The house builder is looking to boost its team of Independent Quality Controllers to over 60 by the end of this year as it adopts “more exacting building tolerances than existing industry standards” across its 300 live sites.
Chief Executive Dean Finch said the inspectors will directly report to the Group Construction Director and “will assess every single plot we build at a number of key stages and only allow work to continue if our higher standards have been met.”
He added: “With a significantly expanded team under our Group Construction Director and a new Group Technical Director, we are strengthening our central oversight to ensure the consistent application of these standards.”
The move came as Persimmon revealed its results for the year to December 31 2020.
Finch said the company had “delivered a robust performance” during the pandemic as pre-tax profit dropped to £783.8m from £1,040.8m last time on turnover down to £3.33bn from £3.65bn.
Housing completions fell to 13,575 from 15,855 but build rates have been maintained at pre-Covid levels since last July.
The company said the cost impact of Covid during the year was £17.1m to adapt sites.
Persimmon had cash in the bank of £1,234m at the year end and is looking to a full return to 2019 levels of new home completions in 2022.