Duchy Homes Reviews 

Christine could not have been more helpful, she has been amazing and managed to secure us our dream home.

Our experience with Duchy Homes, from the first encounter with Christine at the Hartlepool sales office, to the day of key exchange, have been nothing but positive.
Not only were we given guidance throughout the process when buying our forever home, Christine couldn’t have done anymore for us and helped us to secure the biggest financial achievement of our lives!
The days following our move have been stressful, but the site guys have been great, with both of the site managers introducing themselves and coming into our home to sort out a few bits and pieces.
It makes such a difference having the support of the site guys while settling in, and knowing they are happy to help if needed.
The finish of this property is incredible, from the beautiful brick work, to the internal finishings.
Thank you to Duchy for creating our forever home. We love it!

Michelle, was fantastic throughout the whole experience. Really put us both at ease, and made us feel at home right at the beginning.
Michelle clearly was experienced, knew her stuff and could guide us confidently in the right direction. A perfect experience for first time buyers.

After 2 years my kitchen cupboards have blown and my radiator is leaking and customer service won’t do anything because my 2 year warrenty has just ran out
Funny that
Customer service team are rude especially Linda

The buying process was fantastic and very professional. However the customer service is absolutely shocking. We are still waiting for snags to be rectified a year after purchasing the property!

Our shared driveway is sinking due to incorrect preparation of the ground prior to block paving. The kitchen extractor fan supplied was pathetic and took a year to replace however we are still waiting on the corresponding kitchen unit to be replaced as part of the repair.

Overall the fit and finish of the house is what you would expect for the price but the customer service team need replacing as they are useless!

Purchased a 3 story town house at The Meadows Sunderland in June 2024. From the initial greeting by Paula the sales consultant to the excellent help and servive provided by Liam the site manager, I could not be happier. The spec and standard of the property is first class. Both Paula and Liam are an absolute credit to Duchy homes and I would not hesitate to recommend.

Avoid like the plague! Too many issues to write about. Back garden with water-logging and teletubby humps, patio covered in cement, driveway damaged by contractors, leaking showers, missing carbon monoxide detector. Friends car got hit by a roadworks van. Will this ever end..Dutchy and NHBc not taking any responsibility so going legal.

Recently moved into our dream home Centurion Walk in Micklefield. We have had a few minor and other issues but nothing that could not be corrected. That's when it comes down to good site Managers. The two we have are Harvey and Luke and they will go above and beyond to make sure things are put right. You may be thinking well that should not be happening but these things do unfortunately and this is our second new build but this house is on another level.
Great communication from start to finish on our purchase and very happy indeed.

House purchase Woodland Manor Wynyard

June 23

I want to thank the Duchy team for providing us with our lovely home .

We want to compliment the team from sales to site staff for their amazing work , quality craftsmanship & service that we have received from reservation to after care of move in date.

Key qualities that stand out are as follows:

Trusted reputation of an award winning builder ( all external tradesman that we have had in our home have commented on the quality of the property & design) .

The build was on time & site visits were handled professionally & were very informative.

Ease of regular communication has been excellent throughout all questions were speedily answered and key updates were provided.

Commitment to customer service has been second to none.

The build specifications & extras purchased met the set out standards & were to a very high specification.

All of the few/ very minor snags were addressed quickly & effectively.

A special mention for Christine, Sales , Gary Site Manager we wouldn’t know what we would have done without them friendly, efficient & effective great customer service & very knowledgeable & supportive throughout.

Praise for the full team for a positive experience with a quality home at the end of the journey.

Highly recommend & would purchase again from this builder.

The Potts family

Duchy provide a great sales experience but that seems to be where the good service ends. We could not fault Gabby who helped us through the buying process, however once you've purchased the property and moved in, Duchy homes have no desire to sort any major problems out what so ever, despite the site management team offering assurances that they will be on hand to fix any niggle that you may come across.

The after sales customer service comprises of a lady called Linda who has no clue on any of your matters, even though Linda is the only person answering all of your calls and taking all of the information about any issue you may have. Any time you call after logging a problem, the standard response you receive is that the issue is with either the site manager or another team in Duchy. You are simply ignored. When you ask for updates, you do not get them and have to constantly hound before you get any form of acknowledgement, let alone any form of update. Their communication is the worst we have ever encountered when dealing with a company.

We paid £400k for a property with a sunken garage, that early on we noticed leaks. Our garage leaks to the point where puddles form and the Duchy response is "garages are designed as a store for a car so as such are not designed to be watertight and therefore items stored could be damaged by moisture, leading to mildew and mould". Absolutely disgraceful. Apparently according to Duchy, having a river in your garage is a feature!!!

After many months of trying to get remedial work carried out our complaint was escalated to Paul Moran (Head of Customer Service), who surprise surprise also fails to respond, even in accordance to their own complaints procedure. This is one example of many problems we have come across since moving in.

We have been left feeling as though it is us against Duchy in getting a number of problems fixed and have simply had enough. A claim is now being made with the NHBC as we feel that Duchy are not wanting to resolve our issue to a satisfactory level, more than likely due to a costing issue.

There are many other reviews that we have since read all echoing the same message that Duchy do not care once they have your money. Had we been wise enough to read reviews before purchasing our property we would have seriously thought twice about buying from Duchy. I hope others read this review and consider it when thinking about buying from Duchy.

Avoid. Awful customer service. They don’t attend to issues in a timely manor. The Site Manager doesn’t seem bothered either. Customer services when you call provides excuse after excuse. More attention needs to be given to the after care they provide.

