Changing Home Buyer Expectations, Busy Lifestyles Create Demand for New Perks Homeowner services team partners with leading Florida builders to increase sales and improve customer satisfaction scores
RISMEDIA, July 19, 2006—Across the country, price reductions and perks such as design center upgrades, free flat-screen televisions, and even free car leases have become common in all price ranges of newly constructed homes. Home Owner Services Team (Host), a trend-setting provider of post-construction home maintenance and warranty response services, enables builders to offer a new perk for the "do it for me" set that not only helps to increase sales, but also protects builders' return on their investment by ensuring a smooth transition of new homes to their owners.
Leading home builders across Florida are now offering their customers Host's comprehensive Maintenance Value Program, an annual service that employs licensed, bonded and insured technicians who follow a 21-point checklist to service homes on a defined schedule, including everything from checking smoke detectors to caulking showers. This program not only appeals to consumers that are already accustomed to all-inclusive maintenance plans for major appliances and automobiles, but it also provides a unique opportunity for a trained professional to regularly inspect their home for needed repairs and maintenance that might otherwise be overlooked.
Since launching these programs, unprecedented demand has prompted Host to expand into several Florida markets in its first year of business, including Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Tampa, Spring Hill and Orlando. In one recent week, five Florida home builders signed up for Host's services, adding thousands of home owners to the company's client roster.
"We understand the delicate relationship between builders and home owners as they complete the construction process, conduct their final walk-through and sit down at the closing table," said Katherine Bordelon, vice president of corporate communications and new market development for Host. "The average new home has more than 60,000 potential points of failure, and we work with our home builder partners to achieve higher customer satisfaction ratings by quickly identifying potential warranty-related issues and managing the repair process quickly and efficiently. Our Warranty Response Service and Maintenance Value Program are value-added offerings that directly impact builders' bottom lines."
By catching small problems before they become bigger ones, Host can significantly reduce aggravation and expenses for both the home buyer and the builder. Despite the popularity of "freebie" electronics and granite countertops as the housing market has become more competitive, warranty and customer service is still the factor rated No. 1 in new home builders' customer satisfaction ratings, according to J.D. Power and Associates.
Higher customer satisfaction ratings result in increased sales for home builders, said J.D. Powers, stating that "truly delighted home buyers (those rating their builders a 10 on a 10-point scale) will recommend their builder to nearly twice as many people compared to the average new-home buyer." |
