A leading regional housebuilder has announced the UK’s first homebuyer’s ‘retention’ scheme to support customer satisfaction in its new build properties. Customer satisfaction is very important for housebuilders because although the homes they sell are new builds, it doesn’t mean their houses don’t experience any issues. Homeowners will often look to a website about house repairs because an element of their new build was not installed in a satisfactory manner. For example, a new home could have a faulty toilet or hot water system that causes problems when the owner first moves in. This scenario may also need a plumbing and heating company as soon as possible to fix it. The housebuilder will work with the owner to find a suitable company and get the issue sorted. This way, the owner will continue to be satisfied with them and their reputation won’t take a hit. Their reputation is everything because people don’t want to spend hundreds of thousands with a company that they’ve heard bad things about. All these issues are the reason this scheme is being made to promote customer satisfaction in the property industry.

Persimmon Homes is the first major housebuilder to establish such a scheme, which will see 1.5% of the total home value withheld by the buyer’s solicitor until any faults identified at the point of key release are resolved.

Damian Seddon, director in charge of Persimmon Homes North London, said: “For most of our customers, moving into their new home is an exciting and positive experience. However sometimes there are teething problems that need to be addressed, and the introduction of this homebuyer’s retention is an important step towards ensuring every buyer is able to settle into their property with confidence and satisfaction.

“Put simply, we don’t receive the full price of the home until these issues have been resolved.”

The homebuyer’s retention is the latest in a series of measures introduced by Persimmon Homes to assure high finish standards and improve customer care.

The policy will see the company’s standard contract including a provision that 1.5% of the total home value (equating to around 6% of the build fabric costs) can be withheld until any faults identified at the point of key release are resolved.

The average amount withheld, based on current selling prices, will be approximately £3,600 per home. The new standard contract and policy are expected to be fully in place by the end of June.

Dave Jenkinson, chief executive officer of Persimmon, said: “Persimmon is listening hard to all stakeholders and we hear the message that we need to continue to raise our game in customer care.

“Initiatives already announced include action taken to deliver greater accuracy of anticipated moving in dates by adopting a more targeted approach to the phasing of sales on specific sites and improvements and investments made to our customer care team, operations and technology over the last few months.

“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 the purchase.”

It’s very hard to buy a house, especially if it’s a new build. For example, people who haven’t needed a credit card will sometimes be turned away by mortgage lenders simply because they don’t have any credit history. They have to look for Credit Cards for No Credit and will have to come back to the lender once their credit score is high enough for a good rate. However, with the housing market being so competitive, they often find their ideal house has already been sold by then. For more information visit www.persimmonhomes.com