For build quality and customer satisfaction, invest in a Barratt home
When you want a quality-built home, Barrat Developments is a name that springs immediately to mind in the UK property development market. One of Britain’s largest companies, and its biggest housebuilder, Barratt prides itself on the quality of its traditional housing, apartments, and collaboration with urban regeneration programmes which are reshaping city and townscapes across the nation. Its reputation precedes it, which is why we’re always happy to work with Barratt.
Get To Know Series – UK DevelopersIn this series, we showcase many of the UK Developers work with. The UK market is full of quality developers with proven track records and who are working hard to solve the housing crisis, despite the hinders placed by Government at every level. |
Ambitious vision from day one
Founded in 1958, Barratt now has a network of 27 housebuilding divisions across the UK. Its key brand names are Barratt, David Wilson, and Ward Homes.
Barratt started life as Greensitt Bros. When Lewis Greensitt and Sir Lawrie Barratt bought the Newcastle-based company in 1962, they immediately put in place an aggressive five-year expansion plan. It was so successful that the company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1968. Greensitt left shortly after the float, and the company assumed the name Barratt Developments.
In the 1970s, Barratt began acquiring other builders up and down the country. The expansion was relentless, but never at the cost of build quality. It was a pioneer in marketing through national advertising. The star of its television advertising campaign was the Barratt helicopter, transporting viewers around its 280 developments across the nation, and showcasing homes that could be bought from £14 per week!
By 1983, Barratt had become the UK’s largest housebuilder, selling 16,500 homes in a single year.
Recessions, recoveries, and continued growth
Rapid growth led to a precarious financial position when recession-hit builders started suffering in the 1990s. It’s fair to say that Barratt was among the worst affected. But it rode out the storm and had since gone from strength to strength. It bought housebuilder Wilson Bowden in 2007. It brought the respected David Wilson, Ward Homes, and Wilson Bowden Development brands into the expanding group.
Reacting to a changing market, Barratt founded its Residential Asset Management division in 2012. It provides the property management services on Barratt London developments.
Throughout its history, in good times and bad, Barratt has grown. Undoubtedly this is because it is flexible in its approach to housing. It is a proactive builder, opening new sites and often providing a market lead. But mostly it is because when home buyers and investors buy a Barratt property, they know they are buying quality.
More trophies than Real Madrid!
If Barratt were a football club, its trophy cabinet would dwarf that of Real Madrid. Barratt is the most decorated housebuilder in the UK.
For 13 years, it has topped the NHBC (National House Building Council) Pride in the Job Quality awards. These awards are presented to site managers, recognising the best-run sites in the country. They are awarded for a combination of safety, skill, workmanship and customer service. In other words, total site and build excellence. In 2017, Barratt site managers scooped up an incredible 74 Pride in the Job Quality awards.
Commenting on this remarkable achievement, Steven Boyes, Deputy Chief Executive at Barratt Developments, said: “To win 74 NHBC Pride in the Job Quality awards is a great achievement and one we are very proud of. It demonstrates the high standards that we demand as a company, and how important we see having well run house building sites are. The awards showcase excellence in house building across the industry and give customers more confidence in knowing they are buying a quality home.”
Britain’s most recommended builder
Barratt has increased the number of homes it has built by 55% over the last five years. For many companies, such a rapid rate of growth might lead to a downturn in quality. Not Barratt. For the eighth year in a row, Barratt has achieved the maximum 5-star rating given by the Home Builders Federation (HBF). It is the only developer to have been awarded this accolade in each of the last eight years.
The HBF survey assesses the rating, and the 5-star rating means that more than 90% of Barratt customers would recommend the developer to their friends and family.
The HBF’s Executive Chairman, Stewart Baseley, said, “The Customer Satisfaction and Star Rating Scheme is an accepted, robust and independently assessed the measure of customer service. Achieving the highest levels of satisfaction is a huge challenge that requires commitment from everyone in an organisation from top to bottom. To do so while increasing output, as Barratt has done, to help address our acute housing shortage is especially commendable.”
We know from experience that our property investor clients agree with the awards for quality. It is a rare day indeed on which a Barratt home receives a complaint. Little wonder, then, that Barratt was named Housebuilder of the Year in 2016 at The Sunday Times British Home Awards.
Where can investors buy a new build Barratt home?
Barratt has numerous projects under development. These include:
- Trumpington Meadows, Cambridge
- Brooklands, Milton Keynes
- Hounslow High Street Quarter, London
- PL2 Plymouth
- Fulham Riverside, London
- Cane Hill Park, Coulsdon
- Poppy Fields, Ashford
- Elba Park, Durham
Barratts plans include further developments stretching from Exeter in the South West to Aberdeen in the north-east of Scotland. It is buying land for development across diverse sites – brownfield, greenfield, urban and rural. Plenty of scopes, then, for all investors, no matter their financial goals, to buy a quality Barratt property in their chosen investment location.
Live with passion,
Brett Alegre-Wood