Persimmon offers customers a £3,600 leverage to get faults fixed

Persimmon has promised to improve its customer service

The York-based firm estimated that this will be worth an average of £3,600 as it embarks on a drive to increase customer satisfaction.

The initiative follows a promise by Persimmon to improve its customer service following criticism about customer satisfaction levels.

The group said this is the latest in a series of measures to assure high finish standards and improve customer care

Persimmon will write 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 by the solicitor, based on its current selling prices, will be £3,600 per home.

The company has instructed its legal advisers to start drawing up the details of its standard contract and expects the policy to be fully in place by the end of June.

The group's chief executive Dave Jenkinson said: “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.

"The initiatives we have already announced, including the action taken in the new year to deliver greater accuracy of anticipated 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 technology over the last few months are beginning to take effect."

He said the group is 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.

“Moving into a new home should be a positive experience enhanced by all the benefits of a new build that is designed for modern living," he added.

"We are determined that the experience is not overshadowed by teething problems and providing a homebuyer’s retention is an important step towards achieving this.”

Roger Devlin, Persimmon’s chairman, said: “This is a first among the UK’s large housebuilders and I hope will lead the way in change across the sector.

"This move, and the urgency with which we will introduce it, is a clear and unambiguous signal of cultural and operational change at Persimmon, putting customer care at the very centre of the business.”