Looking for ways to increase home buyer satisfaction? The Service Buffer concept may be exactly the tool you’re seeking. This practical concept begins with identifying practices where a bit of extra time or attention would increase clients’ loyalty, positive word-of-mouth comments, and referrals.
A Service Buffer can occur at any point in a builder’s processes—from sales through warranty. These internal practices blend modest flexibility into key steps. You can plan as many as you like, but you’ll want at least one for each phase of the new home process.
Sales & Selections
Add Service Buffers to the agenda for community team meetings to remind the on-site team to consider which home buyers are approaching an opportunity for your company to offer welcome support and attention.Change Request Cut-Off
Suppose that the cut-off for change requests is explained to home buyers as 10 workdays after the final selection appointment documents have been signed. Minimally, contact home buyers two or three days prior to the scheduled cut-off and remind them that if there are any remaining details they are considering, now is the time to address them.
Take this one step further by setting up an internal company cut-off that is three to five workdays after the deadline explained to the home buyer.
The conversation might sound like this: The home buyer contacts his sales consultant to explain that his wife has decided she wants to add the optional fireplace in the family room. The consultant’s response is first to look at the calendar. Seeing that yesterday was the deadline for requesting changes, he explains that. “Ordinarily no, but let me contact accounting to see whether purchase orders have been issued. If not, we may be just in time to make this change.” The consultant knows that tomorrow at 5:00 pm is when no further changes can be accepted—the home buyers have a three-workday Service Buffer on this subject.
Customer Satisfaction Surveys
Whether conducted in-house or through the attention of a third-party survey company, customer surveys are a learning tool (and not a method for awarding bonuses to front-line personnel). No good reason exists for investing time and money in conducting surveys unless you gain insight into what the company does well and where it has opportunities to improve products, processes, or performance of staff. Also, enjoy compliments and ensure to continue the practices that produced them.
Referral Request Restraint
Avoid asking for referrals the day you write the contract. Give the company time to produce tangible results that impress the new home purchasers. For instance, wait until the frame stage (aka, predrywall) tour to mention referrals. Up until that point, most of what a builder has done is promises, paperwork, and hands waving in the air. As tangible results begin to appear, you are on firmer ground for mentioning referrals.
Take this one step further: The ideal time to bring up referrals is when the purchasers make a favorable comment such as, “This is our fourth new home, and your company has provided a better experience than any of our past transactions!”
Respond to this with “Thank you! And we’ll give the same care and attention to any friends you refer to us.”
New Home Construction
Extra Site Visit for Nervous PurchasersVolunteer extra site visits for nervous purchasers, such as first-time home buyers or folks who had a negative experience with a previous builder. These could be managed by the superintendent or someone else with the appropriate knowledge to answer common questions and document any follow-up details for attention.
Notice About an Identified Issue
If construction discovers a serious error, omission, or concern in the home’s quality, avoid the home buyers seeing it and becoming alarmed with a forthright email or phone call. They will likely stay calmer if you have already shown awareness of the issue and have a plan in place for addressing it. Offer to schedule a site visit when the concern has been addressed to view the newly corrected conditions.
Home Delivery & Closing
Schedule this important meeting for three or more days prior to closing to give construction and trades a bit of time to react to any items before the home buyers move in and complicate the repair process with busy schedules.Itinerary & Agenda
Start at the street, end in the kitchen. While exteriors may be extremely well-done, chances are that the home’s interior is even more precisely finished. Allow the home buyers to view the more rustic exterior first, followed by entering through the front door as if they are guests in their own home. Tour empty rooms first and the kitchen last.
Volunteer Items
Details that fail to meet company standards should be listed even if the purchasers fail to notice them. This demonstrates company integrity. Besides, chances are excellent that the new homeowners will notice and report them to warranty later, creating additional work and expense.
Remnants
Leftover floor coverings, tile, or other items are frequently stored in the new home. Ask the home buyers to retain them in case warranty needs to perform repairs using some of these materials. This provides the best opportunity for color match. Pointing out the benefits of this to the homeowners can prevent them from using carpet remnants for door mats.
Kitchen Appliance Service
Explain that manufacturers have requested that homeowners contact them directly. Their troubleshooting list may solve the problem immediately, and if not, they want to make a repair appointment directly with the homeowner. Mention, too, that the homeowner should also alert your warranty office so they can document the issue for their file and follow up to confirm the issue has been addressed successfully. After all, if you are offering a troublesome product, the sooner you become aware of it, the sooner you can replace it with one that performs more reliably.
Move-In Date
Ask about the expected move-in date and plan to post a “Parking reserved for new homeowner” sign in front of the home. The superintendent can also stop by later that day to check for any questions.
