Buyers keep house in order

If there is one area where the buyer is king it is in volume house-building. In such firms, architects tend to work in-house, usually liaising closely with buyers and other members of the team.

Although few would admit it, it is usually the buyer who has the upper hand in this partnership. This does not automatically mean, however, that specifying brand name products and selecting on the basis of quality goes out of the window.

'We tend to specify by name rather than by performance,' says Mike Joyce, buyer with Cala Homes (South). 'Price has become more important but quality is still as important as it ever was. It is a false economy if you have to replace something in six months' time.'

Buxton Group senior buyer David Sands, agrees: 'We have a brief to achieve the most competitive price but we cannot always take the lowest priced supplied if the quality is not there. Most house-builders are tied into term guarantees of quality and performance.'

The 10-year NHBC guarantee has meant the old philosophy of selling a house and washing hands of responsibility for it is no longer an option. Even if they once were not, new house buyers are becoming more demanding. And that trend has clearly been accentuated, not attenuated, by recession.

'We cater for the elderly market,' says McCarthy and Stone's Tom Edmond. 'So products must be tried and tested and quality is important.'

One thing many house buyers are looking for is low maintenance in their new home. And here again house-builders are prepared to pay for it.

'We have tended to go over to products where there is less maintenance for the purchaser such as uPVC windows,' says Joyce.

So far, so good. But there are still practical problems, as Joyce admits. 'When we specify use of a particular brand of paint it is difficult to check up. We do have site managers to try to ensure we get what we ask for.'

Social housing, something of a sub-species of the normal housing market, is often claimed to be an area where clients get palmed off with second best.

Design and build contractors, in particular, are accused of peddling second-rate goods via their budget specs. But not all clients roll obligingly onto their backs and accept whatever they are given. Some still nominate products to their contractors or architects.

'Clients sometimes specify a particular product for rationalisation purely because it is easier for them to maintain,' says Sands. 'They have already got other examples of the product and want to standardise.'

Volume house-builders still tend to specify named products because they have gained benefits from entering long term contracts with a small number of suppliers who they trust.