Annual survey shows continued high standards
The results of HBF’s customer satisfaction survey, released today, show levels of customer satisfaction that match or exceed those in any other industry or sector. Results show that:
Nearly 9 out of 10 buyers (88%) are very or fairly satisfied with the overall quality of their new home
Nearly 9 out of 10 buyers (86%) would recommend their builder to a friend
Click here for full results
The independently verified results, which will be launched today at HBF’s Policy conference, are a testament to the industry’s commitment to deliver the high quality product and service that today’s demanding home buyers rightly expect.
Despite regular, unfounded criticism from industry detractors, the latest survey results confirm once again that home builders are committed to quality. They show that the vast majority of new home buyers are satisfied with the quality of their home and the service provided by their home builder.
Stewart Baseley, Executive Chairman at HBF, said today; “These results are truly outstanding and a testament to the efforts made by our industry to deliver ever increasing satisfaction levels to new home buyers. All the evidence we now have demonstrates categorically that as an industry we are delivering in the overwhelming majority of cases the type of product our customer’s want, in a manner with which they are satisfied.
“It is essential to achieve these high satisfaction levels when providing a product that represents for most people their largest investment both financially and emotionally. But creating a great home is not straightforward. Each home built is different and presents a different challenge. It takes commitment and dedication from the CEO’s office to the construction site involving everyone from directors to tradesmen to customer facing staff. These results are a credit to our industry and all its employees.”
Imtiaz Farookhi, Chief Executive of NHBC, which supports the survey and analyses the survey data for HBF said, “I am delighted that the significant improvements achieved last year have been maintained.
“NHBC will continue to work closely with homebuilders building on the investments we’ve made in training, through initiatives such as the Consumer Code for Homebuilders and The Callcutt Task Group on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction with new build housing now compares extremely favourably with other UK industries and products”.
For media enquiries, or to arrange an interview, please contact Steve Turner on 020 7960 1606 / 07919 307 760 or steve.turner@hbf.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
The Home Builders Federation (HBF) is the principal representative body for private sector home builders and voice of the home building industry in England and Wales. The HBF’s 300 member firms account for some 80% of all new homes built in England and Wales in any one year, and include companies of all sizes, ranging from multi-national, household names through regionally based businesses to small local companies: www.hbf.co.uk HBF’s national survey of new home buyers was launched in 2005 in response to one of the recommendations of the Barker Review of Housing Supply (2004).This report presents results from HBF’s sixth Customer Satisfaction Survey, covering the 12 months October 2009 to September 2010 The HBF National New Home Customer Satisfaction Survey is a continuous self-completion postal census of the new home purchasers. The results include the 15 HBF member companies highlighted in the attached document (Click here for full results) – as well as a representative sample of home builders from across the rest of the industry. Of 36,687 questionnaires mailed, 20,355 were returned, a response rate of 55.5%