Charles Church Essex reviews

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Great experience so far!

I'm in the process of buying a Persimmon house which should be ready in the summer. I've had a great experience so far. Special mention to Amy in Pocklington who has been super helpful, knowledgeable, professional, and very friendly!

J · 4 April 2022

★★★★★ 4/5

Trustpilot

The Mile, Pocklington

We have bought a house on The Mile site. There were a number of issues at the beginning and felt that some sub contractors had not done a good job. The quality control had not been addressed but now the site has a new manager and the team has worked hard to resolve problems and improve standards. The Customer care team are excellent, although interior work has been hampered by lockdown, any emergency repairs are dealt with straight away. We would recommend this site to future purchasers as the houses now have quality control in place. We love the design of our new house and look forward to when the estate is finished.

Jan · 8 June 2020

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Would rather have waited for perfection!

Having been rushed to complete before the end of the financial year we had been assured that ‘everything will be finished before the completion day on 22nd’ and had been looking forward to the promised ‘What can be more exciting than getting the keys to your new home?’ (quote from the website)On arrival to collect the keys we found an unfinished house, the finishing of the paintwork on the walls and woodwork is atrocious (have already had agreement that everything will be repainted), a fitter was still on site trying to build wardrobes (he left at 5pm, job still unfinished as many parts were missing) and we noticed that the hob and cooker hood were not the ones from the ‘Options’ range that we had paid a lot of money for. We had specified white switches, sockets and spotlights throughout but chrome ones had been fitted, we could go on…..We’ve already found that we need a new front door, the dishwasher hadn’t been plumbed in properly (although the door is missing we had been told that we could still use it) and the kitchen would have been flooded if we had used it. Two of the bathrooms are not really useable, one is like an ice box as the extractor has a part missing and the wind is blowing insulation into the room, in the other one the shower control knob fell off on first use and there is a non-working spotlight hanging out from the ceiling (not sure if this is dangerous or not)We’d like to know how this house managed to pass a final quality inspection. When we opened the door to the guy who came to fit our blinds (he came to take measurements in mid-December) his first comment was ‘is this it finished, it looks terrible’, says a lot reallyWe had been told that the ‘team’ would be back after the New Year and would all be working on customer care so we had expected something to happen, in reality we have had one great guy who has done some work on the window surrounds so that the blinds could be fitted. The wardrobe was finished on 11th but apart from this we have had no communication from anyone so don’t know when any of the work might be startedWe do like the house but it certainly hasn’t been an enjoyable journey and we now potentially have weeks of workmen coming in to try and get things finished to the high standard that we expect. We would rather have waited another month or two and had a properly finished houseAs an afternote, we’d love to know how many cans of expanding foam the guys get through as it seems to have been used anywhere where there is a space for it!

Mrs · 15 January 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

It will be nice when it is finished!!

It would have been nice to move into a house that had been completely finished. It seems that completion was rushed through at the end of the financial year at the expense of a house which has lots of unfinished jobs eg no useable showers or baths, no working extractor fan, an incomplete kitchen, incomplete guttering, incomplete rendering, doors which don’t open/close and extremely poor paintwork. Got a professional snagger who identified 201 snags and since then a further 10-20 snags have been identified. Have notified company of leaks but not had plumber yet and no luck with the construction clinic as no one turned up. Love the house but it is being marred by very poor quality control and customer service.

Julie · 11 January 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Sacha has been very helpful and patient…

Sacha has been very helpful and patient with us. She has made us feel at ease buying a house with the current interest rates rising. We would definitely recommend her to friends and family.

Mr · 22 October 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

We have waited almost a year for this…

We have waited almost a year for this property, for it to be rushed at the end with a snagger pulling up 164 snags, and I have found more,This has taken all my happiness away for my £380,00 home,Windows missing , no utility sink all on planNo help at all regarding disability access to an on suite, my husband can’t get in the shower as it is, I asked right at the beginning could it be placed as low to the floor as possible, Charles church credits themselves disability friendly, I don’t think so,Paint work is shocking finish,Windows out of line, Rain sounds like it’s coming in all the extractor fans as no covers on them,The cooker extractor is full of bricks,All of the LVT is fit to a poor standard no sealing round the edges,On suite smells so disgusting, a whole bottle of bleach and still bad, I will say this is not my first Charles church house, but it will be the last , So disappointed.

Jean · 28 December 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

House interest

Thank you to Jaqui very helpful advice and professional manner dealing with our house purchase interest at Parklands, Hessle site. M and K Ansell

Mike · 22 August 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

During the purchasing and moving in…

During the purchasing and moving in process our Sales people, Chloe and latterly Karla, were always on hand or at the end of the phone or text to answer questions and queries we had. I believe they worked very hard to get our house ready and from handover Chloe, Karla and Tony the site manager, have stayed in close contact. No problem has been too great or small and yes we have had some minor niggles, but the fact that they have been dealt with promptly makes a big difference. So, thank you. We love our new home.

