A York-based UK housebuilder, founded in 1972, building homes across the country from 29 regional offices.
Persimmon is one of the UK's best-known housebuilders. It builds houses and some flats for sale at a range of prices, and says it aims to meet national housing needs. Its company page reports that it sold 11,905 new homes in 2025 at an average selling price of £278,203. It builds under the Persimmon Homes and Charles Church names, and a Wikipedia entry also lists Westbury Partnerships, its affordable housing arm. Unusually for a housebuilder, it also runs three off-site manufacturing businesses: Space4, which makes timber frames, a brickworks and a tileworks.
Its stated mission is "To build homes with quality our customers can rely on at a price they can afford." Its wider purpose, in its words, is building sustainable and inclusive communities across the UK. It says sustainability is central to its strategy, with a focus on cutting environmental impact and looking after the long-term wellbeing of customers, communities, suppliers, shareholders and staff. In 2015 it set up the Persimmon Charitable Foundation to support local communities.
Persimmon started in York in 1972 and its head office is still there, at Persimmon House in Fulford. It was founded by Duncan Davidson and is named after a racehorse, Persimmon, which won the Derby and the St Leger in 1896 for the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. The company grew by building and by buying other firms, including Ideal Homes in 1995, John Laing's Scottish housing business in 1998 and Beazer Homes UK in 2001, which brought in the Charles Church name. Its locations page lists 29 regional offices, 15 in the north and 14 in the south, so there is usually an office within reach of most parts of England, Scotland and Wales.
The company page describes a safe and inclusive culture and a leadership team that aims to be progressive and innovative. Wikipedia reports 4,731 employees in 2024, which is a third-party figure. We found no staff stories or culture surveys, so beyond the company's own description we cannot say more about what working life is like.
A business with its own factories and dozens of local offices employs people with many different skills. On the building side there are site managers, quality inspectors, bricklayers, carpenters, joiners and other trades, surveyors and engineers. On the business side there are land buyers, planners, designers, sales advisers, customer care staff and finance and procurement teams. The factories add manufacturing and logistics jobs. The company's website is the place to check current vacancies by region.
Website: www.persimmonhomes.com
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