Just one little problem … | Features

Warranty provider Zurich Insurance’s annual Customer First Survey monitors homebuyers’ attitudes but its results show little increase in satisfaction.
Did the experience of buying a new home live up to expectations?
% agreeing/year	2000	2001	2002	2003
Buying brand new has been better than expected	18	17	17	17
Buying brand new has been worse than expected	29	34	29	31
Buying brand new has been	51	47	52	51
There has been a slight improvement over time, but the housebuilding industry clearly has plenty of scope to delight its customers.
Did your housebuilder offer you an accompanied walk-through of your new home?
%/year
Yes	66	73	75	74
No	32	25	23	25
Three-quarters of customers were offered a walk-through with their builder – no change on last year. Of those, 29% did it between six and eight days before taking possession and 22% between nine and 14 days before. But more than one-third did it less than six days before they moved in, which is far from ideal as it gives the builder little time to rectify any snags identified by the customer.
How was move-in day? Do you agree with the following statements?
% agreeing/year
The builder made me feel special	34	35	37	39
My new home was clean from top to bottom	57	52	55	54
All snags reported had been attended to	33	29	30	30
Everything supplied by the builder was connected	68	64	67	66
All the keys were available	79	76	80	79
All instruction manuals were available	73	72	72	72
Housebuilders are doing better at making their buyers feel special, but are still falling down on the basic of providing a home that is clean.

How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with the level of information provided by your housebuilder?
% in 2003	Very satisfied	Satisfied	Neither	Dassatified	Very dissatified
How to operate the central heating	13	35	19	24	5
How to operate the locks	16	43	22	12	3
How to operate the security system	9	21	15	16	4
How to operate kitchen appliances	11	33	27	20	5
Position and operation of stopcocks	11	30	20	27	8
Position and operation of fuse box	13	38	22	19	5
How to look after your new new home	9	24	35	20	5
Details of your warranty cover	6	19	27	33	9
How to report emergencies	10	31	22	26	8
How to report other problems	11	34	22	23	7
Procedures for dealing with problems	12	27	18	29	11
As the responses above show, housebuilders are not doing well at informing their customers, although they are getting better at telling buyers about locks, fuse boxes, kitchen appliances and central heating.

How satisfied were you with after-sales service?
This is the Achilles’ heel of the housebuilding industry.
% in 2003	Very satisfied	Satisfied	Neither	Dassatified	Very dissatified
The ease with which you can report problems	21	36	14	16	6
The feedback about when work will be undertaken	10	22	17	30	12
Remedial work being done in the time agreed	10	19	15	32	14
Standard of remedial work when complete	13	33	19	16	5

Homebuyers’ top 10 problem areas for 2003
Problem	(% of buyers reporting problem)
external doors	47%
heating/hot water	46%
water leaks	43%
windows	42%
seals around bath	38%
internal doors	34%
walls/ceilings	34%
sanitaryware	29%
kitchen appliances	29%
kitchen, bedroom, bathroom furniture	28%
Zurich asked new homebuyers what problems they had reported that required remedial work. Almost all customers had to report some problem requiring remedial work after they had moved in.