1st Choice Leisure Buildings Reviews 

Very happy with the shed we bought in August. Great quality - very sturdy and built to last. Was erected in next to no time by the delivery guys, saving my husband having to tackle it. A great addition to our storage space and it looks great in the garden. Would recommend without hesitation.

The log cabin was delivered and installed on agreed dates. The log cabin (Woking 4m x 3m) looks fantastic in our garden. Everyone who visits us wants to have one in their garden.Friendly company and the service was very good. Installers Ian and Nick were also friendly. The job was completed very professionally. The quality of installation (the finish) is very impressive.My experience has been excellent! Very satisfied.

Leisurebuildings (aka 1st choice) don't assemble or deliver the summerhouse we brought, and thats where we hit problems. Despite giving the access info to the other company (AJ sectional), they didn't have the front cut to size when they arrived, so left our lawn covered in parts (back, walls, roof etc), saying they'd be back in 1 or 7 weeks with the front cut to size. They did come back the next day, after a few tearful calls to the office, but still didn't have it cut to size and due to a mix up between the staff they didn't bring the right tools either. The lining also wasn't cut to size. They borrowed our drill and cut up wood and polystyrene on our lawn. After emailing them about the situation we recieved an apology for the stress - which didn't really seem sufficient consider it was my 40th birthday weekend and the stress totally ruined it. The were all nice people to deal with, but the admin doesn't seem to be there - the whole situation could have been avoided if they'd just cut that front panel correctly in the first place (they did cut the back). For this reason its a 2 star review and I'd strongly recommend buying from elsewhere.

I bought a 6X6 tanalised shed to replace my old rotted 6X4 shed. They happily delivered and erected the shed while I was at work, within about 3 weeks of my buying it. The shed is a lovely solid piece of construction, and I am well pleased with it. The only reason I have not given them 5 stars is because they broke a couple of my garden pots along the way!

I ordered my potting shed in early January 2011. I found the contact person (Robin) of the Leisure Buildings website to be very friendly and efficient. The shed I ordered is great – now. The firm that I actually had to deal with (A&J Sectional Buildings) were not efficient and not particularly friendly – abrupt even, and definitely not proactive in resolving issues. A&J are not mentioned as one of the firms used on the agents website. Leisure Buildings say that they perhaps could consider putting this information on their website but it ‘can in certain situations be commercially sensitive’. Well yes, they may get a bad name for doing a poor job. I class Leisure Buildings as being an agent – they are who I paid my money to so my contract is with them and not any subcontractor they choose to use. I could not seem to get this point over to anyone. They are in breach of the Supply of Goods & Services Act in this and I have asked them to change their website to acknowledge that the sales contract is with them but they say ‘There is no desire to mislead customers at any time, and we have been trading on the web since 1996. We would also follow up any issues with suppliers and do accept full responsibility for a satisfactory conclusion even though we do act as agents.accordingly.’ This doesn’t make it easy for the customer who has to end up complaining to 2 bodies – Leisure Buildings and A&J when things go wrong. I have passed this on to Consumer Direct and they in turn will pass on to Trading Standards.

My issue was that eventually A&J turned up to erect my shed (at 1pm, an hour later than the latest time agreed and with no apology after I had waited in between 9.30 and noon) and they were keen to get away without me checking it. I did check the door opened and it seemed ok. Later that day I noticed a missing section under the roof – basically spanning 2m by 10cm. I rang A&J to be told it was probably ventilation, but when I pointed out it did have a window she checked with the staff and found they had admitted to having been short some bits of timber and would come back and fix it. No apology. I don’t think they would have told me about it if I hadn’t noticed it. I am in Somerset and A&J are in Northamptonshire. The fact they had made an error and the staff are too young to care to sort it out there and then – a quick trip to a local DIY store would have fixed it, meant I had to wait over 6 weeks before they came back to service an order in Cornwall. It was lucky I was in on the day they decided to come – I was not the priority in even choosing the day. All I kept getting told when I rang Leisure Buildings was that it would get sorted out and that my building was useable but that it was not cost effective for them to come and do it without a concurrent order. I understand the logic from their perspective but perhaps they should train the staff in resolving issues on the spot instead of running away. That is not good service. Customers have so much choice nowadays that customer service needs to better than this. No one at any time has apologised for the inconvenience and poor service. One of the guys that came to fix it just before Easter even swaggered onto my property with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth and left the stub as a goodbye gift on my front drive. Get a shed from a local supplier if you possibly can – issues can be sorted out so much easier and they may even care because word gets round in the area where they are based.

