A survey carried out by the National House Building Council revealed growing dissatisfaction among customers about build quality.
The number of buyers reporting snags or defects rose to 98% from 93%; a quarter reported 16 or more issues, against 22% in 2015 and 20% in 2014. Some 20% would not buy a home from the same builder again, and 24% would not recommend the builder.
The data shows the standard of house building is getting worse, with developers focusing on quantity not quality. Paula Higgins, chief executive of the HomeOwners Alliance said the data was “worrying” on a number of levels.
House builder Bovis reported a 10.2% slump in share price as it released its results for the year to December 2016, in which it delivered a profit before tax of £154.7m, below its forecast range of £160m to £170m, while completions increased by just 1% to 3,977.
Bovis chairman Ian Tyler put the poor results down to “pressures” of its growth strategy, implying that it had not focused enough on some of its finished products as a result of expanding too quickly.
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