Bovis sets aside another £3.5m to fix faulty homes

Bovis Homes has set aside another £3.5m to fix faulty homes following a string of complaints about build quality from buyers.

The firm spent £7m on “legacy issues” last year.

And Bovis is making another provision during the first half of this year following a review of the business by new CEO Greg Fitzgerald.

In a trading update to the City this morning Bovis said: “We have made good progress addressing a high level of customer issues in the first half.

“Following the CEO’s review of the business, the Group has taken a further £3.5m of provision in the first half, taking the total one-off costs related to these legacy issues to £10.5m, of which £7.0m was provided for in 2016.

“This further provision will ensure we are fully resourced to complete the works identified as swiftly as possible whilst at the same time delivering the appropriate high level of service to our new customers.

“We are confident that all legacy issues are now identified and that where possible these issues will be fully dealt with and the related costs incurred during this financial year.”

But homeowners are still contacting the Enquirer with complaints about their Bovis properties.

One said: “I moved in six months ago and I’m still battling to get things fixed.

“It was all promised to be sorted within six weeks but has been rumbling on for months.”

Bovis has slowed its rate of new construction by 10-15% as it “re-sets” the business.

Fitzgerald said: “The trading performance in the first half of our financial year is in-line with management expectations.

“In the past 11 weeks I have spent a good amount of time with each of our operating regions, visited 85 sites and met the vast majority of our people.

“We continue to identify and implement operational improvements and I am very confident we can deliver a successful turnaround, returning Bovis Homes to being a leading UK housebuilder.

“I look forward to providing an update on the Group’s strategy with the presentation of our half year results in September.”

from Construction Enquirer http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2017/07/06/bovis-sets-aside-another-3-5m-to-fix-faulty-homes/

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