JS Bloor tops Zurich’s tough test

JS Bloor has emerged the clear winner in Zurich Building Guarantees’ Customer First Awards. The Swadlincote-based 1700-units-a-year housebuilder won the awards in the volume builder category for the South East, South West, and Wales and the Midlands regions, earning it the overall award for national volume builder. National award in the local housebuilder category goes to Lancashire-based Westbridge Developments.

These are the first awards given by warranty-provider Zurich Building Guarantees, and they have been designed to be a standard-raiser for the homebuilding industry. Judging process was based on the customer satisfaction and build performance of Zurich-registered homebuilders. Zurich commissioned marketing consultant Malcolm Pitcher to carry out a survey of homebuyers’ opinion of the purchase process and after-sales support. Build performance was assessed by using Zurich’s own computerised defects analysis data.

“The purpose of the awards was to recognise builders that build good homes, and whose customers felt they did, but it's more than a matter of giving a certificate for the wall,” said Martin Horsler, manager of Zurich Building Guarantees.

Zurich registered builders wanting feedback on how they have performed in the awards assessment process will be given access to that information.

“We won’t be shelving the information - we’ll be feeding it back into the industry,” said Horsler. ”Builders will be able to see how they have done so that they can improve themselves.”

Awards were given to volume and local builders for five regions of the UK. The full results are listed below.

National awards for volume builders: JS Bloor (winner), Robert Hitchins (commended); national awards for local builders: Westbridge Developments (winner), Ashwood Homes (commended).

Regional awards: Eastern volume builder Berkeley Homes (winner); local builders Ashwood Homes (winner), Badger Building (East Anglia) (commended). South East volume builders JS Bloor (Newbury) (winner), Berkeley Homes (Southern) (commended); local builders EDE Holdings (winner), Honeygrove Properties (commended). South West volume builders JS Bloor (Newbury)/(Swindon) (winner), Robert Hitchins (commended), local builders Primetower Properties (winner), Knapp New Homes (commended). Wales and the Midlands volume builders JS Bloor (Swindon) (winner), Westbury Homes (commended); local builders Ablehomes (winner), Twigden Homes (commended). Scotland and the North volume builder Crosby Homes (North West), local builders Westbridge Developments (winner), Southdale Homes (commended).