New survey shows high levels of customer satisfaction for Britain’s housebuilders

The latest survey from the Home Builders Federation (HBF) reveals that nine out of ten homebuyers are happy with the overall quality of their new property, and that customer satisfaction levels are rising. The annual report shows the results of polling thousands of purchasers of new-build homes in the UK, and demonstrates the very high standards of build quality and customer service that homebuyers can expect from housebuilders around the country. In a challenging market, it is the new-build sector that is pulling out all the stops to give homebuyers what they want.

The HBF’s members build around 80% of the nation’s new homes, and over 23,000 purchasers responded to the survey. In all, thirteen housebuilders have the distinction of gaining the maximum five stars for both the quality of the home, and whether the buyer would recommend a friend to use the same company.

Those companies are Barratt Homes, Bellway, Bovis Homes, CALA Homes, Crest Nicholson, Gladedale Group, Lovell, retirement specialists McCarthy & Stone, Miller Homes, Morris Homes, Redrow, Stewart Milne Homes and Taylor Wimpey. Between them, they account for tens of thousands of new apartments and houses for sale in every region in Britain every year.

HBF’s executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: “For the first time, nine out of ten consumers – the most important people in the process – have said that they’re happy with the quality of their new home and would recommend their builder to friends. The results are a testament to the efforts made by our industry to deliver products and services that consumers are happy with, despite the difficult business environment.”

The 2012 survey has produced the best results ever for the industry, and the HBF now claims that customer satisfaction levels for new-build homes match or surpass those for any other industry or sector. Based on purchases between 1^st October 2010 and 30^th September 2011, some 86% of home purchasers were very or fairly happy with the service they received.

CALA Homes is the only housebuilder to have achieved the maximum five star awards in these key categories for three years in a row. Alan Brown, chief executive of CALA Group, said: “I am delighted that our efforts have been recognised by our customers. Customer service is a philosophy that drives our business, our products and our people. For CALA, the phrase is not an add-on service or a tick-in-the box public relations exercise – rather it is a way of thinking and acting that the entire company lives and breathes every day, in all aspects of its work.”