Answering the phone, I hear a tense voice and a familiar question: “I need help with customer service …”
Before I can help, I need to know how this builder defines customer service. “Tell me more about your concerns,” I respond. A litany of service problems follows. The caller says her company built eight homes last year, six the year before, and expects to do 12 this year. But buyers have become problematic. They are all unreasonable and out of control. Examples follow as the voice on the phone becomes increasingly taut.
One buyer had numerous change orders—some of which were not documented until just before closing—and now is refusing to pay for them. The buyer claims the changes were made incorrectly. On top of that he is complaining that the home was delivered late and he expects compensation for the inconvenience of the delay.
Another buyer regularly interfered with work on the jobsite. This caused conflict among the trades, frustrated the superintendent, and resulted in extra expense for the company.
Then there were the endless additions to the orientation list by another buyer. The list had nearly 50 items to start with, and this client keeps faxing and e-mailing more items. Admittedly most of the original items were still incomplete at closing, but how will the list ever get finished if the buyer keeps adding more items?
What’s more, warranty issues have become a battleground. Buyers are calling in items one and two at a time, chasing everyone in circles. Trades are complaining and refusing to respond. One homeowner is threatening a lawsuit over a handful of minor items.
The Daily Grind. While the solutions to these issues may seem obvious from reading the brief descriptions, I find builders have incredible difficulty seeing the holes and missteps in their systems and procedures. This is not because solutions do not exist. In fact, the home building industry is positioned better than ever before with a vast array of straightforward methods for creating customer satisfaction. However, the inability to see how daily practices create dissatisfied homeowners prevents many builders from making appropriate changes.
