With an estimated 13% of all DIY projects going wrong there is little wonder that the prospect of Bank Holiday DIY fills home owners with dread!

And the cost implications are huge. It takes around £169m to sort out those mishaps and around 220,000 people end up seeking hospital treatment every year for accidents that occur in the home.

If your current home is in need of some significant home improvements it may be worth considering purchasing a new home and putting a stop to never-ending DIY for some considerable time.

Owning a brand new home may be more achievable than you think – and it might be a better investment than correcting DIY disasters! Just imagine not having to tackle those large scale projects and instead spending your precious time merely plumping a cushion or two, or enjoying the more pleasurable interior design aspect of making your brand new home your own.

We have a number of developments across the UK with a variety of incentives to help homeowners onto or up the property ladder – might just be a better way to spend your Bank Holiday weekend!

Steve McElroy, Sales Director, Miller Homes Yorkshire

With the Bank Holiday around the corner and the Jubilee weekend not too far away, thoughts are turning to outdoor entertaining and preparing the garden for barbecue season or simply creating a welcoming retreat on a lazy summer evening.

With a little guidance and inspiration, even the less green-fingered can achieve great results in a short space of time.  With this in mind, we asked professional gardener, Matt Harris from RMF Landscaping, to give his expert advice on how to transform your garden into an extension of your home.

Top Tips:

1. Preparation is key

Before you plant or lay turf in your garden, take the time to make sure the soil is well turned and all weeds are removed. To encourage fertility, try adding compost or manure to the soil.

2. Location, location, location

We all know that an open garden that gets plenty of sunshine is ideal for getting the best results, but even the shadiest of gardens can look beautiful with the right choice of plants. Primroses need less sunshine so is the perfect for a garden that doesn’t benefit from long sunlight hours.

3. Make a plan

When planning your garden, it’s worth considering a colour scheme – if your home has French doors leading to the garden, a continuation of the colour scheme from house to garden creates stylish impact.  Think about the different heights and sizes of the plants to complement the overall theme of the garden. A flower bed of all the same height can look very neat and chic, whereas a mixture adds a dynamic feel to the garden – both look great depending on your own personal style.

4. Go potty

Homeowners with limited space – including those living in apartments – can still make the most of their outdoor areas with clever use of pots.  A huge range of plants, flowers, vegetables and herbs can be grown in pots, creating a visual and edible feast for the senses!  And don’t forget hanging baskets, which can frame the home and create an elegant first impression.

5. Planting the seed

Whether planting from seed or plantlet, it’s important to give each plant plenty of space because the roots will grow outwards in all directions – if you’re unsure how big a plant will grow just ask your local gardener or garden centre for some advice. Try not to plant small flowers in the shadow of a larger shrub or plant, as the larger plant will steal all the sunlight, water and nutrients and the smaller plant won’t survive.

When planting hanging baskets, ensure you soak each plant in water before removing them from the container and planting them as the baskets don’t retain water very well. Water-retention gel added to the soil and a bin liner put in the bottom of the basket can also help to keep the soil moist through the dry summer days.

6. Maintaining your outdoor haven

With a hosepipe ban in place in certain parts of the UK, watering your garden is going to be tricky but there are ways around this.  Try collecting rainwater in a harvester to use throughout the summer, but start now so that you have plenty of reserve. As well as sufficient watering, ensure you prune your plants regularly to get rid of any dead buds and leaves to make way for new ones to flourish.

Hopefully you’ll find these tips simple and practical and a great way to get you and your garden set for summer!

Ann Crick

Sales Director, Miller Homes

From our perspective as home builders, though, there were some positive points to be gleaned from the chancellor’s statement.

While it was disappointing that purchasers won’t receive more assistance through further relief on Stamp Duty Land Tax, Osborne reinforced the Government’s commitment to supporting home buyers by underlining the importance of NewBuy and the reinvigorated Right to Buy schemes as tools for helping people who dream of buying their first home or wish to take an important step up the property ladder.

The chancellor also touched on the importance of reforming the planning system as a stimulus for economic growth and job creation.  This much needed overhaul of the system, through the introduction of the National Planning Policy Framework with a presumption in favour of sustainable development, is crucial for stimulating the supply side and helping house builders like us get on with building new developments.

