McNulty Design Build featured on BuilderOnline.com

Crunch Time

BuilderOnline.com

By P. Curry

Bruised by the downturn, builders turn to the fundamentals of the construction game.

Avoid Penalties

The best defense is a good offense. Warranty service should be prompt and proactive.

If you want to win the game of repeat and referral business, there is no question that it is won and lost on warranty service. Customer satisfaction hinges heavily on response time to warranty service calls and whether the repair corrected the problem. But builders that truly are committed to creating customers for life don't sit on the bench. They're involved with the homeowners on an on-going basis instead of waiting for a call requesting service.

“We don't end a relationship because we closed a home,” says Cherie Fay, manager of organization development at Holiday Builders in Melbourne, Fla. “It starts a relationship we want to continue forever that is good for our homeowners and our company. Part of our mission statement is to exceed customer satisfaction through outstanding customer service. We want to live it.”

Here are nine tips for building a stellar customer service program:

1. Extend the warranty period. While many builders have a one-year warranty, Holiday has extended its warranty to two years. Centex Homes also has a two-year “Fit and Finish” warranty that comes standard with every home, as well as a 10-year structural warranty. “We have customers who call us after 10 years,” says Judy Easthom, director of customer relations for Centex's Dallas-Fort Worth division. “There are a lot of times when customers call, and they know their issue is out of warranty, but they know that we can guide them to take care of the repair.”
2. Introduce buyers to the customer service team before closing. At Centex, customers receive a business card for their customer care coordinator at walk-through, so they know who to contact for warranty service. “As soon as they close, they get a handwritten card,” Easthom says.
3. Set the proper expectations for the home's performance. Houses are complex products with thousands of components. You'll avoid a host of warranty issues just by educating your buyers about what's normal and what's not. Granite countertops are probably going to have some variation in the color throughout the slab. Concrete foundations, porches, and garage floors will have small cracks in them. Those are to be expected and aren't a sign of defective construction. Tom McNulty, a Cumberland, R.I.–based builder, gives each of his buyers a manual after closing that not only tells them how to establish the various utilities, but also lays out what to expect from various materials and explains the acceptable tolerances for them. The manual also includes troubleshooting tips “because some people enjoy doing it themselves at this point,” McNulty says. And, of course, it includes contact information for service calls.
4. Touch base two weeks after move-in. That's a reasonable amount of time for the buyer to unpack most of the boxes and get settled in. At Centex, the field manager stops by within two weeks of move-in, “just so if they have any questions or have any needs, we can take care of those then,” Easthom says. The company also visits again after seven months to give owners a chance to live in the house through a change of seasons. At Newport Beach, Calif.–based William Lyon Homes, the division director of warranty service sends a letter two weeks after closing and follows that up with a visit to the homeowner 30 days after closing. “The warranty reps stop by the home, not because [the homeowner] asked us to, but just to check in and offer paint touch-ups,” says Rae, director of sales and marketing for the Inland Empire region. “That's been really successful.”
5. Make it easy to submit service requests—and respond promptly. This is where the rubber hits the road for most homeowners after they close on a house, and it's where they tend to be very vocal on customer satisfaction surveys. If they don't have to jump through hoops to get a leaky faucet repaired, they're likely to refer you to friends and family who are in the market for a house. If it's a hassle for customers or you respond at a snail's pace, you may end up spending a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money trying to undo the damage done to your reputation by putting them off. The process for submitting warranty service requests should be simple and convenient—via phone, Internet, or fax—and there shouldn't be an excessive delay in your response. Ideally, a customer service representative should be available to respond immediately—and builders need a process to handle emergencies, such as burst pipes or leaking roofs. For routine warranty service, owners shouldn't be waiting more than a day to schedule an appointment.
6. Make sure service technicians are courteous. The No. 1 complaint of homeowners about warranty work is that the technician didn't show up when he was supposed to and he didn't call to say he would be delayed. The importance of showing up on time or calling if there is a delay can't be overstated. Once in the home, it's equally important to be professional and polite. “When you go into a person's home, you're invading their privacy,” Easthom notes. Require technicians to dress in a neat, clean, company-branded shirt and be well-groomed. Have them remove their shoes or put on shoe covers when entering the home. Have them take a mat or clean towel to put their tool box on and make sure they bring a towel to wipe their hands with before leaving.
7. Hold individuals accountable for their performance. There's an old saying that what gets measured gets done. You need a process to track warranty requests and the outcome. Holiday Builders recently installed a system that makes the person who opened a warranty request responsible for it until it is closed and the customer is satisfied. “Our goal with warranty and any customer concerns is immediate follow-through,” Holiday's Fay says. “That is one of the areas that is a priority for our homeowners. We're contacting the homeowners to make sure they're satisfied with the warranty work prior to closing out the ticket.” The process is virtually identical at Centex, Easthom says. Just because a technician says the work has been done doesn't mean the job is finished. After the service call, the homeowners get a call to make sure they're happy with the results.
8. Provide regular maintenance tips. At Centex, any customer who provides an e-mail address will receive a message four months after move-in with home-care tips and maintenance reminders, such as when to change their air-conditioning filters. Plus, the division's Web site offers a home-care guide with frequently asked questions homeowners can check. For example, the section on heating and air conditioning will tell them that during extreme summer heat, the air conditioner should maintain a 20-degree difference from the outside temperature.
9. Survey buyers on customer satisfaction. Surveys provide invaluable feedback on what you're doing right—and what needs fixing. The key is to make them fast and easy to complete. Holiday Builders used to send out a paper survey; it was six to seven pages. “It was a very cumbersome survey and it asked for way more information than we needed,” Fay says. The builder knocked that down to a two-page phone survey.

Now, at 60 days after closing, bilingual customer service manager Rolando Garcia calls each homeowner. “It's a lot more personal,” Fay says. “It also allows us to find out if there are problems and allows us to make sure we're communicating with people. Many of our families are bilingual. Previously, they would have gotten a written survey in English. The feedback we've gotten has been incredibly successful. We're able to see gaps so we can take care of individual issues and see the big picture.”