There are few experiences in life that have the potential to excite more than moving into a brand-new house. Yet we hear all too frequently of purchaser’s nightmares; that’s when the feeling of elated anticipation turns into a miserable pit of despondency.
It shouldn’t happen, but it does. Why? The most likely reasons are:
1. Developer’s financial pressures pushed to complete before the product was ready.
2. Construction team lost interest before the last 1% was done.
3. The developer failed to inspect each property to identify any overlooked snags.
4. Construction assured the developer all was complete; he believed them.
5. A combination of the above.
Like it or not, the developer has a 2-year relationship with each of his customers i.e. the ‘Builder’s Rectification Period’. During this time, they must enable the occupant to report any legitimate build defect and be organised to ensure each issue is quickly rectified. So, starting off on the wrong foot is never, ever a great idea.
Every purchaser wants, indeed expects there to be no problems at the point of completion, and relatively little to be concerned about in the ensuing 2 years. After all, this is probably the single biggest reason they have bought a new house. If they do experience a problem, they want to be able to report it simply and quickly and they expect that someone will turn up to fix it promptly. And that’s not unreasonable, is it? To put this into context, the purchaser has just spent the largest amount of money they will ever spend, acquiring the property you have just built. And it’s going to take a third of their remaining life to pay for it. So, you can see why a disgruntled purchaser is likely to be very, very unhappy if all is not well.
Yet, getting all this right isn’t difficult – it’s just a process, a sequence of activities that are neither costly nor complex. They should become a standard aspect of selling a house that is beyond question. Just as there are certain legal requirements that form part of the sale, there should also be certain pre-sale checks. The first rule is NEVER accepting your contractor’s word that everything is ok. Look for yourself. Arrange for either someone within your business to be trained to conduct a quality inspection on every property at the point of PC or, engage a specialist company to do this for you.
There’s a checklist of items that must be scrutinised, applying the warranty provider’s build standards. Then whatever appears on the report, pass it back to your construction crew and get them to remedy everything BEFORE a purchaser steps foot over the threshold.
Then, arrange for someone to meet the purchaser at their property to conduct a formal home demonstration (not the site manager – someone who is ‘suited and booted’ and trained to handle the task).
Again, it’s a service we provide, and it sets a professional tone. People always have questions. ”What if something goes wrong? …. How would I do such and such? … Can this be changed before we move in? … Show me how I operate the dishwasher.”
That’s two simple processes that will cost you no more than a few hundred pounds and yet will ensure that no customer moves into a nightmare property and your business reputation will remain intact.
Finally, make certain you have a well structured After Care service established to handle customer issues for the first 2 years following legal completion. This means a dedicated operation with full time resource, trained to know the difference between a legitimate defect, household maintenance and user damage. It will have to be supported by a system capable of recording, organising and manipulating data, so that you can manage the remedy of defects via your contractors.
Again, cut corners here at your peril. It really isn’t worth trying to do this on the cheap! After Build has been providing new homes After Care for over 2 decades so we’ve learned a thing or two.
Achieving legal completion is not the end of a developer’s responsibilities, just the start of a new phase of responsibility. Plan for it and budget for it. Get it right and don’t leave things out and all will be well. Get it wrong by cutting corners and you run the risk that costly management time will be spent trying to correct issues that have become the daily focus of a disappointed customer. Business reputations will suffer and any attempt to keep After Care costs to a minimum will have been lost in the scuffle to put right everything that went wrong.
After Build – the UKs leading provider of fixed-price after care. www.afterbuild.com
Comments