It was also great news to hear of further cash injection into the Get Britain Building fund and helps underpins the sentiment that new developments are key in helping to get the country back on its feet.

It is my hope that the expected planning reforms will help builders to deliver such schemes promptly and that the Government continues to support those who are striving to move onto or upwards on the property ladder.

By Chris Endsor, Chief Executive, Miller Homes

The awards celebrate success and innovation in the house building industry, so we’re delighted that Miller Homes@The Rock in Bury has been shortlisted for Best Urban Regeneration Project, while the Infusion development in Moss Side, Manchester, has a nomination in two separate categories:  Best Community Integration Project and Most Innovative Redevelopment of an Existing Property.

In addition to that, Miller Homes itself has been shortlisted in the Private Developer of the Year category.

Infusion, a ground-breaking £17m regeneration project, has just celebrated its first birthday. It’s been so successful that only five of the 71 properties remain for sale.

Infusion

Miller Homes@The Rock is part of the flagship £500m regeneration of Bury town centre, the largest retail, leisure and residential developments to open in the UK in 2010. More than three-quarters of the 113 apartments at The Rock are now sold out.

Miller Homes @ The Rock

We’d love to win and you can help us do so by voting for Infusion and The Rock as well as Miller Homes by visiting http://www.ftbawards.com/online-voting.html. Voting closes on 28 March.

Thank you!

By Michaela Lancaster, Sales Director – Miller Homes, North West

At Miller Homes we take immense pride in our reputation for quality and care. This means that when we receive great feedback from our customers it’s truly something worth celebrating.

So as you can imagine, we were thrilled to hear at the end of last week that not only did we receive great results in our own customer satisfaction survey but we also received five stars (the highest mark attainable) for customer satisfaction in the National Home Builders Federation (HBF) New Home Customer Satisfaction Survey.

We have been undertaking customer satisfaction surveys, carried out by an independent research agency, since 1999. The survey is completed by customers once they have settled into their new home to evaluate the level of service they have received before, during and after the home-buying process.

The results for 2011 showed that 97% of customers would recommend Miller Homes to their best friend and the majority of customers were very satisfied (mean score 86.56*) with the readiness of their home on completion.

Being awarded five stars for customer satisfaction in the Home Builders Federation national homebuyers’ survey was really just the icing on the cake.

Feedback is hugely important to us as we strive to find our customers’ dream homes and we’re very proud of these great results, which demonstrate our determination to provide the best possible experience for our customers throughout the entire home buying process.

*The mean is calculated by weighting the answers that customers give. For each question, a customer that scores us very satisfied is given a score of 100, satisfied is 75, neutral is 50, dissatisfied is 25 and very dissatisfied is 0.  The mean score is then the average score that was given out of that possible 100.

By Chris Endsor, Chief Executive of Miller Homes

Just cast your mind back a couple of years ago – can you remember the days before the internet? Isn’t it amazing to think about the impact it has had on our consumer behaviour and how much we depend on it to go about our daily business?  From shopping to socialising and booking holidays to hairdressers, the impact is astonishing.

And according to a 2011 report by comScore – global digital business analysers – that trend also applies to the property market. Despite a slowdown in the number of property transactions as a whole, the number of people searching for a new home online is rising 10% year on year.

That’s why we have been busy building more than just new homes recently – this week we have launched our all new website which we have been working on for the past year.

We have introduced new systems that get you to the right property faster than ever before and by integrating our new website with our onsite development diaries, you can now arrange a one to one appointment and viewing with a member of the sales team at the press of a button. We really are just a click away!

You will also be able to save your favourite developments to an area called ‘my place’ – a tool that will help you save valuable search time when looking for your new dream home.

Now, we know that there is nothing like walking through the doors of that prospective dream home for the first time, but before you do so, why not view our extensive range of properties online? Our new site carries additional photography, giving you the chance to explore our portfolio of homes in much more detail than was previously possible.

