What is the reputation of your New Home Builder?
by Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler REALTOR®
Chandler AZ Real Estate
Purchasing a new home, whether it be a spec home or you designed it from the ground up, can be one heck of an experience. There are the joys and highs associated with watching the construction, from slab to completion. There is the thrill of taking ownership and moving in. But there are other emotions as well. Anxiety during construction. Worries over how it will turn out. And worst of all - post-construction issues that need to be addressed. Even worse - post-construction issues that require attention but the builder ignores you.
I take clients on tours of new home developments quite often. What does a typical homebuyer know about the quality of construction and customer service levels of a particular builder? Maybe a good amount, maybe not so much. To be safe, I usually give my clients a copy of this report. It details customer satisfaction rankings of the major builders in the 34 largest markets in the US (for home building). This is HUGE. I confronted a sales rep for one of the lowest ranked builders in the Phoenix metro area recently. Dancing around the rankings. Why couldn't he just admit they had faults and were working to improve them. Other builders who are ranked highly - proudly display their rank in their sales office!
If you think this means nothing, read this article from the Arizona Republic. All sorts of defects. Peeling roofs. Bowed walls. Collapsing crown molding. Crushed ductwork. Ridiculous delays in addressing the problems. The list goes on. And on. AND ON. AND ON!!! Who is the builder in question here? Well, I won't name names. But lets just say they aren't ranked very highly on the JD Power report for the Phoenix metropolitan area.
Does this mean that the top ranked builder will absolve you from having to deal with any issues? No. Does this mean tha tthe bottom ranked builder can't produce a quality home or two? No. But statistics have a funny way of....not lying. And irregardless of the new home you purchase, in one respect, treat it like a resale home. Have an inspection performed. Some folks do this at the 11 month mark of ownership (everything still under warranty). Some do it before COE. Some do both (maybe you wouldn't want to close on a home that had crushed ductwork.....). Irregardless, please do your homework!
Thanks for Reading :)
Kaushik Sirkar, Chandler Realtor
http://www.homesphx.com
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You can have 10 people buy the same home and each would ahve a unique experience and opinion. The rankings are difficult to qualify on an absolute basis. But the bottom line is that those companies near the top of the list for providing the better experience will consistently outperform the ones near the bottom of the list.
Although they all make mistakes, as that is part of the business,.....what separates them is the willingness and ability to resolve those mistakes.