Bovis sets aside another £3.5m to fix faults with homes

Housebuilder Bovis has set aside a further £3.5m to deal with customer complaints over flaws in its homes.

Some customers said homes were sold unfinished, and reported plumbing and electrical faults in new properties.

Bovis has already set aside £7m to cover the issue and said the extra provision was to ensure it was "fully resourced" to complete work quickly.

It added it had made "good progress" addressing problems and was confident all legacy issues had been identified.

Strong demand

In February, Bovis said it would put in place a number of measures to correct the faults, including having more staff to deal with complaints, creating a homebuyers' panel and an improved quality check process.

The company also said it would slow down the pace of building throughout 2017. As a result it will build between 10-15% fewer homes this year.

Bovis added that its profitability in the first half of the year had been affected by higher building costs and an increased level of investment to address legacy issues.

However, it said demand for new homes remained strong, and the average selling price of its homes rose 9% to £277,000.

Earlier this year, Bovis was a takeover target for two rivals - Galliford Try and Redrow. However, Bovis rejected both of their bids and eventually the two suitors abandoned their takeover attempts.