About Bovis Homes

Over all though the 3 floor layout works well, theres only a little I would consider changing other than decoration and the garden is a nice size. My only criticism would be that the grass was just dead when we moved in. speaking to others on the estate, this is a common thing.

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

Local area is lovely with Hedge end and Botley, nice walks and countryside but close enough to the towns for access to shops and travel.
Street is great. Its the main road through the estate but its fairly quiet other than a couple of people living in the council flats with messed with cars who like revving their engines at 11pm. Been reported by many residents but nothing has been done.

Public transport isn’t great yet but I believe it is being improved as we are a little outside the town. But as we both drive its not been a problem as of yet.

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

How difficult snagging would be, I would be onto them from the moment I moved in next time and not do as they advised and wait until the end of the snagging period. By waiting, it just grouped everything together so they could say “oh theres a lot of work to get through it’ll take us some time” and just spend the next year putting us off. I understand Covid has put delays on certain indoor tasks, but the tiles on the garage roof leak and they havent even been to look at them!

What is the best feature of your home:

The private drive and garage. Made such a difference to me being able to work from home and store garden items.

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

Good aspects – we have an exceptional view to the front of our Anwyl property. Local shops in Wellington are good. Easy access to the motorway and surrounding towns. Estate roads are too narrow and there is no visitor parking other than on an already narrow road causing obstructions particularly on bends. Road has not been surfaced yet and no idea when it will be. Sunken drains causing nasty dips in road along with potholes which are not maintained. Footpath is lethal. We have now had lamp posts installed for 12 months but never switched on! What is going on? If I thought I could get a straight answer I would ask but Anwyl blame Bovis and Bovis blame Western Power and Western Power blame Bovis! They should all be politicians! All talk no action. On other sites the play areas are finished half way through the build phases but not here. Anwyl have left the site and Bovis as good as have so what chance is there of getting a date for road and paths? Not that you can believe anything either of them say. BS from day one.

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

Every answer you get use reverse psychology and then you will have the truth. The only truth we got was the lovely view we have but the management of it is another story. They will tell you anything you want to hear to sell you their properties. They will make you feel special but you really aren’t. Money first!

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

Badly on the whole. Most things have been a fight and had to chase a lot of the time to get things done. Organisation was non-existent both with the builds and the aftercare. It should not take constant calls and 14 months and counting to get snags and other issues dealt with. Flooring and kitchen choices were very limited and poor.

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

Bicester is great location to live with excellent access bus, road and rail. There are good facilities on Kingsmere itself and in the local area. Having an M&S food hall in walking distance is a real bonus!
Where I live, I do not see any anti-social behaviour and it is quiet, parking can be a bit of an issue but much of this disappears when the tradesman are not on site and I suspect when the development is completed this will not be an issue at all.
Traffic noise is as you would expect for a development this size being busy morning and evening and quite in the day.
The management company for the communal areas for my particular group of houses has been useless. Apart from charging a large management fee for doing nothing, there is never any reserve funds as they always seem to be able to use all the money themselves.

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

Do not buy a new build property, you will end up doing more work than buying an existing home and changing it to how you want it. Avoid companies like Bovis at all costs, there is a reason they and other developers have such a poor reputation.

What is the best feature of your home:

It is a well designed property that fits in well with the estate design.

Bovis Homes have shown us amazing aftercare and have made me and my partner confident that they care about us and our first home.

I would recommend this development to family and friends due to the amazing service we have received and the finer details Bovis provided for us.

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

Me and my partner feel safe and secure in this area, the neighbourhood seems to be very friendly and quiet, there are no issues for parking in our area especially due to an impressive 2 side by side parking spaces provided for our 2 bed home and all of our neighbours have the same facility. The only aspect that could be improved on in my opinion is a doctors surgery being opened due to there not being one built on a large estate, it can be problematic for existing surgeries to cope.

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

There isn’t really anything that I wish I would have known.

If there is one thing you would change about your flat or property what would it be:

I would have swapped the kitchen design around slightly so that the dishwasher was placed where our washing machine was as it is inconveniently placed in a spot that we put our pots in so when emptying it we have to shut it to put them away.