10 HOUSEBUILDER NEWS
Persimmon to introduce retention for defects
McCarthy & Stone retains five-star rating for 14th year running
Persimmon has revealed it is to become the first major UK housebuilder to provide a homebuyer’s retention as standard policy. The firm has revealed that it will be
writing into its standard contract that 1.5 per cent of the total home value (equating to around 6 per cent of the build fabric costs) can be withheld by the buyer’s solicitor until any faults identified at the point of key release are resolved. The average amount withheld, based on the company’s current selling prices, is reported to be approximately £3,600 per home. The housebuilder has instructed its legal advisers to start work on drawing up the detail of its new standard contract and expects the policy to be fully in place by the end of June. Dave Jenkinson, CEO of Persimmon, commented: “Persimmon is listening hard to all of its stakeholders, and we hear the message that we need to continue to raise our game in customer care.” He continued: “The initiatives we have
already announced, including the action taken to deliver greater accuracy of antici- pated moving in dates by adopting a more targeted approach to the phasing of sales on specific sites and the improvements and investments that we have made in our customer care team, operations and technol- ogy over the last few months are beginning to take effect. We are now accelerating the pace of change through the introduction of a contracted retention which will give homebuyers far greater satisfaction at the completion of a purchase.”
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Bellway set to achieve 5 per cent apprentice target in 2019
Bellway is reportedly set to become one of the first major British housebuilders to achieve ‘5 per cent Club’ status when it reaches its apprenticeship target this year. In 2018 the company became a member
of the 5 per cent Club, an employer-led organisation whose members pledge to work towards having five per cent of their workforce on a formal apprenticeship, student or graduate development scheme within five years. The company has pledged to meet this
challenge, and with 140 apprentices now on its books and more being recruited, the housebuilder says it is set to hit that target in 2019. Greg Allsop, head of sales for Bellway
London, commented: “At Bellway we have taken a lead in employing apprentices and injecting youthful talent into our company. “We have also partnered with the Collab
Group, an organisation of large further education colleges which deliver high quality apprenticeships to national employ- ers such as ourselves. The partnership ensures consistency and quality of training for our apprentices across the country. “The aim of the 5 per cent Club is to
employ five per cent apprentices by 2023. Because we have been so proactive in apprentice recruitment, we will certainly achieve our five per cent target in 2019.”
McCarthy and Stone has achieved a five star customer satisfaction rating for a record 14th consecutive year, in an independent survey by the Home Builders Federation (HBF).
The company is reportedly the only housebuilder of any size or type to achieve this award for this number of consecutive years, which encompasses every year the survey has been run.
Five stars are awarded when more than nine out of 10 customers would recommend a company to a friend in the annual survey carried out by the HBF. It covered 1,330 purchasers of McCarthy & Stone’s homes in 2018 and McCarthy and Stone achieved a combined customer satisfaction score of 92.5 per cent. The housebuilder believes the HBF award recognises the company’s commitment to maintaining consistently high standards of build quality and delivering excellent customer service over the long-term. There is particular emphasis on a developer’s commitment to guiding home buyers through the purchasing process, including the provision of post-sales support. Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, commented: “Getting a positive endorse- ment from the people who buy and live in the homes they build has to be the number one priority for a successful home builder.” He continued: “A five-star rating
demonstrates quite clearly that the processes and culture put in place to achieve this are being implemented effectively across the business. Delivering such high levels of customer satisfaction should provide customers with real confi- dence in the company and the homes that they build.”
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