Mill Vale - Kellen Homes

This review is somewhat slimmed down due to the Google word limit - full version available via Trust Pilot.We purchased the 2 bed Hickory on the Vernon Gardens development in Royton. The first interaction we had with Kellen Homes was with Karen (Sales Advisor) who was professional, approachable, friendly and always kept us informed of updates from the very start and all the way through the house buying process. Karen was great and nothing was ever too much trouble. We still see Karen now and she always has time to stop and chat.A few days after moving in we had a snagging survey done which highlighted about 122 issues, however the surveyor did state that the overall build is of a good quality and probably one of the better new builds he has come across. To put things into context, the surveyor did say that on average a snagging survey on a new build would highlight 250+ issues and ours as above was about 122, to which he confirmed were down to carelessness of the trades people rather than a poor quality build in itself.The first issue which really stood out for us was the back garden - it was nothing more than a swamp which was a nightmare with three dogs in and out of a brand new house in the winter months. This has now been resolved as we have paid £450 to have a land drain installed which should have been done by the developer as the garden is clearly on a slope. We decided to get this done ourselves as we couldn’t wait for this issue to be resolved by Kellen Homes due to the combination of having three dogs and the winter weather. We understand that other residents on the development have had similar or worse issues with their gardens and are still trying to get these issues resolved.Another issue was the tiling in the main bathroom, which we paid just over £700 for the optional extra of having the bathroom tiled from floor to ceiling. The tiling was done to a poor standard as there were some tiles which weren’t level and were cambering along with poor grouting. Not only that but the shaver socket hadn’t been installed and the area where it should have been had been tiled over. We had to have the tiler back twice to get it sorted but some of the tiles are still cambering. We have been told that the tiles are now within the limits of tolerance, despite paying the additional fee of just over £700 to have this done.Four months down the line and we only have a couple of snagging issues left outstanding. Kellen Homes have been quite proactive albeit their approach has been very ad-hoc rather than planned or structured which has added unnecessary stress and inconvenience at times.Kellen Homes uses a CRM called clixifix for post snagging/warranty issues. Unfortunately we have found that communication can be very poor. For example: we have reported a couple of issues and have had to chase for updates a few weeks later as we’ve not received any acknowledgment or timescale for resolution. They need to publish and be clearer around service levels for repairs, as this will help manage owners’ expectations and avoid issues having to be chased.We absolutely love our new home now things have settled and we can finally begin to enjoy it but the experience with the developer has been disappointing in a few respects, particularly the poor quality of the bathroom tiling and the condition of the back garden.As a result of our experience, we don’t feel we could in all good conscience recommend Kellen Homes to family, friends, colleagues or to anybody who were to ask us. Kellen has unfortunately fallen short on a number of key issues around build quality and customer service/communication along with post sales support which have inevitably impacted our overall experience.

Nothing but money making idiots, taking over natural wildlife and their habitat, 4 cats have been murdered through the mindless building that's going on, no idea of the heartache caused. Inconsiderate is an understatement. Absolutely disgusting

We're just over 6 months into living in our Kellen New build. This is their first development and when we reserved our plot, there unfortunately were no reviews and limited information online about Kellen.We did what research we could, met with the builder multiple times and raised multiple questions regarding the timber frame build vs traditional.The sales process was a little pushy, using the age old fear of loss" to motivate us to commit and push our sales through our end. Kellen also played the "These properties are in demand" card

Ignoring message I sent