Avant Homes Scotland East Penicuik reviews

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Wouldn't buy a house with avant again.

My partner and I are first time buyers, Avant have made it a thoroughly unpleasant experience for us. Broken promises, poor management of our plot and constant disappointment are what sums up our journey. We purchased our plot in 2021, being told January 2022 completion date, with us ending up moving in in June 2022, after being told week on week that it would be ready for the end of each month between. Avant reps at Cadley village were always quick with a shallow excuse for why something wasn't done or something went wrong, and lacked understanding of frustrations when avants poor planning around sourcing materials and extras went wrong. A key example of this being when we ordered flooring and fittings with avant, then 5 months later they saying the are no longer available because they didn't order them at all, meaning we had to quickly choose alternatives that weren't wanted at a last minute. Now my experience with buying a house with avant is complete I can say for certain I would never buy one with them again, and I have gone out of my way to advise anyone I know buying a house to avoid them.

William · 14 July 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Very pleasant and helpful

Matt was very helpful and answered all of our questions. Very happy with the service from Avant so far

Allison · 17 September 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Beware - another estate left unfinished and unmanaged

I've given Avant ample opportunity to offer solutions and answers to long running and serious issues, but they've failed miserably. So here's why my 5-star review from before moving in has now been reduced to 1 star after more than 2 years of living in an Avant home.1. Firstly and most importantly, Avant left the Guisborough site in April 2021 and have never returned to finish the road surfacing or landscaping. 14 months have passed by with zero action to finish the estate. The roads are littered with worsening potholes, curb stones are damaged, weeds line the streets and exposed drains are hazardous. It's both dangerous and potentially very costly in car damage. Every month that we're given by Avant as a start date simply comes and goes. The continuous letdowns have left the estate feeling disappointed, desperate and angry.Common areas which were supposed to be turfed, planted and maintained are dirt, rubble and weeds. What could have been an attractive estate is now a neglected eyesore.2. Secondly, the bi-fold door glazing is badly scratched but never rectified despite being reported on handover day. The salesperson confirmed that the fault was reported but Avant have denied this. I feel lied to, disappointed, and stupid for having trusted the site manager to resolve it. If Avant does the right thing and completes the estate to a good standard then I will update my review accordingly. Until then, I and many others will continue to spread the word.

Simon · 9 July 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Sales people fantastic

Sales people fantastic. Avant homes finishing the estate how it is supposed to be…. Well I do not have the words to describe this company, but disgraceful, shocking inept. I bought a property at the Wynyard Grange site. They external to the property was supposed to have trees planted to block out an industrial building. Since January 2022 I have been trying to get this sorted out. The reply I get is they cannot get a response from the contractor. Is this a joke it is now July 2022, 6 months later. I then contacted the Managing director from the website. This person has also not had the decency to acknowledge the email at all. I have paid for this to be completed. I urge everyone to know that Avant are terrible, do not buy a house from them as they will not compete your house or the area and do not reply they are not interested. Keep your money and even if you like the area they are promoting, avoid it like the plague. Shocking, terrible, unresponsive and the worst customer service you could ever imagine.

Gary · 7 July 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Beware unmade, unadopted roads on completed Avant sites

I purchased my Avant home in April 2019. I was happy with the house and majority of the aftersales service. However, I then discovered that once Avant complete building (April 2021) they vacate the site with what seems a deliberate policy of not finishing the roads. The make empty promises, which do not materialise and often don't respond to emails or telephone calls.The situation here in Guisborough mirrors many other Avant sites around the country. The road surfaces, such as they are, are deteriorating month by month. The roads on this small estate are full of potholes; the gulleys protrude from what is left of the road surface and weeds are growing at the edges of the unmade roads.In the last couple of months I have read numerous local and national newspaper reports regarding Avant and unfinished roads, it's endemic. The local council have tried to intervene but the council will not adopt the roads until they are completed by the developer and finished to a certain standard. Surely Avant, when given planning consent, were obliged to finish the roads! This continuence of the status quo is an obvious advantage to Avant; they are not required legally by the council to finish the roads even though some money is held back by them from the developer. Clearly it is still advantageous to Avant to leave this money with the council because it saves them enormous amounts of money required to complete the roads. As a consequence the roads are becoming more dangerous, difficult to drive on and they will become increasingly expensive to repair. Another winter will take further toll, how many years could this endure? So beware..... if you should want to sell your home and this problem of unadopted roads is highlighted by your vendors' solicitor this could mean potentially that despite paying a very large sum of money for your home, the owners (the frontager) will have to pay for part of the road's maintenance and possibly take out indemnity insurance too. It is important to note the NHBC guarantee does not cover roads, only private driveways etc. This will no doubt affect the price that can be asked for the home on resale. Avant why don't you do something? a somewhat rhetorical question I think.