The shed looks good and the quality is in line with brochure claims. Ordering was painless and an access problem was allowed for in the dimensions of the finished unit.
The shed was delivered on the day and at the time given to me in advance. The men erected it quickly and efficiently and cleared up afterwards.

I ordered my shed from 1st choice leisure buildings on line on 31/8/10. I just wanted a simple 6 x 4 pent shed to add a little more storage to my garden. Having browsed the online brochure i chose a simple 6 x 4 pent shed having seen exactly what it looked like in the photograph, a nice single window and the door to the right of the tallest side. I also added a little more height which was an optional extra. I paid in full online at the time of the order. Could not have been more easier....but thats where it ended. I received a confirmation email of my order stating that the company would be in touch.......I then received a phone call from Rob at 1st choice leisure buildings who wanted to confirm that there were no delivery problems. I asked when the delivery would take place as this was not part of the order process. He informed me I should have it in about 6 to 8 weeks and i would recieve a phone call the week before its arrival to finalise the delivery details. I was told they are made to order. I couldnt beleive it was going to take two months to deliver a simple shed. In the first week of september I received a letter from Himley Garden Buildings stating delivery would be in 4 - 6 weeks. So now 1st choice dont supply they just sub contract another company to supply and deliver the sheds. I heard nothing more until the day it arrived. I didnt receive the phone call the week before as expected. The delivery men erected the shed and they did a good job, however after it was done I went to the top of my garden where I had landscaped it and put a concrete base down in readiness only to find the shed was not what I ordered. It was a 6x4 Pent shed but the door was on an end panel not on the front next to the nice little window and the door could not be opened as the landscaping I had done was for the door to be on the front as depicted in the picture when i ordered it. I told the workmen of this but was just fobbed off saying I must have ordered it wrong. They then left. I was now left with a shed which I cant get in to. I now had to re landscape the garden so i could open the door and also change the hinged side of the door. The workmen refused to take the shed down and take it back blaming it on me.
The very next day to add insult to injury I received from Himley Garden Buildings an invoice for the shed they delivered which was £ 85.00 less than what I had already paid. This was no doubt the mark up for 1st Choice leisure buildings to arrange Hilmey's to supply and deliver. I would assume that this invoice should have been sent to 1st Choice and not me...just another mistake. The whole experience was a disappointment and would not use or recommend this company again.

Was very happy with the service provided....everything was handled efficiently and in a friendly manner, and am very satisfied with the shed erected.

Hi Rob shed came today we are really plesed with it, the weather was rotten this am before they arrived to erect it and we thought oh great , but..... the sun came out and we wre able to not only admire it but also put the first coat of paint on thanks again. you can be sure we will reccomend your company to all our associates and freinds.

Mrs T Powis

The service was reliable and friendly. The summerhouse was delivered on time and was very quickly and professionally assembled. One minor fault became apparent after a few weeks but that was fixed without any fuss or inconvenience. Overall, I would recommend this company to others.

We were very happy with the shed, the price, delivery and assembly.
We were told a few days prior to delivery what time to expect it, and it arrived bang on time. The shed was assembled very quickly and to a very high standard.
Very happy customer!

The order was acknowledged and a delivery date was confirmed along with helpful notes regarding the base. The shed duly arrived when promised and erected very professionally. Overall a good service and I would recommend them.

- product cheaper than on other websites
- arrived within days
- quick response from customer service when I asked about delivery dates