Prime Oak Reviews 

Primeoak recently installed a bespoke porch to our barn conversion. We were extremely pleased with not only the finished product, but the high level of professional expertise, friendly and knowledgeable fitters and good communication. We would be more than happy to recommend Primeoak in the future.
Thank you Primeoak
Sharon & Kevin

I'm a builder in Norfolk and have now completed several projects in conjunction with Prime Oak. From design through to completion they are nothing but professional with incredible attention to detail. I take pride in my work and can honestly say its a joy to work with a company who has the same approach to their work. I would highly recommend anyone thinking about an oak framed building to get in touch with Prime Oak

Thank you so much for a perfect design and construction of our stable and garage complex. We are absolutely delighted with the outcome and the continual compliments we receive from everyone are a credit to you and your staff. Wouldn’t hesitate to use prime oak again…. Steve and Sara from Surrey

Don't go near them.All directors are about themselves.Their contracts are convuluted and precipitous to their own gain.If you want an inclusive Oak extension with genuine project management then definitely avoid these Barbardeous lot.Literaly do a company search first. Eye opener.

Prime Oak were great - really good communication, great service and a fantastic garage. Really pleased and have already recommended to some neighbours who were admiring our new garage!

A grim, grotesque, profoundly traumatic experience

A rogue trader is not one that makes a mistake. A rogue trader is one that uses the shabbiest of stratagems to run away from its mistakes.

As in this case.

Since this review I been contacted by several other bitterly unhappy customers of this company with similar or even worse experiences.

The company’s business model seems to be to interface with the customer via unaccountable intermediaries such that the company itself is accountable for scarcely anything. Furthermore those intermediaries are given extensive licence to mislead the customer to their personal financial advantage.

A deplorable operation.

Simply put: Prime Oak entangled itself in a false claim. Then it tried to cover it up. Then it ran away. Then it tried to sue its way out of the hole it had dug itself. It messed up, but its solution was to make it the customer’s problem.

Nothing was built, no plan was even finalised, but the company fought to keep its huge advance (£30K) as a reward for its bad behaviour. Yes, it really is that grotesque.

PO materially and verifiably mis-sold the project. It harps on about its contract, but the law is clear. Where mis-selling has taken place, the vendor’s right to enforce his contract is set aside, as is the customer’s obligation to be bound by it. It is obvious why that should be.

PO misleadingly claims it settled the matter “professionally and respectfully”. In reality it used legal threats to hang onto tens of thousands of pounds it did not earn.

It goes without saying that the right, reasonable, recommended approach to dealing with a dissatisfied customer is to engage in dialogue. But PO screwed its eyes and ears tight shut and simply ran away to hide.

The company failed the reasonableness test at every step. Letters went entirely unaddressed, meetings were cancelled rudely and without apology, written communication was insultingly terse, and the one in- person encounter was disturbing, provoking and deeply traumatic.

Distressingly, it felt like an increasingly personal vendetta against a customer with the temerity to find the company at fault.

Additional points of concern:

Reputable businesses have established complaints resolution procedures, but PO has none. When asked to provide details of the recognised Trade Association to which it belongs and which Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme it abides by, PO flatly blanked the request, so determined was it to leapfrog dialogue and jump to legal action.

PO seeks to claim that the problem arose from a failure by the customer to understand something that it should have understood. This is wholly misleading. PO is well aware that the charge against it is that its salesperson made a very specific, material and explicit claim which this customer relied upon when committing to the contract, a claim that turned out to be false. Without the salesperson’s false claim there would have been no sale.

PO implies that what happened at the point of sale was professional and orderly, whereas in reality it was wildly chaotic, disordered and stressful. It seems highly probable that this chaos was deliberate, and precisely the sort of practice that consumer legislation has tried to outlaw. The salesperson’s “charming dither” was almost certainly unscrupulous artifice.

PO’s sale documentation was a Consumer Protection nightmare: evidently presented so as to be confusing, misleading and hard to parse in a hurry and under stress (both of which conditions the salesperson had succeeding in manufacturing). Consumer legislation has rightly outlawed the use of forms with pre-ticked boxes for items that involve additional cost, but just such a form was a key component of the sale documentation. Even more concerning is that this entire form, which should have been completed in the customer’s hand, was filled in by the salesperson. Indeed this form disappeared somewhere for a few days, and another forms (in retrospect a hugely inappropriate document) went permanently missing.

There is much more. But no space for it here.

The prospect of further protracted engagement with such people was too hateful to be endured. Ultimately it was worth paying any price to escape the company’s toxic orbit.

Wow wow wow. If you want the wow factor then prime oak are the right choice, having had many conversations with David and Neil we finally went for it and it’s the best addition to our home. Not only are the materials used A+ and couldn’t fault any of the process from first designs and imagery to the finished build. Great to have found such an amazing company. I’d recommend them to anyone.

As with most building work of this size there were one or two delays during construction not helped by COVID and better communication would have been appreciated. We were however very pleased with the end result. A quality product.