Chrissie · 4 July 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Me and my boyfriend saw a plot that we…

Me and my boyfriend saw a plot that we fancied on right move, straight away contacted them via the number provided. Was met with a very rude unhelpful woman on reception who stated she would get someone to ring me back. 3 days later still had not heard anything, another 5 phone calls still no call back. Still no news, tried a few different numbers and email addresses. Kept being told someone would call me back. Ended up driving to the site to speak to someone there but met with no sales office there. When your going to spend so much on a home you’d expect better customer service and you’d expect better organisation. Every number I’ve rang I’ve been put through to someone different who literally has no clue. Gives me no faith in buying with this company.

Melissa · 4 July 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

steven was excellent

steven was excellent, honest and welcoming 😁😁

Elisha · 19 January 2026

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avoid Avant at all costs!

Absolutely ridiculous experience with Avant that is sadly very much ongoing...with no end in sight.Reservation #1;Reserved a plot at the Warwick site back at the beginning of August 2021. I was in the middle of agreeing a sale on my current property, and although at first unwilling to reserve a plot until this was confirmed, some pressure selling later I ended up being talked into handing over the reservation fee on the premise that it would be returned to me if the sale wasn't confirmed in the next few days. I was in contact the next day to say that the sale wasn't going ahead. This reservation fee was returned to myself in April 2022, a frankly ridiculous 9 MONTHS LATER.Reservation #2;Reserved a different plot (again at Warwick), in September 2021 after agreeing a sale on my property. Sadly my sale was taking longer than expected, but since the property wasn't yet finished there wasn't too much pressure from Avant. In the meantime I forked out ~£1200 for the interior, stupidly believing that all was good and the purchase was locked in. I believe this changed the very minute the property was ready post-build, as this must've started some internal timer on their end to either get paid or get rid (of me). With no prior indication/flags this was to happen, I received an afternoon phone call telling me that the following morning at 9am the property would be back on the market - apparently I was still eligible providing if I completed my sale before they found a new buyer. Unsurprisingly the property was re-marketed at a £10,000 increased on the back of already having the interior sorted (that I had already paid for...) as a perk of the sale. I was then strung along for a good few weeks whilst they initially ignored any/all questions about if they had found a new buyer (it was obvious that they had I was under no illusions), I imagine just in case that fell through and I was the fall-back guy.Now here we are a few months later where I'm out of pocket and outright being ignored by Avant on where the rest of my refund is (some of which they have accepted that they do owe).#1 reservation fee; £500 paid. £500 refunded (after a while 9 months!)#2 reservation fee; £500 paid. Avant initially accepted that they will refund £250 (not sure why it's not the full amount, they refuse to say) but now outright ignore any further contact about how I can get this.#2 interior cost, ~£1200 paid. Avant flat out refusing any sort of refund on this, even though the second sale was at an increase of £10,000 and this interior listed as a perk for the sale (i.e., they aren't out of pocket, they have in fact increased their income)TLDR;- Contacting this company is literally impossible- They have proven that they will get rid of you at the earliest opportunity if they can increase their profits- Even when they accept that they are liable for refunds, good luck getting it!

