Inputs
Land
Land
What we do
We identify opportunities in popular locations suitable for family homes. When acquiring land, we have both gross margin and ROCE targets. Site location is important in ensuring there will be sufficient customer demand to achieve our required selling prices and sales rate and deliver sustainable communities.
How we add value
We add value to land both before and after purchase using innovative layouts. Margins are enhanced through our strategic landbank, which provides us with security of land supply allowing a more selective approach to purchasing land on the open market.
Planning, design & innovation
Planning, design & innovation
What we do
We work with local communities to design high-quality homes in sustainable developments resulting in successful planning outcomes. We use standard house types across the Group, tailored externally to suit each location. Our in-house design team develop these house types, which in 2023 accounted for 96% of private completions.
How we add value
Our developments create direct and indirect jobs, provide affordable homes, make improvements to local road networks, and create or contribute towards new education and community facilities. Our portfolio of house types provides flexible layouts that can be adapted to our customers' needs.
Procurement
Procurement
What we do
Our central procurement team sources the vast majority of our housebuilding materials from national suppliers, ensuring consistency, quality and cost efficiency.
How we add value
Centralised purchasing ensures optimum prices and helps our suppliers manage quality and delivery times effectively.
Production
Production
What we do
Suitably qualified employees manage our construction sites, with construction activities typically outsourced to local contractors. We adopt a partnership approach with our sub-contractors, many of whom have worked with us for several years. The use of standard house types not only provides cost certainty but also increases building familiarity for our construction teams.
How we add value
We have a well-defined quality-assurance process, which is further supported through NHBC CQRs undertaken for all the key building stages of every home constructed and providing our warranties. Our build quality is also measured by the HBF Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Sales
Sales
What we do
Our sales managers focus on securing reservations and exchanging contracts before private homes are completed. Increased use of digital marketing has allowed a more analytical and targeted approach to sales, and enables customers to reserve their homes and select optional upgrades online.
How we add value
We regularly adapt our sales platforms and customer journey to ensure we remain relevant and satisfy the demands of our customers. We were the first major homebuilder to create a digital platform to facilitate the reservation of home purchases online and the selection and purchase of optional upgrades. In 2023, 56% of customers initially reserved online and 78% of customers purchased optional upgrades at an average value of £10,700.
Customer service
Customer service
What we do
We have invested in and restructured our customer service teams and a dedicated customer relationship manager is assigned to each customer prior to the home being handed over who then stays in touch with the customer once they have moved in. This helps build trust between us, our customers and our site teams and improves communication and helps to ensure customers' needs are met.
How we add value
We believe excellent levels of customer service enhance our brand value, and assist both sales rates and selling prices. Our new structure for customer service is helping us improve our customer satisfaction scores.
What differentiates us
There is a high degree of consistency in how we run and oversee our ten regional businesses.
Consistent Business Processes
Land
We use a bespoke land appraisal system, with all acquisitions approved by the CEO, CFO and General Counsel.
Planning
Our portfolio of standard house types provides design and cost certainty, as well as build familiarity.
Procurement
Centralising purchases ensures consistency of product quality and optimum prices.
Production
A well-defined quality assurance process supported by NHBC reviews.
Sales
A digital CRM system to record all aspects of the customer journey and ensures a consistent approach to leads.
Customer service
A consistent process across all regions, with dashboards monitoring compliance with the NHQB Code of Conduct.
Diversification
Our regional network provides a platform for creating 6,000 homes a year subject to market conditions demand and continued land investment over the medium term. Diversification helps us achieve this target.
- Regional diversification: each regional business is capable of building around 600 homes a year, and each represents around 10% of the Group target.
- Tenure diversification: we are expanding our Partnership model to around 20% of overall Group volumes in the medium term. This will reduce reliance on private homes, which are expected to fall to around 60% with affordable homes making up the 20% balance.
- Customer diversification: we offer a broad range of house types on our developments, typically from two to five bedrooms supplemented with a small proportion of apartments. Three or four-bedroom homes account for 79% of our private completions. This helps cover the spectrum of purchasers from first-time buyers (30% of all private completions) to cash buyers (21% of all private completions).
Agility
We have a number of levers that allow us to adapt to changes in market conditions.
- Land purchases: strategic land agreements provide flexibility with security of supply but without the obligation to purchase, and at a value to be agreed at the point of purchase, rather than when entering the option agreement itself.
- Outsourced subcontractor model: our in-house production team manages our developments using regional subcontractors, ensuring a flexible, low fixed-cost base.
- Sales incentivisation: we can offer a tailored package of incentives, such as part exchange and stamp duty contributions, to enhance sales rates if required, in contrast to the second-hand market.
How we do business
We are a purpose-led organisation focused on long-term success - creating better places where people and planet prosper.
Our sustainability strategy, A Better Place facilitates a culture across Miller Homes that encourages working towards a sustainable future (E), For the benefit of everyone (S), Done the right way (G).
We are focused on doing the right things and making the right choices across the whole organisation. There are ongoing initiatives minimising the environmental impact of our operations and supporting the supply chain to act responsibly and take action to reduce their impacts. We are developing more-energy-efficient homes for our customers, and improving the habitats, biodiversity and local environments of our developments.
This approach to the way we conduct ourselves further builds our brand reputation and provides us with an additional competitive advantage.