Mark · 12 December 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Heard a loud rumble and bang this…

Heard a loud rumble and bang this morning. Went out to investigate only to find a tile had fallen from middle of roof onto the drive below! Not the first time a CHARLES CHURCH house owner has experienced this! It narrowly missed our car. Hubby was out there yesterday working!! I dread to think what damage a tile could have caused to anyone let alone a vehicle! A neighbour had the same thing happen a short while ago. CHARLES CHURCH showed no concern .... apparently not their fault! We all know their house warranty is only 2 years! But surely we should expect a roof to last a lot longer. The reason for buying new, after all, is for peace of mind! NHBC, again told our neighbour the cost was not great enough so... do it yourself! We totally agree with their thoughts, tiles don't cost much.... BUT NOT WHEN IT COMES TO AN ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN! Also these are Health and Safety issues Shame on you all! So take this as a warning! CHARLES CHURCH and indeed the expensive NHBC we gladly pay out for, are the most uncaring people regarding their Health and Safety Policies! I worry how many more will fall like it did before we have to shell out for a new roof! The house is only 5 years old!

Cherryl · 19 January 2020

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Misleading Deadlines!

I reserved a Charles Church plot on Millennium Farm, Humberston on 13 May 2022 (foundation level) at the time of reservation I was given an expected build date of 30 Nov which then changed to 31 Dec 2022; rushed me to exchange which I did by completing on my sale and moving into an AirBnB so that I didn't lose my buyer who couldn't wait until December. The build stopped for 8 weeks, due to tradesman issues and didn't resume again until October, we now have a completed roof, scaffolding is down and was excitedly waiting for my two month completion window, which given it's only the internals left I expected to be around end Jan/Feb 2023. I have received a two month completion window for five months time, pushing the completion as far out as possible just before the six month clause they allow themselves before you can pull out, how convenient! Misled along the whole journey, have lost thousands in fees, lost interest rates and penalties as I had to re apply for my mortgage. Despite complaining and drawing to CC attention that they are offering "move in for Xmas" with lots of incentives, I was told no compensation due to the six month clause on the build completion in the contract! My first home in 1990 was a Charles Church home prior to Persimmon getting hold of them and it was perfect, built in 7 months from reservation to completion and I lived in it happily for 13 yrs! I am now faced with additional storage, securing AirBnB for longer, a holiday re arranged due to Covid where I have no clothes with me as they are in storage two hours away and not a very happy Xmas! I will never buy either a Persimmon or Charles Church (or probably a new build) again, the experience has been poor, no one seems to care now that I have exchanged and if it wasn't for the fact that I stand to lose around £45,000 at this point would pull out of the purchase.I would like to say that Michael at the site office has been wonderful, I can't fault him and he is not responsible for the chain of events!I would also add that I am sure the build when it is finished will be just as exceptional as my first Charles Church purchase, when we get there!The whole process is stressful.

Ellie · 8 December 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Unsafe House Builders!!

Persimmon (Charles Church) have left us with 60 snags to our 5 bed property 2 years into living in it. Unable to instruct a Contractor themselves, they have now resorted in getting myself to seek quotations for the outstanding work, only to ignore any invoices that are forwarded. The Customer Care journey we have been on has been shocking, a snapshot of which can be seen below: 1. 300+ defects, several presenting a structural or safety concern.2. Over 120 emails and/or phone calls to an incompetent Customer Care department.3. 49 tradesmen visits, some of which resulting in the reported defect being made worse. 4. 6 property visits by incorrectly assigned tradesmen. 5. 8 scheduled tradesmen visits not attended with no prior notice given.We have recently had a Chartered Surveyor in to check tolerances of walls/floors/ceilings and it is clear we have a lot of issues with the property. I would recommend anyone buying a property from this developer to instruct someone to check tolerances within each room to ascertain if they fall within NHBC parameters. The Chartered Surveyor also noted that all bar 2 of the fire doors within the house are non compliant due to the gap between the door and frame being non-existent.The fact that certain floors are sinking, we have non-compliant fire doors, a cluster fly infestation to the loft, and render, brickwork and carpentry throughout which is an absolute mess, speaks volumes about this builder and ability of their site management.They have the audacity to fly banners around the development saying they are a 5 Star builder when many home owners are dealing with serious issues.I will continue to update on here until I am satisfied Persimmon have shown real effort to resolve the issues I have had to endure, and compensated my family for an insurmountable amount of stress. As we go into our 3rd year of living here (I can not yet call it a family home), we are expecting to be made to move out whilst they rectify the many issues. Further updates to follow.

Wandering · 23 November 2022

★★★★★ 4/5

Trustpilot

Overall a good experience

Our experience was largely good, very friendly staff and lots of updates during the build. Would have been nice if we could have had access to the house earlier (as other developers allow) and basic questions about the build specification were not known (like exact dimensions of the garden exact - again other developers provide this info. The house itself is great, only criticism so far is the garage doors are too small to easily get a car through and the houses do all feel squashed together, but that’s true of most new build estates these days!

