Taylor Wimpey what to expect and haggling.....?
Discussion
Hi Guys. Anyone here can give me a few pointers regarding buying a new Taylor Wimpey home? We are looking to buy a four bedroom house on a local development. The plot has been picked and will be available in May 2018, but trying to get the Sales Assistant to negotiate on cost is proving hard going. They want full money for the house, no goodwill regards options or stamp duty but they ‘May’ do a easymover for us...?
The house is £377k so it’s a considerable investment for us.
Yes, I suppose we could walk away and buy something else, ( Miller Homes have a development 2 miles away) but the location is right for us, so any thoughts or insider knowledge would be great fully received.
The house is £377k so it’s a considerable investment for us.
Yes, I suppose we could walk away and buy something else, ( Miller Homes have a development 2 miles away) but the location is right for us, so any thoughts or insider knowledge would be great fully received.
Speaking as one of their customers I'd advise you to think very carefully. Do you get a decent size garden? Are you going to be living on top of the neighbours, overlooked etc? Will you be happy fighting for every last fault on the snagging list? Are you prepared to sort all of their mistakes out yourself when they've left the site? Have you factored in any maintenance charges for the estate, and the headache of dealing with management companies? There's probably lots of other gripes I could come up with but it's late and I'm tired.
I certainly wouldn't buy from them again unless they were offering a stellar deal.
I certainly wouldn't buy from them again unless they were offering a stellar deal.
Chances are that they're not haggling because they've had a lot of interest in the development and are certain that if you walk they can sell the plot just as easily to someone else. If the price is really pushing the top of your budget then maybe you should rethink buying, no amount of advice anyone on PH can give will make a developer budge if they've got a waiting list as long as your arm.
We're in the process of buying a second new build (said we'd never do it again after the first one) my experience is that they will not usually drop the price through haggling as it will affect the prices of the other houses of the same type in that development, but you can get stamp duty/white goods/flooring chucked in.
Agree with the other points above about the fun of snagging although you do still get warranties and NHBC guarantee.
However, if you get lucky and turn up at the right time you can get a half decent deal out of them, our new place is ~£350k and they'd knocked £10k off as a special offer as the plot is finished but a sale fell through and we managed to negotiate legal fees and stamp duty contribution of about £5k which helped us out a lot.
Agree with the other points above about the fun of snagging although you do still get warranties and NHBC guarantee.
However, if you get lucky and turn up at the right time you can get a half decent deal out of them, our new place is ~£350k and they'd knocked £10k off as a special offer as the plot is finished but a sale fell through and we managed to negotiate legal fees and stamp duty contribution of about £5k which helped us out a lot.
As others have said it will depend on the level of interest in the development. We reserved a plot with David Wilson Homes back in April this year and will move in at the end of October. It will be our second new build from DWH in the same village.
With our first we bought in 2010 and got 5% off and all our flooring included throughout. With the new house we have no incentives of any kind but have actually ended up doing a part-exchange after our buyer pulled out.
I will say we did research the development for months before deciding to buy - different house styles, where the affordable housing was going to be located, measuring drive widths on plans etc etc. In order to get the plot we wanted I was outside the sales centre at 4am on launch day waiting for them to open. Some will think that’s mad but once you’ve decided what you want and is right for you, why not go for it?
I’ve seen already posts about massively overlooked plots near social housing with a garden the size of a postage stamp. It’s true - you can find plots like that on all estates. We picked carefully and have a corner plot, it’s not huge but for the same amount of money as we are spending, the equivalent priced houses in the village are either
With our first we bought in 2010 and got 5% off and all our flooring included throughout. With the new house we have no incentives of any kind but have actually ended up doing a part-exchange after our buyer pulled out.
I will say we did research the development for months before deciding to buy - different house styles, where the affordable housing was going to be located, measuring drive widths on plans etc etc. In order to get the plot we wanted I was outside the sales centre at 4am on launch day waiting for them to open. Some will think that’s mad but once you’ve decided what you want and is right for you, why not go for it?
I’ve seen already posts about massively overlooked plots near social housing with a garden the size of a postage stamp. It’s true - you can find plots like that on all estates. We picked carefully and have a corner plot, it’s not huge but for the same amount of money as we are spending, the equivalent priced houses in the village are either
- Smaller house with a bigger garden
- Bigger house without a garden
- Same size house with a similar garden but needing work
It is like anything, if it is a popular site, house design or plot there will be little or nothing on it, they can easily find another buyer.