George · 3 July 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Yet another issue that has been ongoing…

Yet another issue that has been ongoing for last 11 months and sending number of emails and no response The site manager is the rudest person I have seen in my life. The avant home is the worst builders Worst companyWorst serviceAnd the customer service team is worse of all. They don't even reply to the emails, although on ringing them they say we will reply but yeah they dont and the complaint service is out of question they are just there as a name. I would recommend again not to Buy a house with Avant home.Repeat not tk buy a house with Avant homes.

Afaq · 29 June 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

I recently had a technician called…

I recently had a technician called Laura who came to fix items on my snagging list. Laura's comms were second to none and she did her job to a high standard. Upon entry to my home Laura commented that the hallway was cold. She quickly noticed that the door was misaligned and fixed that for me, just because she could. Thanks so much!

Satisfied · 14 December 2023

★★★★★ 3/5

Trustpilot

A very small but smart bungalow

We thought the bungalow was too small, with the exemption of the spacious ensuite.Also, didn’t like the fact that the floors were left as bare concrete, not even the kitchen and bathroom floors were unfinished, and we were advised it would take 3 days to lay and finish tiles on the concrete floors delaying moving in by 3 days when it could have been done by the builders.

Janet · 12 August 2023

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

2nd time round...nothing seems to have changed!

**UPDATE** Recently I noted to Avant that it isn't possible to use both showers at the same time as the pressure completely drops in the en-suite to a dribble (not useable) and I have been advised it's due to the limitations of the boiler and not 'by design' as i asked them. Laughable...I have learned not to try and argue with Avant but to take all snagging issues to the NHBC when Avant have done as much as they will say they will. Having previously had a shocking experience with Avant I thought I would give them another go when looking for a new buy property.I was informed that processes had been improved since my last purchased and I believe them (still).First impression though is history is repeating itself. Yes the overall snagging list is much smaller and mainly cosmetic (I will be having a full new build survey completed as I did last time that unearthed a multitude of issues), but the communication, promises and service is as bad as it was.Let down so far on...a dishwasher not working at all, a hob that I was told to call Hotpoint on to get fixed (after a week) and then other issues with the fitting of the hob not rectified.Trying to get anything done feels like it is going to be an uphill challenge again. However I am lucky. Speaking to my neighbours they've had a similar experience to my last one, one neighbour even admitting to me that she has recently broken down in tears based on what she's going through.I feel so much for her and disappointed that a company can make people feel this way through poor practices and service.Come on Avant, please do better for us!

Steven · 23 June 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Awful Customer Service.

Awful Customer Service.When we bought our property in October 2020 we were very pleased with our then site manager Graham who made sure all snagging issues were sorted within 8 months. But after all the heavy rain we had in January February this year we encountered problems with our lawns, front and back. Our lawn is now almost bare and has sunk about 3 to 4 inches. After contacting customer services in April the new site manager came out and inspected and agreed our lawn was not laid to specification and an order was raised for the lawns to be relayed during spring (this site manager has since left). We kept chasing customer services for a date for this to be done but all we got was they would chase the landscapers but no date was forth coming. By June we were getting frustrated so emailed Rob Slocombe, Managing Director as we were getting no where with customer services. He said he would look into it. Avant have now gone back on their word and now say they are not going to re lay the turf. Avant customer services and after sales is shocking and don’t take any responsibility for shoddy work. Never again will we entertain Avant or even recommend them.

Karen · 22 June 2022

★★★★★ 2/5

Trustpilot

Awful - no ownership of major issue

We love our house but sadly we have been so let down with the after care and customer service we received from Avant. We have a drain behind our garden wall which overflows and water comes through our wall, its really badly damaged the wall with water marks. Not to mention the water flows out the wall when it rains heavy. This was in our snagging list as damage visible when we moved in. We have been in our house a year and had so many promises made to us about when it would be fixed...I sent an email to complain after a year of being passed from pillar to post. We then received an email from Customer Service saying they actually aren't going to fix it and here's the complaint process! - It's disgraceful and has completely ruined our trust in Avant. They have a very bad name in our estate but we have always been so patient with our list of snagging, as we knew they were under a lot pressure but this has actually shocked us. Going through the complaints process but my expectations are low to be honest if the chat within our estate is correct. Best to avoid Avant based on our experience.

