Housebuilders' boardrooms ‘should be driving quality improvements’

Better quality in new-build homes will come about only if it is driven by the boardrooms of the nation’s housebuilders, according to a leading industry figure.

Mark Farmer, chief executive of consultant Cast, said that retention schemes – such as Persimmon’s plan to enable buyers to hold back 1.5% of the purchase price until glitches are fixed – were partly a response to poor headlines around build quality and should therefore only be part of the solution.

“In themselves, retentions don’t deal with quality,” Farmer said. “To do that means tackling quality control, quality of planning, site supervision and sign-off.

“There’s a definite need for complete culture change in the industry, driven from the boardroom, so it’s not about just hitting a target completion date by hook or by crook.”

Housebuilding bosses agree. Greg Hill, deputy chief executive of South-east-based housebuilder and contractor Hill Group, which has received a five-star Home Builders Federation rating for three of the last five years, said his firm had maintained quality, despite a period of rapid growth, thanks to a strong management culture and very detailed quality assurances processes.

“Getting things right first time is absolutely key. We’ve invested really hard in sign-off processes. We have a fairly mammoth routine of final inspection and commissioning checklists which have to be signed and countersigned by multiple departments for each house.”

And more details have emerged around Persimmon’s retention proposal which suggest homebuyers will be required to identify snags before moving in so as to qualify for a refund.

While Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners’ Alliance, welcomed the introduction of a retention, she said it was “pretty unrealistic to think that homeowners will be able to do everything they need to do on the first day they move in and also compile a full snagging list”.

A spokesperson for Persimmon said the company was still working up the legal details of its new contract, but it was not looking to put customers “under any pressure”.

Former MP and local government minister Nick Raynsford said in creating a retention scheme Persimmon was responding to “considerable anger” around quality and executive pay.

“It’s troubled by a very bad reputation. But the key change that needs to happen is that quality has got to become the absolute top priority.”