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About Cavanna Homes
Cavanna Homes was established 100 years ago by PD Cavanna and has been building beautiful new homes across the Westcountry ever since.
We are one of the largest independent house builders based in the South West and take great pride in constructing quality homes safely and to the highest standard.
We bring forward new neighbourhoods in excellent locations close to city, coast and countryside, and support new and existing residents through Section 106 community contributions, as well as through donations to local charities and good causes.
About our homes
We strive to provide homes for our customers that will be a solid foundation for their families, for years to come.
Our 2 to 5-bedroom homes are modern and energy-efficient to keep the warmth in and to help keep energy bills down.
Our customer service
At Cavanna Homes, we pride ourselves on our local knowledge, quality of work and friendly, professional approach.
We will guide you through the buying process from reservation, right through to the final handover of keys and for two years after you move in.
Our dedicated Customer Services Team will be on hand to discuss and help rectify any issues with your home. You can contact them by calling 01803 618780 or via [email protected].
Reviews 195
Nicola l
Aug 08,2022Overall, I have never been treated so poorly by any organisation. Cavanna offer no customer service whatsoever and show resentment towards the customers who dare buy their homes and are merely considered an inconvenience. Like many others who have written reviews and every single person I have spoken to on site, Cavanna have failed to resolve our 14 day snags and we moved in in November 2020. When they do come to resolve something they send contractors who often don't know what they are doing, have no respect for the fact these are our homes, and cause more issues. Even predictable remedial tasks that are needed after one task is done, Cavanna do not have the foresight to arrange so you then spend months chasing and regretting ever asking them to perform the original task. Amongst other issues outstanding, we need new flooring to our en suite as the taps were not installed properly across the site leading to a leak. There is no sign of us being given the new flooring we have repeatedly asked for despite it being a result of their poor workmanship. We will also likely need new carpets soon as they are appalling. Plus, our front door simply doesn't work, like most others on the site I think. My biggest issue by far though is that Cavanna do not care in the slightest about us being able to enjoy our homes and lives generally. The site was filthy for the first fifteen months of living here, either caked in thick mud, or dust in dryer conditions leading our brilliant white houses plus our driveways to be ruined. Cavanna refuse to do anything about these, well they ignore me, which I assume is a refusal. The two storey site office was practically in our garden for this entire period, blocking our view and sun. The contractors would think nothing of leaving a massive digger at the end of our garden for entire weekends and they would use a tracked vehicle to move small items from one end of the road to another, hence laying in bed after a nightshift, I now know how repeated earthquakes feel. At least my house is earthquake proof I guess. The site was finished about six months ago but today the builders are back, I think to finally start giving something back to nature and complete the green area as per the plans. We have all been asking them to do this for months and I made it clear that I didn't want the area directly at the bottom of my garden to be a noisy building site for another summer as I feared another one being ruined. They continued to leave us completely abandoned for the last six months before turning up now. Thank you Cavanna, you had plenty of time to do this and started last September yet then decided you didn't care enough to continue, instead leaving all the drainage crates to decay at the bottom of our gardens and ducks turning up wondering where on earth their pond was. I challenge anyone to find a good review on here from any Cavanna site who isn't merely complimenting the sales team but is actually happy with the end product...of course the sales team are good. In summary, if you like to be ignored and treated with utter contempt after giving a company hundreds of thousands of pounds, buy a Cavanna home, you won't be disappointed.
