Bovis and its Bodge Jobs

0
401

Trying to purchase a good standard Bovis home in the UK in recent years has been something of a lottery. A mad dash to get buyers to sign on the dotted line to meet short-term targets, workers taking little pride in their work and shareholder needs coming before those of consumers has resulted in lots of poorly-built homes going on the market.
Some of the properties had so many bodge jobs you’d have thought a bunch of cowboys wearing blindfolds were responsible. Thus, the company, which is one of the biggest housebuilders in Britain, is to pay £7 million to repair their shoddy work. Bovis has apologised after some pressure, although it didn’t really have a leg to stand on. I imagine the form of words used by Earl Sibley the interim CEO went through the PR filter. He said: “Our customer service proposition has failed to ensure that all of our customers receive the expected high standard of care.”
Really, doesn’t that make you want to vomit? I feel it would’ve been more accurate to say: “We didn’t give a fig about our customers, who are making the biggest financial commitment of their lives. We put profits before people and tried to get away with hastily arranging piles of bricks.”
I weep whenever I see new developments going up. These are not homes, they are bland, small jerry-built boxes that sell for premium prices. Developers cut corners, build in a hurry then move onto the next parcel of land, with zero consideration for homeowners or the local environment. Even more depressing is the NHBC, the standard setting body for new homes, which has about as much power as a backbench Liberal Democrat MP.
Councils often conspire with builders and are quick to dish out planning permissions so that two adjacent semis can be knocked down and turned into 50 ‘prestige’ flats. For prestige read rip off. There is an urgent need for new homes in the UK, but unless there is powerful oversight, developers are going to continue to build appalling abodes all over the country.

Read more in this week’s print edition or go to e-paper

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.