But if it is the beginning of a new site, there maybe deals to get a first week signup. Then they can market 'x % reserved first weekend.
Or if it is the end of the development then they may want it gone so they can finish on site and leave.
If it is a difficult plot, nasty outlook, close to less desirable properties, then there could be insentives to.
Equally if you have been over keen, told them you want it, love it, its perfect. Then a good sales woman would have picked up on that and be playing hardball.
I am not in the housing industry, just a sensible and practical sales guy and engineer.
V.
But if it is the beginning of a new site, there maybe deals to get a first week signup. Then they can market 'x % reserved first weekend.
Or if it is the end of the development then they may want it gone so they can finish on site and leave.
If it is a difficult plot, nasty outlook, close to less desirable properties, then there could be insentives to.
Equally if you have been over keen, told them you want it, love it, its perfect. Then a good sales woman would have picked up on that and be playing hardball.
I am not in the housing industry, just a sensible and practical sales guy and engineer.
V.
Where to start. I like new builds, we built our own place 5 years ago. the house we had before that was Taylor Wimpey. It was ok actually, the only big problems we had were:
1. Plumbed hot water to the upstairs toilet - hole cut in wall to swap pipes and reskimmed.
2. Upstairs thermostat sited on 1st floor landing (3 storey house) so bedrooms never called for heat - Wireless thermostat provided
3. Really cold master bedroom - Never did get to the bottom of it but i suspect lack of insulation
All the rest was standard snagging, chipped paintwork, poorly fitting doors, scratched handles etc.I'm sure you'll agree no big deal and everything could be fixed.
We bought off plan, it looked idyllic, overlooking a meadow that had been conserved due to a rare flower. When we first moved in it was fine, but after a short period, the parking, **** how easy is it to get annoyed about parking.
Then the coach house near to us was rented out. At first it was fine, young professional types. Then it was a young lad who worked nights and liked music, then the final straw for us was some fat bint who just stored her rubbish in the garage (nappies and all). It was just piled high in there as she seemingly couldn't be arsed to put the bin out.
The road leading to the estate was lovely at 10am Monday morning, but 10am Saturday was full of cars half on the kerb, hanging out of driveways etc.
We took a huge hit to sell, partly due to the downturn in 2011, but also because of the huge number of developments ongoing where people would rather have a brand new house.
Think long and hard about buying off plan, I implore you.
1. Plumbed hot water to the upstairs toilet - hole cut in wall to swap pipes and reskimmed.
2. Upstairs thermostat sited on 1st floor landing (3 storey house) so bedrooms never called for heat - Wireless thermostat provided
3. Really cold master bedroom - Never did get to the bottom of it but i suspect lack of insulation
All the rest was standard snagging, chipped paintwork, poorly fitting doors, scratched handles etc.I'm sure you'll agree no big deal and everything could be fixed.
We bought off plan, it looked idyllic, overlooking a meadow that had been conserved due to a rare flower. When we first moved in it was fine, but after a short period, the parking, **** how easy is it to get annoyed about parking.
Then the coach house near to us was rented out. At first it was fine, young professional types. Then it was a young lad who worked nights and liked music, then the final straw for us was some fat bint who just stored her rubbish in the garage (nappies and all). It was just piled high in there as she seemingly couldn't be arsed to put the bin out.
The road leading to the estate was lovely at 10am Monday morning, but 10am Saturday was full of cars half on the kerb, hanging out of driveways etc.
We took a huge hit to sell, partly due to the downturn in 2011, but also because of the huge number of developments ongoing where people would rather have a brand new house.
Think long and hard about buying off plan, I implore you.
I bought a Taylor Wimpey house as a first time buyer in 2009; we didn't get anything off the price but we did get stamp duty and all internal fittings paid for instead. The build quality was okay in the end, not too big a snagging list, but I certainly wouldn't recommend buying off plan...
If it's not in writing they won't do it. Even if it is in writing they probably won't do it either.
My experience was that you will get told everything you want to hear to get you signed up, but the reality of what the estate will deliver isn't going to tie up. We ended up being very overlooked from houses built after ours not originally on the site plan, and we had big block of social housing built across the road which was never disclosed. The final straw was when the communal parking we were promised was removed to cram even more houses in, resulting in the 30+ 3/4 bed houses in the immediate vicinity left with just one parking space each.
A lot of people love the idea of a new build house in a clean, tidy estate, but to us that feeling wore off very quickly. We're now in a 1930s house just down the road and the difference in space and character is amazing. Echoing the comments above, unless the developer was desperate and the property was an absolute steal I'd find it very hard to imagine moving into a new build again.