Lockerscat
Aug 07,2022We moved into our home on Barley Meadow April 2021. We chose a new build as we mistakingly thought we would be moving into a house that would need nothing doing to it, we could just enjoy the newness! As we were shown around on moving in day, promises were made to rectify some visible issues and we believed they would be sorted quickly. Some issues from our 14 day list have not yet been sorted, despite assurances that Customer Services (CS) are ‘looking into it’. Kitchen. Seventeen months on and we still have a gap between two worktops in the kitchen. A worktop fitter from the company Cavanna use, kindly looked at the worktops at my request ( as he was at a neighbour’s house) and said the worktops had shifted. CS are aware of this but nothing has been done to rectify. The boiler housing unit was damaged. A new one was apparently ordered but it got lost. A replacement arrived July 22. It is sat in our garage as we wait for news of when it will be fitted ( on top of gap in work top.) Cupboard doors have developed white patches where the doors rub as we open and close them. One door under the sink is very cracked and looks a mess. Front door. May 2021, we reported to CS that we had a leaking front door. After several visits the sill has been replaced, silicone used to fill a gap, where it still leaked slightly and finally in July 2022 the door frame was adjusted. We now await someone to seal the outside with silicone. The door lock has also been problematic and needed lots of adjustment as at times we have been unable to open the door. En suite shower. October 2021 TEN MONTHS AGO a friend noticed a damp patch on our lounge ceiling caused by a leaking shower. CS were notified. It took until Jan for CS to arrange for a plumber to visit. In May the plumber returned to remove the shower and installed a new shower tray but the tiler never turned up the following day to replace the damaged tiles. After numerous phone calls to CS at the end of July a tiler came to measure up. He now has to source matching tiles.....The shower cubicle is in our garage. TEN months is an totally unacceptable length of time to be unable to use the shower. Garage door. April 2021. The garage door had not had been sealed with mastic. Someone came to do this but was unable to do so as the trim was missing. July 2022. Trim fitted after a few hours work by the Cavanna technicians to sort out other parts of the doors that had not been fitted properly and buckled. We still need a man to seal with mastic. We were so pleased to have a new house to live in and looked forward to welcoming friends and family to stay with us. It is embarrassing to still have major issues that need sorting out. After all this time my patience has worn thin and I can no longer make excuses for why the jobs have not been sorted out. Sadly, have not found this statement on Cavanna’s web site to be my experience. “You’ll also enjoy the peace of mind that comes with a property built with years of expertise, backed up by an exemplary level of support and advice. In fact, our customer service is so important to us, we have documented it in our Customer Charter. “
N Hill
Aug 06,2022We moved into your property in August 2020 in Barley Meadow and still have issues with Our kitchen -paint peeling from the doors and panels most of these have already been replaced twice, extractor fan issues and uneven and loose worktops. Leaking external front and utility doors and numerous other outstanding snags many reported at the initial 14 day check. A nice new kitchen was something we were really looking forward to before moving in to the house, ours has been the total opposite, it’s has been such a disappointment and to be honest an embarrassment when we have visitors to our home. As with many of the comments on this forum we have constantly chased customer services and get broken promises of return calls that never transpire, assurance that they are looking at the issues and will come back to us with plans and dates to resolve but which never happen. We never imagined when we purchased a new house that we would have to spend so much time trying unsuccessfully to resolve issues constantly emailing and phoning and here we are nearly two years on. We decided to buy a new build property as we wanted a maintenance and stress free few years and mistakingly thought this would be the best option to the contrary this has been up there with one of the most stressful times we have been through The customer service is amongst the worst we have ever experienced Finally we were sent a letter, two weeks ago from the Operations Director at Cavanna promising contact on plans to resolve our outstanding issues by 5 August at the latest, no surprise to us that the date has come and gone with absolutely no contact from Cavanna.
Home owner
Aug 04,2022I moved into a Cavanna home a year ago. The only positive experience was Purchasing our home. When we moved in building work was ongoing this meant red mud could not be avoided from entering our home. Cavanna did not ensure the road surface was regularly cleared of the mud which meant we had to live with it until building was completed. This destroyed my carpets. My carpets were ill fitted and look 10 years old. I have had a yellow substance on my shower grouting and broken tiles. Grouting on the kitchen floor was not sealed which means it looks dirty. I had an industrial mould machine for server months due to mould. My balcony was not built properly and a year on is still not competed. The side of my house was never finished and remains this way. I have had a leaks. The flooring was not completed in the living room and bedroom which meant floor boards Creeked. This was fixed but the carpet in my bedroom was not fitted back correctly and my side board was broken. Kitchen cupboards peeled away due to an inappropriate extractor fan fitted. This has been resolved but a year on I am waiting on splash back being fitted. I have found Cavanna homes to be slow to resolve poor workmanship. They appear to have no interest in working through residents snag Please also refer to Barley Meadows Dawlish FB page to see 50 other residents negative experience with Cavanna homes.
Jo Mead
Jul 26,2022Very friendly and helpful through the whole process. Would recommend Cavanna to anyone and would buy again if we’re looking to move. Very happy with our new home
Em
Jul 16,2022The team in Exeter were so helpful, had lots of information to give and the show homes are really lovely decorated but a bit out of my budget!!
Sally-Ann
Jul 16,2022Very happy with our new home. The build quality is excellent. There were some issues initially with delay and lack of communication but once Karen became involved things proceeded much more smoothly and issues are resolved in a timely manner.
