About Avant Homes

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

A very quiet development. No major roads nearby. Construction still in progress on site. A good selection of local shops in the immediate area or not far away. Small supermarkets provide most essentials and there’s a good range of take-aways. Major supermarkets a few miles away in Worksop. Sheffield is half an hour away and Nottingham not much longer. There is a local train station on the line between Worksop and Nottingham. Connections from there to other destinations. Trains every hour but don’t run late if you want a night out. Buses to Worksop and Chesterfield. Parking on the development is tight, especially as it’s still a building site so contractors park all over the place. Large vehicles can be hazardous and materials left lying about. Council services seem pretty good. Local health centre leaves a bit to be desired, and some hospital appointments mean going as far as Doncaster. Bins get emptied on time most weeks and include a free green bin collection. Generally a nice location not far from what we need. M1 only 10 minutes away.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Avant are no better than any other shoddy builder. Avant’s show homes look great. But, what I learned is that’s not what customers get. I got a shoddy substandard build thrown together in a rush by unskilled bodgers in order to earn bonuses for a shockingly bad management. It’s not the things you can see that are the problem, it’s what you can’t easily see. The blocked drains, the leaky pipes, the broken bricks, the fittings that haven’t been secured properly (all our toilet seats fell off because the wrong fastenings had been used). The ill-fitting doors and windows letting draughts. The turf laid over the rubble. And once you highlight these problems it takes months for them to get fixed – if at all. It takes up hundreds of hours of your time chasing them up and waiting in for them not to turn up on the agreed date. Every corner was cut, and every penny and every minute was saved. And when I complained I received abuse from the management, including the Chief Exec. Avant are shockingly bad.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

My house had over 160 defects. Avant have been back 56 times so far, and it still isn’t what I paid for. It isn’t anything like what was promised. They are utterly incompetent from top to bottom. They can’t build a house, and they can’t fix one. Some items have been fixed 6 or 7 times. They come to fix one problem and cause two more. We have 450mm of loft insulation but none of the doors and windows fit properly so the house is cold and draughty in winter. Promises made, are simply broken. And once their two year warranty is up they just walk away and leave you with all the problems they didn’t bother to fix.

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Facilities

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Design

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Location

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Value

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Management

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

I like living here, as we are on a private section of the road and it’s secluded and there are no cars coming up and down except for those that actually live on the street. We have ample parking, but there are surrounding roads where the parking for 2 large family cars is totally inadequate so beware as it’s almost impossible to open the doors of a coupe is you are thinking of using your garage. We have parking for 2 large cars on our driveway and a garage that we use purely for storage. Neither of our cars fit in the garage but it is not a problem. There is little noise from traffic. Bin collections are fortnightly, those no glass recycle bin!! You have to go to the bottle bank. Neighbours dogs can be a nuisance as there can be a lot of barking at times.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

if you dislike dogs this is not the place for you as almost everyone has a dog!

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

We did not buy the house from new and we have not needed to contact about any issues

The further you go into the development the less space between the houses, which is a bit sad to see and makes the area look more cramped. I also believe that a better consideration could have been given to the type of houses placed in location with northern aspect vs other aspect (eg lots of holbury type houses have north facing gardens but these houses have all the living areas and main bedrooms facing the garden – which in this northerly placement makes the house a dark house inside with not very nice internal light; perhaps location of some types of houses could have been swapped to consider quality of natural light in the house).

I really like that this development provides houses with appropriate window sizes. The bi-fold doors are amazing but not only that – the other windows are of good sizes as well (this stands out in comparison with many more developers that cut the overall costs by providing minuscule windows).
The change to the window frame color from white pvc to grey in the newer houses is really good too and makes the development look less ‘plastic’ or shall I say – modern.
Virtual tour available on the old Avant website of the completed development was really good and informative, but sad to see this no longer is available from the new website.
Overall I’m pleased with the design of the development.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

Good: 1. very quiet (no traffic noise, no anti-social type noise). 2. Walking distance to town centre and it’s amenities. 3. Very good farm shop with a coffee place nearby as well.

Not so good: 1. Street layout strange, not so convenient due to adding different parts of development over the years and the street grid not being planned in a coherent way. 2. Although development incorporated a fantastic public bridelway and routes – other pedestrian footpaths and pavements could have been planned/designed better. 3. Street layout in the local area could have been planned with a view of inclusion of cycleways/cycle paths.

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

I wish I had checked the prices of railway tickets between Market Harborough and London. If I had known how expensive these were I might not have moved to Market Harborough.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

Not relevant. This is a private home, no building management.

Please tell us what you like and dislike about this area:

Good: close to shops, near to schools, lots of green area for nice walks with the dog, good parking, quiet yet close to m1

Bad: bins alternative weeks, not near train station, windy

Please share one thing (or more) which you wish you had known before you moved in:

Duration of building works. Proximity of opposite houses which are currently being built.

How has the building management responded to any problems or issues you have raised:

Very helpful and quick to solve any issues. Answered emails quickly and solved most problems.