Daniel · 6 November 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Harlands Park…a house becomes a home

We are still at the early stages of our house build which started when we discovered the Harlands Park development in Uckfield online and before we were in a position to buy. We selected our ideal plot and were very fortunate to be able to secure it. Work had only just begun when we reserved it so we knew we would need to be patient. On our second visit we met Steve, from the contract management team, and he immediately made us feel welcome and was able to explain the Charles Church build process to us. Over the next few weeks Darren, the contracts manager, sent us photos of the on-site progress. It’s great to see how quickly things start to change. He was also able to answer some specific questions we had. Later we met with Francesca to go through the options we have chosen. Personalising the house is quite an enjoyable experience. With the deposit now paid we are looking forward to seeing the house completed and of course moving in.

Dennis · 28 October 2022

★★★★★ 4/5

Trustpilot

So far so good…..

I haven’t moved yet. But I’ve been very happy with the service so far. Darren was updating us with the site pictures. Hopefully we can have a site visit soon.Thank you Charles Church team 😊

Nishi · 25 June 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Harlands Park move

We are about a month away from moving in to our new house on Harlands Park. So far we are very happy with Charles Church and the process has been very smooth. Darren the contracts manager has been an outstanding point of contact, really going the extra mile to make sure we are kept up to date and responding to questions very quickly. This contact has really made this a positive experience for us. Stevie on site has also been incredibly approachable and helpful even getting some extra photos of our new bathroom! The sales team has had a high turn over of staff so although doing their best sometimes questions would fall through the cracks. This was the only draw back. However, overall we are still very happy and still feel a five star rating is accurate as Darren and Stevie have been exceptional!

Laura · 22 October 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

We are really happy with the house and…

We are really happy with the house and the help given by staff at Charles Church. We had a few minor snagging issues but the team here, including Sophie, Evan’s and Clem have gone above and beyond to help rectify these issues. Would definitely recommend!!

Sarah · 17 December 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Love our new home ! Site manager mark has been excellent

We moved to our new home in Germany beck , and very happy with the house so far - although we have had issues like with all new homes - we would like to give credit to mark - site manager and his maintenance team who have been excellent sorting all our issues and showing care to our issues and popping over to check everything is in order from time to time and getting our issues resolved with action and not just words . The buying process has not been absolutely perfect for us but credit to the persimmon team for trying hard where they can to make the experience as good as it could be and getting our home ready when we were on a tight schedule - there is room for improvement from the sales side but the aftercare deserves 5 star rating - thanks mark

Tony · 13 October 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Very responsive

Very responsive, Sarah the sales advisor at Darley Dale was extremely friendly and helpful. Can’t thank her enough

Miss · 2 December 2023

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Harlands Park, Uckfield

The team at Harlands Park have made the entire buying process a pleasure. From the initial reservation appointment through to move in day, and beyond, we have been kept informed and up to date. As we were selling our previous house, there was no undue pressure to meet the exchange deadline, and the process was as smooth as you could hope for. We're delighted with the house and also the garden. Special mention to the on site team, Darren and Steve in particular, always checking in and no query/problem is too small. Even though there is still plenty of building work going on around us, it doesn't affect us day to day and every effort is made to accommodate us. A big thank you, you've made this a special experience for us.

Allan · 11 October 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Reservation Oakhurst Village

We have only recently reserved an apartment at Oakhurst Village development both Paris and Emma have been brilliant so far. They are always happy to answer any of our questions even when we are changing our mind and coming up with a different option that we want to. They have both been keeping us up to date on the progress of the build so far. We can’t wait to get into our new apartment soon.

Owen · 3 April 2023

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Towcester Farriers/faulty towers

Our move in day delayed by 3 hours even though our solicitor confirmed our purchase was completed.We paid for upgrades that have not been supplied.We have a large number of snagging issues some 30+.We had leak from water fitting in bathroom and ceiling above entrance door has been cut out to repair on going.The tv cabling is a mess and has not worked correctly for a week now,due another visit to investigate when test equipment available.The new house experience has been poor!!!!!!!!!!

Mr · 7 October 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Customer Focused

Everything from the starting till the day of completion has been wonderful. All the staff at The Croft, Charles Church is great, very customer focused and hard working. The houses are also good but one does need to asses and see which house type is value for money and suitable to one's budget and family.

Nishith · 4 July 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Harlands Park - Charles Church

My husband and I are in the process of buying a lovely new home at Harlands Park and we have been so impressed with the service we've received so far. Because we ended up reserving our new home at a later build stage we haven't been able to pick everything we would have wanted, which was a shame. Even with reserving so late, the site team have been as accommodating as possible, where they're able to and we've managed to get most things for us apart from the kitchen and electric shower as these were already being fitted. The site manager has been really helpful and made adjustments to items where possible and we even received contact from the Contracts Manager, with progress pictures being sent along with regular updates. I used to work for a house building company and this was never done there. The site itself is really beautiful, with highly thought out landscaping and the houses are so spaced out. The site team have been really relaxed throughout the process and are happy with any questions you ask. We can't wait to move into our new home, hopefully in the next few weeks and we'll update our review once we're in!

Amy · 26 September 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Charles Church new house

From start to finish of Px’ing so as to buy our new home all of the Charles Church team have been fantastic, specifically Helena and Alannah. We do have a few snagging issues, which I am confident will be rectified quickly and to a high standard, due to the service we have received so far.

Sam · 1 July 2024