Davidson restarted development again in the Yorkshire area; Persimmon began to expand regionally with the formation of an Anglian division in 1976 followed by operations in the Midlands and the south-west.
Ideal Homes, once the largest housebuilder in the country and then part of Trafalgar House was bought for £176 million, giving the Group a much stronger presence in the south-east.
[16][17] Amid the acquisition of Ideal Homes, Davidson issued a public denial that family influence had played a role in the purchase.
[32] In January 2006, Persimmon completed the acquisition of Westbury, another listed UK house builder, for a total consideration of £643 million.
[38] In early 2013, Persimmon recorded a near-doubling of profits and total revenues of £1.72 billion;[39] some of these gains were attributed to the British government's Help to Buy scheme.
[40] During 2019, the firm completed 15,855 homes and recorded an annual profit of £1.09 billion, which was the largest ever achieved by a British housebuilder; however, sales were declining amid recent reputational damage to Persimmon much of which was due to alleged quality control issues.
[52][53] In August 2019, Persimmon appointed an independent team of construction quality inspectors to ensure its homes are built to required standards.
Persimmon had been ranked the lowest major housebuilder in the Home Builders Federation annual customer satisfaction survey.
[55] The review, published in December 2019, criticised Persimmon for not having minimum construction standards, increasing the risk of build defects,[56] with a "systemic nationwide failure" of missing and/or incorrectly installed fire cavity barriers in its timber frame properties.
[57][58] In March 2021, Persimmon CEO Dean Finch announced plans to double the firm's team of independent quality inspectors to over 60 by the end of 2021.
[62] In December 2017, Persimmon's chairman, Nicholas Wrigley, resigned over his role in awarding Jeff Fairburn, the CEO, a £128 million bonus.
[63] The Persimmon bonus scheme was believed to be the UK's "most generous ever", scheduled to pay more than £800 million to 150 senior staff from 31 December 2016.
[67] In April 2019, Persimmon Homes was suspended from the UK Government's Prompt Payment Code for failing to pay suppliers on time.
The CMA said it had evidence that firms shared commercially sensitive information with competitors, influencing the build-out of sites and the prices of new homes.