If it's not in writing they won't do it. Even if it is in writing they probably won't do it either.
My experience was that you will get told everything you want to hear to get you signed up, but the reality of what the estate will deliver isn't going to tie up. We ended up being very overlooked from houses built after ours not originally on the site plan, and we had big block of social housing built across the road which was never disclosed. The final straw was when the communal parking we were promised was removed to cram even more houses in, resulting in the 30+ 3/4 bed houses in the immediate vicinity left with just one parking space each.
A lot of people love the idea of a new build house in a clean, tidy estate, but to us that feeling wore off very quickly. We're now in a 1930s house just down the road and the difference in space and character is amazing. Echoing the comments above, unless the developer was desperate and the property was an absolute steal I'd find it very hard to imagine moving into a new build again.
I have a new Taylor Wimpey house.
Moved in August 2016.
I, being a huge cynic went in with my eyes wide open and not really expecting much. I have to say, on the whole I am pleasantly surprised. Our situation was probably quite rare however.
Mrs had a flat to offload so we signed up to the easymover scheme. (they sell your home if you agree to buy 1 of theirs.)
There was only really 1 plot available in our price range and in the development we wanted. The sales girls were human beings an nice ones at that. They let us into the bare house as many times as we liked over the course of the flat being up for sale.
This helped us get to terms with the size of the rooms. I pointed out to the Mrs that the bed would take up most of our bedroom. I mentioned that the 2 spaces in the driveway were all we had and that visitors have no where to park. (same goes for everyone else on the street)
This helped to understand and learn what we were getting ourselves into. For most people its uproot from 1 house and dump everything in the next.
In regards to haggling. We tried but there was 0 movement on the price of the house.
The sales girls again were accommodating. They agreed to floor the bedrooms and bathrooms and gave us a TW voucher towards more flooring as we didn't like the flooring on offer for the hall and stairs.
As I was not expecting much I thought this was a good deal.
Snagging.
Cant fault them. Although my Mrs usually gets what she wants from whoever she's dealing with and TW were no different.
Usual items, paint, chips, studs showing, settling cracks. All dealt with timely and sufficiently.
The plot we had had the most basic kitchen in it. That was fine for us but the finish on the doors started to discolour. Mrs complained twice and kitchen was inspected.
Next week. Full new gloss doors.
Basically if you are a big enough pain in their arse then they will listen to you.
I never wanted a new build but the more I thought about it the more it made sense to our situation.
My advice would be if it works for you and your situation then go for it but go in with your eyes open. What will the street be like once everyones in and cars are parked? What can the neighbors see when you are in your garden? What is the total overall plan for the development? Will you be happy with the crappy thin walls?
Moved in August 2016.
I, being a huge cynic went in with my eyes wide open and not really expecting much. I have to say, on the whole I am pleasantly surprised. Our situation was probably quite rare however.
Mrs had a flat to offload so we signed up to the easymover scheme. (they sell your home if you agree to buy 1 of theirs.)
There was only really 1 plot available in our price range and in the development we wanted. The sales girls were human beings an nice ones at that. They let us into the bare house as many times as we liked over the course of the flat being up for sale.
This helped us get to terms with the size of the rooms. I pointed out to the Mrs that the bed would take up most of our bedroom. I mentioned that the 2 spaces in the driveway were all we had and that visitors have no where to park. (same goes for everyone else on the street)
This helped to understand and learn what we were getting ourselves into. For most people its uproot from 1 house and dump everything in the next.
In regards to haggling. We tried but there was 0 movement on the price of the house.
The sales girls again were accommodating. They agreed to floor the bedrooms and bathrooms and gave us a TW voucher towards more flooring as we didn't like the flooring on offer for the hall and stairs.
As I was not expecting much I thought this was a good deal.
Snagging.
Cant fault them. Although my Mrs usually gets what she wants from whoever she's dealing with and TW were no different.
Usual items, paint, chips, studs showing, settling cracks. All dealt with timely and sufficiently.
The plot we had had the most basic kitchen in it. That was fine for us but the finish on the doors started to discolour. Mrs complained twice and kitchen was inspected.
Next week. Full new gloss doors.
Basically if you are a big enough pain in their arse then they will listen to you.
I never wanted a new build but the more I thought about it the more it made sense to our situation.
My advice would be if it works for you and your situation then go for it but go in with your eyes open. What will the street be like once everyones in and cars are parked? What can the neighbors see when you are in your garden? What is the total overall plan for the development? Will you be happy with the crappy thin walls?
