Sarah Barraclough on Family Legacy and the Future of Verity & Co Homes
For many family businesses, succession is one of the greatest challenges they will ever face.
For Yorkshire-based housebuilder, Verity & Co Homes, it has become part of a much bigger story, one of resilience, community and carrying forward a legacy built over four decades.
Founded in 1986 by the late Brian Verity, the company has delivered almost 4,000 homes across Yorkshire and Lancashire.
Today, under the leadership of Managing Director Sarah Barraclough, the business remains rooted in the values on which it was founded: building quality homes, doing the right thing and leaving places better than they were found.
As Verity & Co Homes celebrates its 40th anniversary, Housebuilder sat down with Sarah to reflect on growing up alongside the business, taking over the reins from her father, navigating some of the industry’s toughest challenges and why, despite everything, people remain at the heart of housebuilding.
Sarah Barraclough
Your father founded the business in 1986. What do you remember about his vision for the company and those early days?
Sarah:
I was only five years old when Dad started the business, and we always joke that it was his third child. In truth, it was probably his first. My sister Caroline and I were already here, but the business demanded everything – financially, mentally and physically. It wasn’t just what he did for a living; it became a way of life for all of us.
Looking back, I don’t think his vision was ever about simply building houses. It was about creating places where people could live their lives. We would arrive on a site and sometimes it was a field, sometimes an old mill, sometimes a derelict piece of land. Whatever it was, the ambition was always the same: leave it better than we found it.
Of course, whether something is “better” can be subjective, but that was always Dad’s aim. He wanted to create homes, communities and spaces that enhanced people’s lives. That philosophy shaped the business, and in many ways, it shaped our family too.
Looking back over four decades, what do you see as the defining moments in the company’s history?
Sarah:
Forty years is a long time and, for much of that, I was a child watching from the sidelines. I can talk about what I experienced, but there are plenty of stories from those early years that belong to Mum and the people who worked alongside Dad.
From my perspective, one of the biggest moments came in 2018 when I became managing director. It wasn’t something either of us found easy. Dad had built the company from nothing and letting go was difficult. For me, stepping into that role meant taking responsibility for something that had always been part of our family’s identity.
Another major milestone was returning to build in Skipton in 2021. We’re Skipton people. Building in our hometown again felt incredibly significant. There are countless moments you could point to over 40 years, but those are the ones that stand out most strongly for me.
Pendle Farm, Worthstorne
The company remains family led. How important is that heritage to the way the business operates today?
Sarah:
Honestly, it sounds corny, but it’s like the air we breathe. It’s there in every conversation and every decision we make.
Whenever we’re faced with a difficult choice, somebody inevitably asks: “What’s the right thing to do here?” Or, “What would you expect if this was your house?” That’s the test. We’re not just building units on a spreadsheet. A building site becomes a development, and a development becomes a community.
Of course, we have to think about commercial realities. Every housebuilder does. But there are times when the right decision costs more money, creates more work or causes more headaches. If it’s the right thing for the homeowner, the development or the neighbours around us, we’ll do it anyway.
At the heart of it all is a simple belief: we’re not building boxes. We’re building homes.
Many housebuilders talk about quality and craftsmanship. How do you ensure those values remain central as the company grows?
Sarah:
The first answer is that we talk about it every single day. Quality, integrity and doing the right thing aren’t occasional topics in our meetings – they’re constant topics.
Yes, there are formal checks and inspections throughout the build process. Every house passes through multiple stages of scrutiny before a customer gets the keys. That’s important and it’s part of responsible housebuilding.
But I think the bigger difference comes from accountability. We’re a relatively small team. The departments work together, speak to one another and share responsibility. Nobody gets to say, “That’s not my problem anymore.” We all own the outcome.
The reality is that I walk down the high street, shop in the same supermarkets and live in the same communities as our customers. I’ve bumped into homeowners in the Yorkshire Dales and on trains to London. You never know when you’ll meet someone who’s bought one of your homes.
So you’ve got to be able to look them in the eye and say: “We did a good job.” And if we didn’t, we put it right. That’s what matters.
The company has delivered nearly 4,000 homes across Yorkshire and Lancashire. Which developments stand out most to you?
Sarah:
It’s an incredibly difficult question because every site has its own story. Every development presents a different challenge, whether that’s topography, planning, watercourses, infrastructure or simply figuring out how to create somewhere people genuinely want to live.
The first site Dad ever built will always stand out. It was a 140-home development in Skipton. Imagine that as your first project. Every time I tell people that story, they look at me as though it’s madness. And maybe it was. But he did it. Then he did another site, and another, and another.
More recently, one development that stands out is Pendle Farm in Lancashire.
It’s a beautiful site with incredible views, a great mix of homes and a setting that just feels right. It also took us four years to acquire, so there’s a huge amount of history behind it.
Then there’s Victoria Fold, Sabden. When Dad first took me there, I genuinely couldn’t see the vision. It was an old mill site with a river running through it and a long list of technical and environmental challenges. But that’s where good people make the difference. We brought in experts, listened to them, worked through the problems and ultimately transformed the site into something we’re incredibly proud of.
There’s also a project in Skipton that means a great deal to me personally. St Stephen’s Place, we knew before we bought it that it wouldn’t make the returns it should. The numbers told us that from day one. But it had been sitting derelict for 17 years and somebody needed to save it. So, we did. Financially, it wasn’t the smartest decision. But when I walk past it now, I still feel proud. It gave something back to the town and sometimes that’s worth more than the spreadsheet says.
How do those challenges motivate you?
St Stephens’s Place, Skipton
Sarah:
I try not to let challenges get me down. My instinct is usually: bring it on.
The industry faces constant obstacles – planning delays, regulation, rising requirements and increasing complexity. A lot of people have stepped away from housing in recent years because of those pressures.
For me, the answer isn’t to give up. It’s to work smarter, build the right team around you and find a way through. I don’t pretend to know everything. My job is to surround myself with people who know their areas inside out and trust them to help us make good decisions.
At the end of the day, people need homes. That isn’t going to change. So we’ll keep finding ways to make it work.
What are you most excited about over the next few years?
Sarah:
The future of housebuilding is challenging, but I’m always excited about what’s next. Whether it’s a new land deal, a planning approval or the start of a new site, there’s always something to look forward to.
What excites me most, though, is the people. The team we’ve built and the customers we work with every day. The industry has changed beyond recognition since I joined it, and the hurdles seem to get higher every year. But the people are what keep me motivated.
If your father could see the business today, what would make him most proud?
Sarah:
That’s the hardest question of all. Especially because losing him is still raw. Dad died in 2022, not long after we’d navigated COVID, supply chain disruption, cost inflation and all the uncertainty that came with that period. It felt like one challenge after another.
But honestly, I think he’d be proud.
He’d probably roll his eyes at some of the red tape and bureaucracy we deal with today. He’d definitely have opinions about that. But I think he’d be proud of the quality of the developments we’ve delivered and the standards we’ve maintained.
Most of all, I think he’d be proud of the people.
Some of the team worked with him for years and years. Others joined after he passed away and never had the chance to meet him. Yet they’ve become some of my closest colleagues and strongest allies.
I think he’d walk into the office, look around and realise the business is in safe hands. In his early years he was the ultimate micromanager, but in later life he’d learned to trust people. I think he’d see the team we’ve built and think: “They’ve got this.”
And that’s probably what would make him proudest of all. People are your greatest asset. Always have been.
