Consumer group claims only 2% of new-build homes are ...

The results of a survey conducted by the Home Builders Federation has been attacked by consumer group, the HomeOwners Alliance.

For over a decade the HBF has conducted a study into its members’ performance on a wide range of issues around the satisfaction of buyers with the quality of new homes.

“Significant progress has been made by the industry such that scores in all question areas have improved significantly since the early years” claims the HBF in its introduction to this year’s survey, which has just been released.

The HBF says 79 per cent of buyers say they were satisfied with the service provided during the buying process; 82 per cent say they were satisfied with the handover process with 82 per cent again satisfied with the information provided by their builder on the day they moved in.

No fewer than 92 per cent of buyers were satisfied with the internal design of their new home and 86 per cent were satisfied with the design externally.

The survey also involves the HBF giving a star rating to its members based on customer feedback; most receive five out of five, a smaller number four or three, and only one company - Bovis Homes - received two stars. No firm was given one star or no star.

However, the HOA has analysed the findings of the report in detail and claims that 98 per cent of buyers reported snags or defects to their builder since moving in - a worse figure even than the 93 per cent in the previous year’s survey.

A quarter of buyers reported 16 or more problems to their builder, and one in four purchasers said they had more problems than they expected with a new home.

Nearly one in five were dissatisfied with their builder and, again, one in five would not buy from same builder again.

“This shows that the standard of house building in the UK is getting worse as developers focus on quantity not quality, with problems more frequent and more severe than in the recent past. As a country, we are too reliant on too few housebuilders to deliver the new homes that we so desperately need and we clearly lack a regulatory regime capable of ensuring high standards and resolving problems swiftly when they arise” claims HOA chief executive Paula Higgins.