Customers Need to Know New Houses Have Flaws Too
We’ve all dealt with disappointments in life. It’s part of being a grown-up. Disappointments, however, are impacted by expectations. When we buy a cheap product, we know it has a limited shelf life. On the other hand, we expect expensive purchases to last longer and function as advertised. A skillful salesperson can help set expectations for their customer and lessen the emotional impact of their feelings when issues arise. This is especially true when it comes to selling a home, and how those expectations impact the warranty management process.
For many people, their home is the biggest single purchase they make in their entire life. Buying a home is exciting and nerve-wracking. It often involves debt from taking out a significant loan. But it also means stability and a place to call your own.
U.S. News & World Report notes that according to Clever, “the median price to build a house from scratch in 2023 is $446,000.” Note this does not include the price of the land. Given these price points, it’s not uncommon for a homebuyer to expect their newly constructed house to be flawless; much like the consumer electronics and automobiles that they have purchased in the past. They’ll move in, and everything will be Shangri-la.
The builder’s sales team is central to setting proper homebuyer expectations. The sales team should educate homebuyers about the reality of owning a home, including their maintenance responsibilities. Buyers of a new home might think they don’t have to worry about maintenance – at least not for a while. After all, everything in their house is brand new. Yet, without performing the needed maintenance, even during the first year of ownership, everything is more susceptible to disrepair/breakage.
New homebuyers must be made aware of the transformation that a new newly constructed home goes through during the first year following construction (settling into the foundation, wood drying out or curing, drywall cracks and nail pops, etc.). This is particularly true for purchasers that come from other parts of the world where the use of concrete and cinderblock construction is the norm.
The drywall in homes constructed using concrete and cinderblock is much less susceptible to minor cosmetic damage caused by the expansion and contraction of the framing due to changes in humidity. New homebuyers who understand that these transformations are normal and to be expected will be more accepting when the issues arise.
While it’s possible that awareness of issues that will arise even in the first year of owning a new home may dim new homeowner excitement, it will lead to greater customer satisfaction down the road. Setting proper expectations during the sales process will result in customers/new homeowners who are prepared and more level-headed when the inevitable issues occur.
Even when new homeowners are educated about the potential issues they may face with their newly constructed home, dealing with these issues can bring on frustrations. To minimize potential frustration, and ensure customer satisfaction, warranty issues should be processed and resolved in a systematic and consistent manner. Proper expectation setting and executing the warranty program with consistency are crucial in achieving customer satisfaction.
Yet the reality is that warranty management is a challenge for builders. Why? Because as a builder you designed the home, you built the home, you sold the home, and then you are self-managing the warranty process for the home – the fox guarding the henhouse. The central challenge is how do you sell a house on Friday and say no to perceived warranty issues on Monday without making everybody angry?
ProHome was founded by builders for builders 40 years ago in Wichita KS. Since starting operations in the DC Metro Area in 2002, we have provided multi-family developer acceptance/single-family quality inspections and third-party warranty management solutions involving over 25,000 units/homes. Our services deliver financial efficiency and seamless operational scalability during all economic cycles for our developer and builder clients.