We wanted something special, something different, something to be proud of and something to fit in an area of AONB and thats what Prime Oak delivered.
They designed and installed a fabulous Annexe for us just over 3years ago and even now we still pinch ourselves how lucky we are.
The installation teams were excellent and the after sales teams have been first class. Any query or question was answered and dealt with immediately. We would have no hesitation in using or recommending Prime Oak.

We are very pleased with the new carport that Prime Oak designed, supplied and erected. It was a bespoke solution that complements our house which we recently built. I would recommend Prime Oak, although I was disappointed with the quality of communication leading up to the installation. If they can resolve this they will be a five star company.

I have used Prime Oak twice, in fact. Firstly, to build my original 3-bay garage, and then secondly, to build a single bay extension to the original garage. Both times Prime Oak provided an excellent service from the design stage, through the planning permissioning, to the construction stage. I cannot recommend them enough. I wish that I could say the same about my local council!

The service we received from Prime Oak was exceptional from start to finish. Our designer was very knowledgeable and created a proposal based on all of our requirements to ensure the building remained in keeping with the style of our house.

The customer service from the staff in the office was excellent, they were always on hand to answer any of our questions and Katie kept us well informed of the process along the way.

After looking at a few different companies, we chose to go with Prime Oak as the quality of their buildings stood out from the rest and we are delighted with the end result. We now have a beautiful annexe to use as a guest house for family and friends.

I have received so many compliments and I am already in discussion with the designer about another project, as I am keen to have some oak framed stables.

If you are looking at improving or updating your home, I highly recommend an oak structure by Prime Oak!

The design and build process was professional and efficient . My house is a Grade 2 Listed Building and in a Conservation Process and the Planning side of things was well managed .
the build is for a home Gym and meets the specification I agreed. In particular the roof tiling is excellent and a colour that fits in well with the environment , There was a slight problem with the door fitting but Stuart came out straight away and corrected it . I am pleased with this addition to my property and would use Prime Oak again

greedy/lazy/dishonest? “designer” wasted >4 hours of my time insisting I travel to see a “show site” which didn’t have an example of the type of extension they were trying to sell me?!
No evidence of advertised “bespoke” design service; they make a very restricted set of designs.
Having established with their “technical team” they were unable to deliver the extension design I’m looking for - I would have appreciated that information to avoid a futile journey.

We were totally satisfied with all stages from design to construction of our beautiful Garden Room.

Bernard & Anne

Unfortunately there was a vast difference between the suggested service and what actually transpired .
I was told Prime Oak kept stocks within the country , this was evidently untrue , the Oak had to be shipped from France The delays were weeks , uncertain and only admitted when my wife threatened to drive to their supposed storage facility . The designer lied in order to obtain the order . Despite being assured cranes would be available to offload , this did not occur , we had to offload enormous beams with 4 of us and a small borrowed JCB .Dangerous , not expected etc . When the team who had been paid for weeks waiting for the delivery began the build there were missing items we simply had made by Sandrinham wood mills , the front had been measured incorrectly to the in situ brickwork and did not fit to the brickwork nor the rest of the building . The owner sugggested we change the brickwork rendering the entrances to the Coach House so small , you would be lucky to drive minis in it . When I pointed out this was not going to occur the owner and a worker turned up , we then photographed them taking measurements which proved their designer had measured incorrectly by huge amounts . They then took some Oak away and we waited for them to make the replacement pieces correctly . They supplied pieces which clearly did not fit , had to be reworked by my excellent workforce . They also supplied what they claimed was internal cladding for about 6K , this was smooth Oak floorboards which I sold on ebay for 2K as we could not be bothered to deal with anyone in this Company .Not what I had ordered from the designer The 4K loss was minor rather than trying to deal with them . On attending it became obvious that the Company has overstretched , lost much of their specialist workforce and one of the delivery drivers could not help us to unload because he was the forklift driver employed for a week who was about to give his notice in , for various interesting reasons.
Be wary of delivery dates , claims of timber available in the country , designers measurements , not being able to deal with practical people such as changing my SUV to a mini .We have photos and recordings to back this up .

We've had our Primeoak extension for over 5 years and really please with it. Visitors are always impressed and ask who supplied it.

Very good value for money, superb quality and aftercare service. Would recommend to anyone.

All expectations as regards the product quality have been met. Our Garden Room is a stunning addition to our property and we are delighted with result.

The service provided by Prime Oak has been first class. From our initial sales enquiry and consultation, to our visit to the Swindon show centre, and the help and support available from Neil and the Team during the building phase, we have received all the help we have needed to get the project completed, and in line with the schedule discussed at the outset.

All on site tradesmen were highly skilled, polite and courteous and fully respectful of the home environment in which they were working.

A minor issue with glass sizing was quickly corrected and the post completion final inspection was very promptly followed up with minor snags corrected the next day.

All in all a very positive experience.

Thank you

Updated Jun 18, 2021
We took them to court and won
The entire experience was beyond stressful and the finished product is an embarrassment . Large gaps allow the outside elements in, they did not take responsibility for and took no pride in the project, lack of attention to detail and abysmal customer service . They would not complete it until they were paid in full, and then once paid, they completely lost all interest .
We took them to court and the judge ruled overwhelmingly in our favour . Do not trust their glossy ads , Stay well away from this company who also trade as Julius Bahn