Episode 18

Overview

“A crack in the window, a hole in the door, a chipped sink, up in the loft there’s no insulation – we see these things every day of our lives.”

The words of the man who invented snagging inspections, which uncovers a vast array of significant defects at new-build homes.

John Cooper, founder of New Home Quality Control, was a guest on this episode that discussed:

Are Britain’s new homes really being built to last, or are we prioritising speed over quality in the race to deliver more housing?

With the UK Government committed to building 1.5 million new homes this Parliament, concerns about build quality have become increasingly visible, not least because of the work of John, who has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across social media and is a TV regular.

Through his social media channels, John documents alarming workmanship failures, from basic construction errors to issues that affect safety, energy performance and long-term durability. His content has struck a chord with homeowners and first-time buyers, helping to bring concerns about new-build quality into the public conversation.

This episode explores whether the problems highlighted by New Home Quality Control represent isolated ‘bodge jobs’ or point to deeper structural pressures within the housing system. Are regulations and oversight keeping pace with the speed of delivery? Is public confidence being undermined by what people are seeing online, or are these concerns well founded?

Alongside John’s frontline experience, the discussion draws on national survey data from an important report authored by David Parry, Senior Parliamentary & Public Affairs Officer at the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). Hear his expert insights, including  consumer protections in place to hold developers to account for quality failures in new-build housing.

Our senior lecturer in Real Estate, Jordan Turner, tackled the issue from a real estate and policy perspective, discussing structural pressures, consumer confidence, targets, planning delays, and margin pressure, amongst many other topics.

We invited both the Home Builders Federation and the National House-Building Council to contribute to this episode, but neither organisation was available for comment at the time of recording.

As pressure to deliver new homes intensifies, this episode asks a fundamental question: not just how quickly we build, but whether Britain’s new homes are truly fit for purpose, now and for generations to come.

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