfield also have a commercial arm. We purchased a house from Summerfield Homes in May 2024 on the Liddymore Park estate, Watchet, Somerset (17 Coleridge Way, TA23 0FQ).
At face value this house looked nice. Due to the distance (relocating from Devon) we had only visited the site twice prior to moving in. While we had many reservations about Summerfield Homes like the abysmal provision of car parking on site, none of these were red lines - at least at that time!
Given the long on-going list of issues, I want to cover about Summerfield Homes, I am preparing a word doc that I can send to you to show you what has been going on with Summerfield Homes in more detail. My email is susanna.saunders at gmail.com to request it.
I would urge you to read it if you are considering buying a house from Summerfield Homes so that you are aware of what you are getting into… But in short, without photos, here are some brief comments:
1. Summerfield do not keep their word so make sure you get EVERYTHING IN WRITING WITH DATED PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE. Take photos so soon as you become aware of any snag list item and pass this photographic evidence onto Summerfield Homes immediately. DO NOT be passed off with ‘submit it with the next snagging list’ because they will just ignore it then!
2. While they will fix some snagging issues, if it’s not documented with photos and instead done by 'word of mouth' as they like to do (because they like to appear as a friendly and amiable company), they will not honour it come the next snagging list review and say that you have made up the problem and that the damage/issue is your fault even when you have verbally told the deputy/site manager about an issue shortly after moving in. [NB Don't sign off the 10-day snagging list until you are sure you have everything and ignore them when they say to add items to the 6-month sagging list – they won’t deal with it then!]

3. They spend the least amount of money possible on literally everything to do with your house. The doorbell for example. A cheap £15 waste of space from B&Q. I'm surprised that they bothered at all. They cut corners wherever they can! Even the tiles behind the bath are missing as they put the bath and shower in first and tile up from there... This caused leaks in our en-suite shower only 6 months after moving in due to the shower sinking 10mm below the level of the tiles breaking the mastic sealant. Summerfield's response – settlement is to be expected and any leaks are your problem. We had to pay several hundred pounds to get the shower tray taken out and replaced properly. Summerfield refused to refund us. Superficially it looks OK - right up to the point that you actually use it.

4. They don't respect NHBC standards and bend the rules to the maximum they can get away with (the NHBC rules are very 'flexible' and not worth the paper they are written on). The house has been built with the air bricks below the level of the lawns both at the front and rear of the property. Summerfield were not prepared to do anything about this choosing instead to take divots out of our lawn to create a gap underneath the air bricks... In their book - job done!

When we said this was whole unacceptable, after a lot of arguing and denials they agreed to dig a trench with a pipe to enable rain water to run off to the waste pipe at the corner of the property (rather than under our house). While this fixed the physical problem, aesthetically it was a joke! Please take a look at the photos in the linked full review and decide for yourself if you would consider this to be an acceptable solution for the front garden? We certainly didn’t!

Regarding the rear garden, after 6 months of arguing with them they finally agreed to lower the patio area on one side of the garden by three inches (I say #patio# very advisedly as a 'patio' in their book consists of half a dozen slabs laid down on the ground - you couldn't put a table on it without the chairs being on the grass!). This lowered the 'patio' so that it was level with the bottom of the air bricks "as this is within NHBC regulations" but a long way from what the gap should have been – a minimum of 75mm and preferably 150mm!

5. They appear to have had a number of disputes with their own builders as we found that a chisel had been put through our bathroom soil pipe resulting in water coming through the downstairs WC flooring within two weeks of our moving in. I might add that next door also had a chisel put through their soil pipe too, resulting in their kitchen ceiling being ruined.

This company has many issues and lacks any regard for the residents living here. I have a resident's complaint petition filed with Somerset Council now.