Our commitment to meeting the needs of our customers doesn’t end here though. We also know how much social media has transformed the way we interact and are able to engage with our customers through our blog, Facebook and Twitter pages. We want to make our conversations with you on all things property as interesting and as easy as possible – be it about the latest mortgage developments or a chance to talk to us directly about one of our developments. In short, we’re always there when you need us.

So why not settle down with a cuppa and use your mouse to buy a house!

By Victoria Finch, National Marketing Manager

As 2011 drew to a close and we welcomed the start of 2012 with open arms, our general feeling was that this year would see plenty of change for the better within the property market. The good news is that this already seems to be the case.

Last week’s news that experts have predicted another five years of the Bank of England’s 0.5 per cent base rate certainly put a smile on my face, and I hope to see the nation’s buyers and movers go about their business with a spring in their step too. Prospects for those looking to buy have been given a huge boost, thanks to the combination of this extended period of the record low base rate and falling inflation.

Admittedly, the news could be better for savers, but we have said for some time now that positivity was what the housing market needed, and we now appear to be making headway in this respect. The old adage that property is the best investment has faced the wrath of the doubters over recent years, but it seems even those with a glass half empty have reason to be positive over the coming years.

Consumer confidence is growing and we are truly seeing some of the most affordable mortgage deals for new borrowers for some time, particularly given the government’s recent unveiling of the NewBuy mortgage guarantee scheme. This, coupled with purchase incentives such as FirstBuy, geared towards the cornerstone of our property market – the first time buyer – means buying that new home will be a reality rather than a pipedream for a greater number of people this year and beyond.

By Victoria Finch, National Marketing Manager

As a new homes developer, keeping our fingers on the pulse and making sure we’re on top of the latest trends and predictions is essential. With this in mind, I recently read the Construction Industry Forecasts for 2013-2015 – an annual analysis of the pressures facing industry and the drivers likely to influence it over the next five years.

Now, typically after reading this report I wouldn’t feel the need to share its findings in blog form, but this one was packed with such positive predictions of things to come over the next 3 years (especially as it comes amidst what has been a difficult period) I couldn’t help but feel the need to share my edited highlights.

We are likely to see a 29% growth in private sector housing starts between 2013 and 2015.

Yes, really!

According to the authors of the report, housing starts will climb a very modest 2% this year before “more certainty over economic recovery, combined with measures in the housing strategy”, boost a housing recovery.

The report points to a number of critical factors influencing its predictions – most notably Mortgage Indemnity or as it is now called, NewBuy Guarantee.

For those that didn’t know – Newbuy Guarantee is a scheme backed by both house builders and the government which encourages lenders to increase the availability of mortgages to purchasers with relatively small deposits of 5%. The new scheme, heralded as a way to get First Time Buyers back into the market, offers 95% loan to value mortgages that will be available to people spending up to £500,000 on a new-build property. It is envisaged that up to 100,000 buyers will benefit from the underwritten loans, with the Government’s liability capped at a hefty £1billion. Miller Homes have already been confirmed to be able to offer the 95% mortgage.

This isn’t the only piece of good news for house hunters (and builders) either.

According to the report, a modest growth in earnings – coupled with static (or falling) house prices -has improved affordability right across the UK.

For first time buyers this means that the average house price to earnings ratio has moved from 4:5 in 2003 to 4:4 in 2011.

On top of all that, low interest rates have driven average monthly mortgage payments down to an eight year low.

In a nutshell, according to the Construction Product Association, the new homes industry should be building (or at least starting to build), 130,000 homes a year by 2015 – an increase of 43% on 2010.

Obviously, this is good news for home developers but more importantly it’s good news for the house hunter too.

Confidence is creeping back into the market, the Government is committed to helping first time buyers – and it’s all beginning to work.  Britain is building again.

Over time, the new homes industry will create more jobs; raise more revenue for the treasury through stamp duty and the like, increasing the country’s housing supply and alleviating the risk of another housing bubble.

In short, all this is good for the economy – and what is good for the economy is good for all of us.

By Victoria Finch, National Marketing Manager

Buzz around the property market at the moment only suggests one thing – the return of the investor.

Right across our regions, we’re expecting a second buy-to-let boom in 2012, with  rental values in many areas reaching a historic high and void periods (when rental properties are unoccupied) becoming a thing of the past.