Having never bought a new build off-plan before, it was wonderful to be kept up to date regularly on the build progress. From foundations to completion, the service received from the sales team was second to none. They were able to explain the whole process without complication and were frequently in touch with my solicitor to keep tabs on all legal matters, which ultimately helped reduce any stress I had.

As my reserved plot was the first of this type of property, I was impressed by the visual tools available inside the marketing suite which made the whole buying process easier than expected. I was able to get an idea of what the inside of my new home would look like without needing to travel to another site.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the quality of my new home and whilst minor snags have occurred as expected on all new builds, I can only prise both the customer service team and those on site for their professionalism for rectifying all issues quickly.

We have bought houses over the past 60 years and have never experienced such first class service as we have throughout the process of buying on The Duchy Meadows development. The actual build is first rate and absolutley no snags. Excellent care and guidance from the sales representative. The site manager and his whole team were very helpful in explaining the works of the house and genuinely want buyers to have the best possible experience and home.

Outstanding.
We purchased our new home at The Meadows Sunderland.
From initially visiting the site through to completion we received nothing but first class service.
Paula and her team guided us through the daunting process of selling our home and purchasing a new build, nothing was a problem to them.
The specification of the properties are of very high quality and the small number of issues that were identified within our home following completion were rectified efficiently.
This is our first brand new home and have not been disappointed. I would not hesitate to recommend Duchy Homes.

I've had nothing short of outstanding service both before and after purchase. We bought on The Meadows in Sunderland and our home is finished to an excellent standard. The site manager is award winning and it's very clear that he runs a very tight ship. We have had minimal snagging. Way less than you might expect for a new build. We are utterly delighted with our home. And I wouldn't hesitate in recommending Dutchy to my friends and family. Thank you so much to Paula in the sales office and Ryan on site for going above and beyond.

Appalling … DO NOT PURCHASE OFF THIS SHODDY COMPANY!
1- Wrong Kitchen installed on handover
2- wrong tiles in En Suite
3- kitchen sink fell through worktop after three days
4- chimney leaking, in the first 156 days scaffolding was erected for 127 days. Three chimneys later and debris left on the roof…..
5- retaining walls installed incorrectly with no drainage behind and built as double the height of the “As Built” drawings
6- Garage leaking in water and told by Paul Moran that a garage is not a water tight building….. it’s not built as a swimming pool either was our response.
7- Three out of four cisterns damaged so walls had to be removed for access and repairs.
8- kitchen units replaced numerous times due to splitting and bubbling. On one occasion 12 doors were replaced at one visit.
9- Electric oven leaking water, replaced three times, now on fourth oven which still leaks. Engineer who came to the oven said it’s a badly designed kitchen.
10- window vent fallen off in en suite, this was either deliberately broken off to tile above it our damaged when tiling as the tiles fit below the vent fitting..
11- contractors urinating outside our property.
12- contractors power washing their van outside our front door that have not even been working on our property.

The customer “don’t” care is appalling. Linda books in engineers, confirms via email time and date, they still turn up at the wrong time, then always start their email by I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.

Enough said….

Biggest bunch of liars and cheats I have ever come across with absolutely appalling customer service. We moved into Grimsargh over 2 years go and have been fighting with Duchy to sort out major structural problems ever since. In the end we had to employ a structural engineer to prove that what they had built was totally wrong. They eventually accepted that they were wrong and agreed to put things right and as way of an apology offered various things in compensation.
Then when they found out how much it was going to cost them to rectify, they withdrew the compensation offer.
Don’t trust them at all.

Our Boiler was condemned due to faulty installation as the flue has never been in the correct position. The whole system has corroded due to acidic condensation and CO2 leaking into the unit. Duchy are claiming we have moved it even though it is cemented in place in the faulty position it was installed. We have no central heating and as son with asthma and Duchy have taken zero responsibility. Paul Moran only comes to your house to get out of paying for any remedial work. We now have to replace the the boiler at a cost of £2000.00… disgraceful

If I could give Duchy zero stars I would. 2.5 years since moving in and we STILL have ongoing snags ! The response we constantly get from customer service is … we will chase this up ! I’ve never known it take so long …. We had a redrow new build prior to duchy and never had an issue ! Labelled themselves as luxury and exclusive…. Far from it !!! Also ask about who they rent the social housing too … ours are now filled with drug dealers and anti social behaviour … so much for the luxury development it sold itself as ! Just avoid at all costs they have been nothing but a nightmare !

I am a new-build home owner and would be the last person to discourage people from buying new, but Duchy is the exception.

I live on a site directly opposite from the Duchy development in Leeds and they have been nothing but disruptive, disrespectful and down right rude. I have had the pleasure of inhaling second hand smoke from the builders who can see into my garden clearly, and would have noticed my big pregnant belly but choose to light up a cigarette whilst hanging off the balcony of their site office. I cant enjoy my garden 5 days of the week, and even on hot days I need to keep my windows shut just so I don't have to suffer.

On one occasion I caught them peering into my garden, and winding up my dog by 'barking' at him.

They have also dumped a huge 4 meter soil pile at the back of my garden fence which blows dust and soil into my garden. This was not on their original plans so I am not sure why it is even there.

I have emailed them repeatedly regarding these issues, even reaching out to the managing director personally but sadly they have just completely ignored my concerns.

Judging by the other reviews here I would never buy a Duchy home, and certainly would discourage other people from doing so as they aren't even organised or competent enough to respond to emails. God knows what they are actually like at building houses.