Steve
Jul 16,2022(Barley Meadows) We have been waiting on a Major fix on the Kitchen for over six months. Constantly complaining, constantly just being ignored by customer services. From speaking to neighbours on site, the only way to get service is via review sites like this. (or like one resident threatening to go to the media)
John Lace
Jul 14,2022Great experience dealing with Karen Tom and Steve very impressed with the quality of the build so no problem recommending them
Facial25
Jul 11,2022Awful awful awful!!! Do not put yourself through the pain of dealing with their customer service team. As soon as they have your money for your house, you’re history. The service sorting snags is incredibly slow and somewhat non-existent. Because customer service has such a high turn over over staff, they loose records and start telling you that your list of snags is damage that you’ve caused and they aren’t sorting it. They also have a 2 year warranty on the house but it now transpires that some snagging issues are “exceptions” and don’t come under this 2 year warranty. Seems they make up the rules as they go along. I wouldn’t go through Cavanna again if someone paid me to. It’s made buying our first home the worst experience I could have ever imagined.
Elaine Paske
Jun 30,2022Kathryn and the Customer Service team in Torquay have been exceptional in their help and support with our issue. Thank you for your quick responses and endless help.
Terry Else
Jun 22,2022We moved into our new home in July 2021 and initially were very happy. However, as the months passed, more and more snagging became apparent. Customer Service response was poor, bordering on non existent. Thankfully, we were introduced to Guy, who visited our home and listened to us recap the sequence of events we experienced since moving in. He immediately took on board our frustration with the lack of response from Cavanna and had it not been for Guy, we have no doubt that we would now be going down the legal route with Cavanna. He has single-handedly saved the reputation of Cavanna. Over a period of months, he co-ordinated all our snagging work with various trades, keeping us informed at all times. Just about all outstanding works have been completed so we now feel we can give the above a five star review. We would happily elaborate on some of the build issues/quality we have experienced, in a face to face meeting with the company’s hierarchy, in the hope that other purchasers would not have to go through the same traumas.
osas ISIBOR
Jun 18,2022I had the opportunity to inspect one of Cavanna Homes at the Willows, Torquay for a secondary purchase. The quality and state of the house after a number of years was so impressive that I decided on Cavanna homes. I found they had a development at Exeter (Equinox II) and emailed with questions. Kevyn Dixon responded on everything I needed to know - my first engagement was great. Seeing the show-home again, we couldn't resist a purchase. Kevyn is really warm to relate with, nicely participated in our debate for upgrades and choices whilst we made the decisions, he kept to his word, emotionally intelligent, understood his trade and was very patient. We've been informed of a notice of completion. The home is a beauty to behold and we are looking forward to moving in. We hope the brilliant experience so far continues.
Embattle
Jun 13,2022We moved into our home in the Cavanna Homes Berryfields site in Barnstaple in 2019, the initial joy was replaced over the last few years of the endless grind having to get assorted issues fixed with the house to general issues with development which remain unresolved to this day. These issues got worse just due to the utterly shambolic communication with Cavanna and as an example I recently tried to communicate with them over a number of issues. To that end I've done the following: 1. Called Cavanna (14/03/2022) and was told the relevant person wasn't in and they would call back within 10 days time, never called back. 2. Email sent (18/04/2022) which included 2 documents one regarding house issues and another with development issues including 29 pictures, auto responder received but no actual response. 3. Email sent again (09/05/2022) with the same information as above but with the same result, no actual response beyond auto responder. 4. Printed the 2 documents and included all the pictures and sent by post (24/05/2022) which they signed for on the 25/05/2022 butr still no response. Firstly the only reason Cavanna got 1 star from us, other than not being able to give 0 stars, was Chris who was great during the sales process and even where he could helped afterwards. So below is a brief summary of the number of issues in certain areas in the house document: 1. Garden (7 Issues) 2. Kitchen (4 Issues) (+1 more which I forgot) 3. Doors & Windows (6 Issues) 4. Toilets, baths & Showers (5 Issues) 5. Garage (3 Issues) 6. Floors (2 Issues) 7. Wardrobes (1 Issue) 8. Render (2 Issues) 9. Gutters (1 Repeated Issues) 10. Roof (2 Issues) 11. Lamp Post (2 Issues with one taking over 2 years) 12. Next Door Construction (3 Issues) In the end we left 5 assorted issues unreported due to the the fact we could no longer bother with the hassle of getting them sorted via Cavanna. Now lets focus on development related issues: 1. Paths - 4 Issues - Disjointed paths between developments, missing dropped kerbs, missing path, temp tarmac. 