Already, according to recent data from the LSL Property Services Buy-to-Let Index, the average rent in England and Wales has never been higher.  As a result, demand for quality rental properties is continuing to soar and there is fierce competition among rental tenants to secure a home – particularly in some of the prime locations.

Indeed, here at Miller Homes, we began to see a marked increase in the number of landlords towards the tail end of 2011, and we expect this upward trend to continue throughout 2012.

We’re not alone in this thinking either.  Recent research from specialist buy-to-let lender, Paragon Mortgages, suggested that more than 22 per cent of landlords expected to buy additional properties in the New Year, while just eight per cent were considering reducing their stock in comparison.

All in all, thanks to low interests rates coupled with the worst housing shortage since the Second World War, property is once again being seen as pretty much the soundest option for long term financial investment.

But where does this leave First Time Buyers? Well, according to the most recent Zoopla Rent vs. Buy index, buying is now more affordable than renting in 47 of the 50 largest towns across the country.

Buying is obviously the most sensible option – but that hinges on getting a mortgage, and that hinges on raising a deposit, naturally.

Or does it?  There is a raft of options available to First Time Buyers and Second Steppers alike in the form of equity loans – where a new homes developer (and the Government in the instance of FirstBuy) lend buyers up to a maximum of 20% of the purchase price (based on the open market value). This means that qualifying house hunters only need to fund the balance of the purchase price (as little as 80%) by means of a conventional mortgage (from a Qualifying Lending Institution), savings and any deposit where required.

As well as FirstBuy, by March this year, the Government Backed Mortgage Indemnity scheme, NewBuy Guarantee, will become available, helping purchasers get on to the property ladder responsibly. The new scheme, heralded as a way to get First Time Buyers back into the market, offers 95% loan to value mortgages that will be available to people spending up to £500,000 on a new-build property.

All of this paints an interesting picture.  When the recession first hit, back in 2009, the availability of buy-to-let mortgages dried-up overnight and investors all but disappeared from the marketplace. The recent return of the investor is no doubt a positive sign that property is once again being seen as a sustainable investment and crucially, would-be landlords are finding it easier to raise the necessary funds.

Add to this the help available to First Time Buyers, 2012 looks set to be a milestone year in residential property, with the potential to be a real turning point for the industry, investors and buyers alike.

Watch this space!

By Chris Endsor, Chief Executive of Miller Homes

Here at Miller Homes we have been celebrating the fantastic achievements of Bill Hughes, our record-breaking site manager who has won one of the most prestigious accolades in the house building industry for the fifth time – a first in the competition’s history.

Bill became the first candidate to win the much coveted Large Housebuilder Category for the fifth time at the National House Building Council’s (NHBC) Pride in the Job Supreme Awards last Friday, he previously won the same category four years in a row from 2003 to 2006, as well as placing runner-up in 2008 and 2009.

Bill was crowned the Supreme Award-winning site manager in the large housebuilder category, following a rigorous 18 month judging process and we’re all thrilled here at Miller Homes. This is a truly unrivalled and unique achievement. Winning the category is recognition for all his hard work, efforts and dedication to excellence at all times. The fact that Bill has won this fantastic industry award category five times is an incredible achievement.

The NHBC Pride in the Job initiative assesses all of their registered site managers in the UK, working across a range of different sites, to find and reward those who show dedication and excellence in every aspect of the job.

Pride in the Job recognition within the house building industry is something which we all strive for.  This year we have been fortunate to have three very worthy finalists in the running for the Supreme title and their achievements reinforce the exceptionally high standards adopted by Miller Homes, giving our customers the confidence that their homes are being built by award winning site managers.

My congratulations also go out to Patrick Malyn and Scott Brown, who were  among the 32 regional award winners that made it through to the Supreme Awards.

Over 13,000 site managers working on NHBC registered sites were automatically entered into the competition.  Bill’s win and Pat and Scotts’ achievement in reaching ‘Supreme’ status is testament to the high quality of workmanship, site safety and management that we demand on all of our new build developments.

Well done Bill.

By Chris Endsor, Chief Executive of Miller Homes