Pre-Closing Question
Prefaced with “normally we deliver <#> keys at closing. Do you need more than that?” If the family includes three teenagers, providing the extra keys can be a thoughtful and much appreciated gesture.
New Home Warranty Service
Well-known customer satisfaction survey companies have all reported that warranty service is the strongest influence on referrals (next is the home’s quality). Take advantage of this insight with exceptionally well-planned after-move-in attention. Warranty service also offers the greatest potential list of Service Buffer opportunities.Primary Warranty Visit
Offer to set this appointment before the closing occurs. This shows home buyers that you plan to pay attention to them even after you’ve been paid for the home.
Installing a new furnace filter at the primary warranty visit is a common and thoughtful example of a Service Buffer. Quick, inexpensive, and likely something the homeowner forgot during the busy days of getting unpacked and settled. This can be especially significant in a new home which is exposed to ongoing construction up and down the street. Also carry a supply of commonly used light bulbs and alarm batteries just in case a homeowner complaint comes up. This is especially applicable for inventory homes that sat for several months before the sale took place.
Emergency & Urgency
Warranty “emergencies” are typically defined as:
- Total loss of heat during winter months (October to May)
- Total loss of electricity
- Total loss of water
- Plumbing leak that requires shutting off the entire water supply
- Gas leak
Online Reporting System
Require that reporting warranty items be done by way of the company’s online system. The number of home buyers who are unfamiliar with computers and/or online communication is small, but they can make referrals, so care for them well, even if differently than the majority. The important requirement is receiving a written list of warranty requests. This saves time for the warranty staff who can then focus on inspections and producing repair results when needed.
An example of a logical exception involved a builder with a homeowner who suffered from cerebral palsy and spent her days in a wheelchair. She had great difficulty with writing and similar tasks. Rather than require her to report warranty items in writing, the builder called her on the first of each month to check on her home and respond to any issues.
Landscaping
If a home buyer ordered the landscape package your firm offers, it likely includes a thirty-day warranty from the date of completion of the installation. Offer to inspect the landscaping with the homeowner in time to report concerns to the landscaping company prior to this expiration.
Year-End
Four to six weeks prior to the warranty expiration, remind homeowners that their material and workmanship warranty coverage ends on
Batteries & Bulbs
Changing smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries at year-end is another opportunity. This attention is particularly valuable to homeowners with two-story entries (or other rooms), where a tall ladder would be needed. You may want to take a more aggressive step and install 10-year batteries. Replacing light bulbs in high, difficult to reach fixtures, such as the entry chandelier in a two-story entry way can be part of this visit.
Grout, Caulk, Doors
As needed, be prepared to perform touch-up attention to tile grout and caulking, and check interior and exterior doors for fit and function, including checking weatherstripping and locks where applicable.
Year-End Drywall Attention
Skills required to address drywall details and the tools to do so are not typically in place for most homeowners, especially first-time buyers. Year-end drywall repairs are a common builder service. Most builders offer this attention one time, near the end of the year.
But suppose that in September, home buyers closed and moved into an inventory home that had been sitting complete but unoccupied for nearly five months. In October, as part of the primary warranty visit, the homeowner reports, “I know they told us at our orientation that you do drywall repairs at year-end, but we moved in on September 9, and there’s already a crack in the entry drywall that is nearly ¼ inch wide. We are hosting our family Thanksgiving dinner this year with 14 guests, and that’s really embarrassing! Is there any chance...?”
Keep in mind that your name is on this home and you’d be paying for this repair if the homeowners waited until the end of the year to ask for this service. And, these homeowners still get the routine year-end drywall attention. Are you setting a precedent? Yes, but ask yourself how often an inventory home sits for five months before being sold.
Many builders are willing to have touch-up painting done with the original paint. However, if the homeowners have applied another color and they can provide that paint, perhaps a reasonable step is to touch-up the drywall work with the homeowner’s paint. Either way, point out that touch-up paint may not be a perfect match, especially when fresh.
These valuable one-time repairs may also suggest others. In this effort, watch for frequent complaints and identify interventions the company might implement while avoiding extreme expense. The result of Service Buffers should be low cost with modest investments of staff and trade contractor time.
These practices also provide opportunities to offer attention to the few homeowners from whom you do not receive any requests for post-move-in attention. And even if those folks are too busy to enjoy the benefits available, they will remember that you offered.
Still unsure? Select one community and implement a trial menu of Service Buffers. Measure the impact from time, cost, and homeowner satisfaction perspectives to create a fair evaluation and then make your final decision.
Since 1986, Carol Smith and Home Address have provided home builders with practical insights and proven techniques for service success. Carol is noted for cutting through the hype to reach the heart of any service issue. Her realistic approach and practical techniques empower those in the home building profession to create customer loyalty. Her track record qualifies her to be recognized as the leading expert in customer service for the home building industry.
