Have a Plan B. When a trade stands up a homeowner, take corrective action. Re-schedule the appointment and call both parties the day before that date to confirm. Perhaps someone from your office can house-sit for that appointment, so the homeowner doesn’t need to be home. Retain the services of a reliable contractor and back charge the offender. Or insist the original trade perform the work at the client’s convenience—perhaps on a Saturday. Stop by to check on the work and make certain it’s going well.
Be ready to make amends. Building a new home disrupts a family’s schedule—finance and design meetings, site visits, closing, and moving—the impact is significant. Some time for warranty service should also be expected, but how much is too much? Three days over the warranty year? Six? What about missed appointments? Where does reasonable stop and ridiculous begin?
To compensate the homeowner described at the beginning of this column, the builder hired a landscaping crew to mow, trim, and otherwise tend the man’s yard for six weeks. The cost was shared proportionately among the builder and the offending trades. The homeowner got his “time” back and was delighted with the solution.
Make system corrections. The builder in my example worked on tightening his warranty scheduling systems, including creating a three-tiered recovery plan for missed appointments. After one missed appointment, the warranty coordinator would “house sit” assuming the customer was willing. If a second appointment was missed, the homeowner received dinner for two at a terrific restaurant, courtesy of the trade involved. And the third time, the builder visited the home to oversee the repair personally, apologize, and provide a weekend at a nearby vacation destination. As of this writing, the builder has not needed to use any of these, but he is glad to have a plan.
Carol Smith offers customer service assessment, consulting, and training programs for home builders. She can be reached at csmithhomeaddress@att.net.
