"In the news, not necessarily for the right reasons, we’ve been under the spotlight – it is a level of scrutiny we’ve not experienced before"
The survey also showed that 85% of respondents were happy with the quality of their home, another climb of 1% on the previous year.
HBF’s executive chairman Stewart Baseley said that with production levels up 74% over the past four years “and all the issues this brings” the results were “an extraordinary performance”. And after three previous years of falling satisfaction scores – from 90% to 84% - this demonstrated the industry’s renewed commitment whilst continuing to increase volumes.
Baseley said: “Some people ask me if it [good customer satisfaction scores] really matters. In the news, not necessarily for the right reasons, we’ve been under the spotlight – it is a level of scrutiny we’ve not experienced before. The reason why it matters is your customers.”
Achieving high levels of customer satisfaction is hugely challenging. It requires leadership from board level downwards and commitment from all areas of a housebuilding business and is a credit to every member of staff.
A five-star rating is not easy to achieve and is a very positive endorsement of the processes, systems and culture in place and should provide customers with real confidence in the company and homes they build.”
The survey covers the 12 months from October 2016 to September 2017. Twenty housebuilders were awarded five stars for the period - the highest achievable accolade in the survey. This is up on last year when 15 companies were crowned five-star housebuilders.
Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone was a five-star housebuilder for the 13th consecutive year. First-time five-star companies were Cameron Homes and Riverdale Developments.
The independently-verified survey was launched in response to the 2004 Barker Review of Housing Supply.