2. Drains - 1 Serious Issue - This information came about after talking to a couple of sources and in essence the county council has refused to adopt the roads in the development because of how bad they are and the fact that the drains (foul & surface) have been done wrong means they need to be dug up and sorted thus no point in doing the roads. I've confirmed this information through a FOI with Devon county council, in essence SW water won't adopt the drainage until sorted so the roads won't be done either and Cavanna seem to be in a disagreement with the original contractor who did the work thus nothing appears to be happening. 3. Roads - 2 Issues - The roads are fairly bad with pot holes, ramps, construction site road humps and subsidence from the start, so it would probably be usable for a rally stage in a few more years. To my knowledge roads don't tend to improve with age by themselves either so will only get worse. They also failed to put any of the other road names at the entrance to the development thus unless you've a really up to date navigation system you would struggle to know there were other roads coming off the main (dead end) one into the development. 4. Fences - 2 Issues - One of the fences on the main access road is bent out of line and the safety fence around the play area has been on its side for months. 5. Play Area - 1 Issues - Still remains unfinished even after a year of them clearing off the area and starting construction. 6. Greenery - 2 Issues - In essence it seems one hedge is missing and in other areas the it looks like left overs from the building works. 7. Signage - 1 Issue - They managed to remove all the Cavanna brand signage but managed to miss a one sign which is still in place.
Mrs Jill Furneaux
Jun 12,2022I started the purchase process at the Bellevue site in Bude in February 2021 with a promised March 2022 completion. This was achieved and the whole build process went well. Chris the sales manager, was always available in person, with and without appointments and by email. The process was explained clearly and the choice of finishes exceeded my expectations, thanks are due for the patience of Chris while I was dithering over choses! The handover went well and the snagging list was fixed quickly and efficiently and there is always someone there with advice and help even now three months after move in. My house exceeded my expectations both in finish and the size of the plot. John the deputy site manager has been incredibly helpful getting jobs done for me and pointing me in the right direction for suppliers etc. I am very pleased with my decision to buy from Cavanna Homes and would do so again.
Equinox Resident
Jun 12,2022If I could give this no stars I would. I just couldn't recommend this company at all. You'd think for the price you pay you'd get a good experience, but no. Pre-owning: Awful experience with the sales team. Took no accountability in the issues raised, lied to us and about us. Then couldn't understand why we were upset. Post-owning: Quite possibly the worst company to deal with in the world. Arrogant staff who come round to your home to try belittle you raising issues. Tradesmen that couldn't care less and actually do a worse job the second time round from the first job that was already poor beyond belief. A customer services department that fail to realise how to service anything - the only emails you'll get from them are the automatic acknowledgement email. Save your money and go elsewhere. Everyone I know who got a Taylor Wimpy home seems to have got better value for their money and can at least get things sorted.
Maitland, Reavely
Jun 06,2022I have recently purchased my new home at Broadleigh Park in Tavistock. The whole process went very well with the fantastic help from Karen in the sales office from start to finish. If there were ever any issues during the purchase of the house, Karen would keep me informed and do everything she could to keep the process smooth and on track. I would definitely recommend a Cavanna home, I love my new home - yes of course there are a couple of snags but all easy to deal with. Thank you Cavanna and all the workforce at Broadleigh Park in Tavistock. Reavely
Rj
Jun 04,2022I have been in my Cavanna home for approximately 7/8 months now and I’m still waiting for my initial 14 day snags to be completed. Customer service do not respond to emails & when you call they’re very apologetic and make lots of promises however still very little progress. Every one I speak to on the estate seems to have had the same problem, it seems Cavanna homes have taken too much work on else where and once completion day comes and they’ve got your money, they lose interest in you.
Jaz Crispin
May 31,2022We have recently exchanged on our property at Equinox 2 and have been dealing with Kevyn Dixon. Kevyn has been fantastic throughout the process, guiding us through making difficult decisions and never rushed us. We would highly recommend Kevyn & Cavanna to anybody looking to purchase their new home. 5 star service and we look forward to working with Kevyn to completion. Thanks so much again, Jaz & Tom - Plot 70
the nimble tester
Aug 15,2022Chris was fantastic from start to finish.