Edited by FoxtrotOscar1 on Tuesday 26th September 11:34
I moved into a Gimpey house 3yrs today. I would estimate I have sent upwards of 300 emails in that timeframe regarding snagging items. Some of them ranging from no central heating/insufficient soil depths causing patchy grass/cracked tiling/central heating pipework knocking in ceiling voids/windows/leaking conservatory/missing mortar in brickwork etc etc and requiring multiple visits. Within this timeframe the rep dealing with my snags has changed every 3 months with no handover and lo and behold all the snags disappear off their records.
Ours was the last house to be built and sold, albeit its a good plot compared to some of the others as it wasn't released for sale until all others had sold. The snagging went on for so long due to the temporary Sales Office inevitably being dismantled and no presence on site. This stood me in good stead for knowing sold prices and talking to neighbours of any discounts and viewing social housing locations, I lost out on the ability to go and camp out in the sales office of a Saturday morning until my items were dealt with.
On the subject of parking...I have a garage with 2 spaces line astern directly in front.. ok to whizz around the cars in the summer mornings but a complete ballache when you need to defrost screens to shuffle cars around in the winter.
Ours was the last house to be built and sold, albeit its a good plot compared to some of the others as it wasn't released for sale until all others had sold. The snagging went on for so long due to the temporary Sales Office inevitably being dismantled and no presence on site. This stood me in good stead for knowing sold prices and talking to neighbours of any discounts and viewing social housing locations, I lost out on the ability to go and camp out in the sales office of a Saturday morning until my items were dealt with.
On the subject of parking...I have a garage with 2 spaces line astern directly in front.. ok to whizz around the cars in the summer mornings but a complete ballache when you need to defrost screens to shuffle cars around in the winter.
...Thanks for all your comments with this guys, greatly appreciated.
The house we are looking at is at the end of one of those little 'spur roads' off the road that runs
through the development. So the front is not over looked (it faces a green space) and as its the end plot
I have spacing for two cars outside my house, and two behind (so four in total).
The garden is a sensible size (ie not a postage stamp) but then again, I am not a gardener but do like a
outside space for entertaining, and the garden is west facing.
There is a four bed detached behind us, so a little over looked but then again, that comes with a new development.
I have also located the social housing, and it is not on my side of the development.
I am really torn as what to do. A new house appeals with is energy saving ect, and its in the right location. I guess
it may be worth getting a good company to do a snagging report before we move in..?
The house we are looking at is at the end of one of those little 'spur roads' off the road that runs
through the development. So the front is not over looked (it faces a green space) and as its the end plot
I have spacing for two cars outside my house, and two behind (so four in total).
The garden is a sensible size (ie not a postage stamp) but then again, I am not a gardener but do like a
outside space for entertaining, and the garden is west facing.
There is a four bed detached behind us, so a little over looked but then again, that comes with a new development.
I have also located the social housing, and it is not on my side of the development.
I am really torn as what to do. A new house appeals with is energy saving ect, and its in the right location. I guess
it may be worth getting a good company to do a snagging report before we move in..?
oldcynic said:
I bought an 8 year old house for about £100k less than the new builds round the corner so someone else has done all the snagging for me.
We did the same & would look to next time as well. Like buying a car, do you want brand new & hassle free, or accept the discount & put up with everything being 'used'. Fair cop, based on opinion.Our 'new' build (at 8 years old) has been perfect for us. Garden is a tad small & over looked, but nothing we haven't solved with mature plants & sensible planting. Parking is fine, though we arn't in the middle of the estate with houses opposite us fighting over the road.
As for the house itself, the previous owners (doctors of all people...) did ZERO snagging of their own, so I have spent the last few years doing it all myself. Nothing major, just little irritants....wonky sockets, dodgy caulking/silicone, silicone used as filler around the bathrooms (hilariously so...), dodgy skirting board angles/joints, dodgy decorating (could have been previous owners...).
As I have always said, it is horses for courses. Worried about parking? Look at the site map & use some common sense. Worried about being over looked? Research the best plants/trees to stick in..and put them in. Worried about dodgy lawn? As soon as you move in stick £1k into some landscapes to dig it up, soil and turf it.
I bought from Taylor Wimpey in 2006 ish and had no real snagging problems. It helped that the site office was opposite our house and building work was still going on so it was useful to the site manager to keep us sweet in case they started to early at weekends or other infringements.
As far as I know none of our neighbours had any big problems either apart from one house not being fitted with the plastic chimney as expected!