Hazel · 21 June 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Soon as the houses are sold they up and…

Soon as the houses are sold they up and out without finishing paths/roads and unfinished touches like gravel around drives ect. my car has had to be repaired due to how horrific the roads on our estate not the mention the plastic speed bumps they added to top things off!

Loren · 17 March 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Caroline was amazing

Caroline was amazing! She explained everything and was a great experience

Rakhul · 9 March 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Beth was exceptionally knowledgeable …

Beth was exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful and a good representative for Avant. We liked the house but was not in the location we required

Richard · 17 April 2023

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

After 3 years - road surface still horrendous

Bought our house at Barley Gate Quarter, Birtley 3 years ago and we are still waiting for a decent road surface! The final houses were completed at the beginning of the year and now 5 months later, we still have horrendous temporary road surfaces. These roads have had holes filled in, if you can call it that, as they are now ‘bumps’ in the road with loose tarmac. Temporary speed bumps on road are damaged and causing numerous damage to many cars. All of which have been reported to avant, who have no interest at all!!! Work on the road was meant to be completed by the end of June 2022. This has not been started yet. This is such a shame to have to write this review, as from choosing our home 3 years ago and moving in, was a great experience. Such a shame once you are in and they have your money, they show no interest.

JM · 19 June 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Avant have been absolutely terrible at…

Avant have been absolutely terrible at communication and keeping to schedule.We reserved out plot back in September 2021 with an estimated completion of May 2022.We were then advised (after lots of chasing up) that it would be June.We were advised we would get an update every 2 - 3 weeks.Well we are now in June, and we STILL don't even have any foundation down.So naturally our home won't be built until potentially the end of this year.Yet despite me asking for an update for around 5/6 weeks now, with an explanation as to why its taking so long, why nothing is being done and when we hope to complete....we have had NO response with the details requested.After escalating things to management and above management, each one claiming their manager would contact us with an explanation......I hear absolutely nothing.Absolutely terrible company, and if we weren't locked in due to be pressured everyday to exchange within 30 days, I would have pulled out a long time ago.As soon as you exchange, don't expect to hear from them again.If I could give less than 1 star, I would do.I don't hold much hope on the quality of the build now.

Stephane · 18 June 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Excellent face to face experience with an amazing first class service!

Lady Angela Kingsley, has an exceptional skill in making every Englishmen not only feel most welcome but worthy of owning his own Castle ! A highly professional, polite and well informed lady with clear communication and invaluable industry expertise, a credit to her company and our region !

Alick · 23 September 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

We recently purchased a 4 bed detached

We recently purchased a 4 bed detached (mulbridge) home at Vanbrugh gate. Having been through a new build purchase before we thought we knew what to expect but dealing with avant has been a totally different experience. Talking to experienced, professional people who know how to manage expectations and deal with queries has been of huge benefit to us throughout what has not been a straightforward process (through no fault of avant or our own). Everything explained in a straightforward manner with no hidden surprises. I can't speak highly enough of Julie, Graham, Bill, Lisa and Michelle who have been fantastic, all are true assets to the brand. Very minimal snags and after 3 weeks of being most are fixed. We'll done guys, keep up the good work!

Jon · 15 June 2022

★★★★★ 1/5

Trustpilot

Poor customer service and useless

Poor customer service especially in SHELTONE VILLAGE site. They always saying it’s standard but once you ask them provide the written documents they can’t provide at all. We got an issue in front door and they came twice but still can’t sort out. They advised their contractor to put a tissue paper where any suspected air coming from out once it moves definitely there is an issues. Follow what given instruction and took video sent to them that tissue is moving but still they saying it’s standard.

Jay · 14 June 2022

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Jacqueline Honeyman Park

We have recently reserved a plot at Honeyman Park with the help of Jacqueline who has been great!

Robert · 20 August 2024

★★★★★ 5/5

Trustpilot

Helpful, friendly and knowledgeable

Michael was very friendly and patient with all our questions. We are looking forward to our future meetings/communication with him.

KS · 5 August 2023