A HOUSEBUILDER'S Ilkley team is celebrating the company achieving a top customer rating for the 13th year in a row.

McCarthy and Stone has become the only housebuilder of any size or type to achieve the Five Star ranking for so many consecutive years.

The rating is based on the findings of an independent survey that have just been announced by the Home Builders Federation (HBF).

McCarthy and Stone received a combined customer satisfaction score of 93.5 per cent in the survey, which involved more than 50,000 buyers of new homes in 2017.

More than 90 of the business's individual developments, meanwhile, received a 100 per cent customer satisfaction score from homeowners.

Of those developments two were in Yorkshire - Companions Court in Wickersley and Devonshire Grange in Roundhay, Leeds.

Divisional Managing Director for McCarthy and Stone North, Ian Wilkins, attributed the success to a ‘culture of customer care’.

He said: “At McCarthy and Stone, everything we do starts with quality in mind.

"This includes the choice of locations, the thoughtful layouts of our apartments, our approach to construction and our in-house management services teams who support our customers after they move and help them to settle in.

"Five-star service is an integral part of our culture and we are continually striving to improve.

"We would also like to thank our customers for taking the time to pass on their feedback to the HBF.”

The HBF's Executive Chairman, Stewart Baseley, added: "Achieving high levels of customer satisfaction is hugely challenging.

"A five star rating is not easy to achieve and is a very positive endorsement of the processes, systems and culture in place and should provide customers with real confidence in the company and homes they build."

McCarthy and Stone provides centrally located, low maintenance retirement homes.

Those include the Ilkley development Scholars Place - a dual Retirement Living and Retirement Living Plus scheme based at Chesterton Court, Railway Road.