Ben
As far as I know none of our neighbours had any big problems either apart from one house not being fitted with the plastic chimney as expected!
Ben
Bought a new build off plan from Wimpey in 2004. 4 bed detached, end plot with single integrated garage (cupboard) and a good garden to the rear and side.
Sales girls were superb. Much better than the competition from Barrat and others. We bought off plan and paid the asking price.
Spec/customising was a nightmare. Hated every moment as I watched the costs rise.
Build was on time and the site staff were excellent. Happy to let you in for a look/measure etc. We got several homers done by the tradesmen for a fraction of the price Wimpey were after, outside tap, floored loft, power to the garden, gate etc.
Snagging list was atrocious, an ongoing process of many months but in fairness they did fix the issues.
Long term. We enjoyed the house and it was ideal for that time of our life. Young kids, enclosed garden and limited traffic were ideal and lots of the kids close school friends lived near by. We sold in 2011 for over £100k more than we paid.
I wouldn't buy another one, we now live in a city centre property that is 240 ish years old, but at the time it was ideal. What would put me off now is the small rooms, low ceilings and the constant circus of new neighbours/nutters moving in. I'd also NEVER buy a wimpey sized garage again.
Sales girls were superb. Much better than the competition from Barrat and others. We bought off plan and paid the asking price.
Spec/customising was a nightmare. Hated every moment as I watched the costs rise.
Build was on time and the site staff were excellent. Happy to let you in for a look/measure etc. We got several homers done by the tradesmen for a fraction of the price Wimpey were after, outside tap, floored loft, power to the garden, gate etc.
Snagging list was atrocious, an ongoing process of many months but in fairness they did fix the issues.
Long term. We enjoyed the house and it was ideal for that time of our life. Young kids, enclosed garden and limited traffic were ideal and lots of the kids close school friends lived near by. We sold in 2011 for over £100k more than we paid.
I wouldn't buy another one, we now live in a city centre property that is 240 ish years old, but at the time it was ideal. What would put me off now is the small rooms, low ceilings and the constant circus of new neighbours/nutters moving in. I'd also NEVER buy a wimpey sized garage again.
We bought our new build TW home 4 years ago.
We were the second family in, right on the front of the development, next to the showhomes.
We managed to do a PX deal on our old home, this stopped very quickly into the development when TW realised the demand for properties - we were very lucky (and TW sold our house for £10k less than they gave us for trade-in
).
Our garden is 270sqm in total so a decent size, I was told it was the largest in the development but cannot verify, but it is plenty big enough to take our wee log cabin we've built in the back.
We have nobody directly behind us, and nobody in front - the entrance to the estate has a "suds basin" wild grass area for wildlife and to help with drainage.
We got an extra bay window on our dining room as the designers wanted the entrance to the estate to look nice - only ourselves and our neighbours across the road have these.
I don't have a double garage, but it's a 1.5 garage and takes the Eunos and bikes on the wall with shelving all round without issue.
Snagging wise, we had a few issues but being in early meant we had the attention of the site manager easily and nothing was too much trouble.
We do have an ongoing issue with losing roof slates in high winds, but TW are still replacing them as and when for us.
Overall, it was a reasonably painless experience, we don't tend to suffer from the shortfalls of a lot of new builds and I am really glad the original buyers fell through so we could benefit.
Not all TW experiences are equal mate, you might get lucky!
We were the second family in, right on the front of the development, next to the showhomes.
We managed to do a PX deal on our old home, this stopped very quickly into the development when TW realised the demand for properties - we were very lucky (and TW sold our house for £10k less than they gave us for trade-in
).Our garden is 270sqm in total so a decent size, I was told it was the largest in the development but cannot verify, but it is plenty big enough to take our wee log cabin we've built in the back.
We have nobody directly behind us, and nobody in front - the entrance to the estate has a "suds basin" wild grass area for wildlife and to help with drainage.
We got an extra bay window on our dining room as the designers wanted the entrance to the estate to look nice - only ourselves and our neighbours across the road have these.
I don't have a double garage, but it's a 1.5 garage and takes the Eunos and bikes on the wall with shelving all round without issue.
Snagging wise, we had a few issues but being in early meant we had the attention of the site manager easily and nothing was too much trouble.
We do have an ongoing issue with losing roof slates in high winds, but TW are still replacing them as and when for us.
Overall, it was a reasonably painless experience, we don't tend to suffer from the shortfalls of a lot of new builds and I am really glad the original buyers fell through so we could benefit.
Not all TW experiences are equal mate, you might get lucky!
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