I have no problem with the quality and customer service related to Charles Church Homes built in the 1980's under the prior control and ownership of Charles and Sussana Church, the company they founded in 1965- and the same goes for any current or prior owner I have spoken to or read about with an older Charles Church Property.
It's the Charles Church homes built under Persimmon or Beazer Homes that I find the problems and bad press relates to. For owners of these newer (10 years) Charles Church homes, the news has not been so good.
But then the news on Persimmon Homes and Westbury Parnerships New Homes, and the experience one can expect from buying a new Persimmon Home or a new Westbury Parnerships Home is not something I'd want to experience either. Articles like this paint (in my opinion) a rosie view of the reality of buying a Charles Church property. Our own experience has been the worst of our lives, nothing comes close to the upset and distress caused by the Persimmon Group staff and operatives.
Notes: Persimmon Homes bought Westbury PLC in November 2005 after a £643,000,000 bid and Beazer Homes in 2001 for £537,500,000.
Thursday 27 August 2009
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Beazer paid 35.7m for Charles Church back in 1996, article here. http://www.cnplus.co.uk/news/beazer-pays-357m-for-charles-church/947819.article
ReplyDeleteFULL Story Quoted from above Link
ReplyDeleteBeazer pays 35.7m for Charles Church
16 May, 1996 | By BILL FISHLOCK
CONSOLIDATION in new house building stepped up this week as Beazer bought the up-market house builder Charles Church.
Beazer is paying The Royal Bank of Scotland 35.7 million for Charles Church, which built a reputation for flint stone homes around its base in Camberley, Surrey.
The average selling price of the 193 homes which Church sold last year was 190,000, compared with just 67,000 for the 6,700 or so which Beazer builds.
Beazer chief executive Dennis Webb said Church offered a unique opportunity to buy a company which fitted its strategy to move into an upper market.
The Church brand,likened by Mr Webb to Jaguar operating within Ford, is to be retained and the company hopes to expand the operation nationally.
Beazer hopes to expand Charles Church threefold to build 500-600 units annually over the next four to five years.
All of Churchs senior management and the firms four executive directors will also stay with the new owner.
The firm owned 593 plots of land, a further 214 committed plots and options to acquire a further 6,500 plots across southern England.
Mr Webb said an ageing population and the prospect of more inherited wealth meant the exclusive homes market would look increasingly promising towards the year 2000.
Church made profits before interest of 4.1 million on sales of 34.7 million in the year to last August. Trading since the year end had been similar to last year.
The deal marks the end of a chequered history for Charles Church, which made profits of 18 million on the sale of 557 homes at its peak in 1988.
The firm has laboured under heavy debts since its founder, Charles Church, took the company off the stock market before he died when his Spitfire aircraft crashed in 1989.
The Royal Bank of Scotland took control of Church earlier this year, paying some 22.6 million. The Bank was one of a syndicate of 16 banks to which Church was heavily indebted.
Mr Webb denied that Beazer, which is paying some 3 million for goodwill, was over-paying for Church. He is aiming to increase its gross margins towards the 17.5 per cent level achieved within Beazer.
Referring to Beazers current trading, Mr Webb said the company had not seen the market fall away in April and he was happy with the current level of net reservations.