If you want to avoid really disappointing your customer, then this is an article worth reading.
The latest trend in new homes development is alarming! Increasingly, the number of properties with unresolved Snags at completion has been on the up for several years; and in some instances, it is taking more than 12 months to fully resolve them.
There are a multitude of reasons why this is happening, (most financially driven), yet it isn’t necessary and it can be avoided with a little forward planning.
After Build provide a Quality Assurance Inspection which is designed to flag up all overlooked Snags BEFORE a purchaser sets foot over the threshold. This provides the construction team the opportunity to go back and rectify everything before completion.
Then, we provide a fixed-price After Care service to manage the first two years (Builder’s Rectification Period) handling all legitimate build Defects as they are reported to us. All of this from as little as £365 per plot. That’s around 0.12% of the cost of the average UK new property (source: Statista 2024 av. property value £296,000), and a modest investment that will ensure excellent customer After Care.
Failure to organise After Care will invariably cost your business more! How? Because unhappy customers ALWAYS generate complaints which in turn place more pressure on the organisation. This manifests itself in several ways:
Irrespective of the reason why a customer is complaining, someone must take the call and respond to it. (This is a resource cost).
Where the complaint is justified, someone must organise a programme of work to address the issue. (Another resource cost).
When a complaint is either ignored, or where the response is too late, many complainants will turn to social media to voice their dissatisfaction.
Social media is instantaneous and permanent. And the damage to a businesses reputation is of unquantifiable cost; poor reviews and search engine results that present a poor picture of the business hang around for many years to come. (Reputational damage cost).
All to often, the extreme of complaints will involve senior officers of a company as they are quickly escalated internally. This is now a costly management distraction. (Highest level of resource cost).
To pacify unhappy homeowners some form of compensation is often applied (re-painting a room at no expense or the addition of a chargeable feature for free. (Intangible cost). It just isn’t worth it! No After Care does not save an organisation money, but rather it heightens the risk profile and without question costs more, over not just a given development but, over that businesses future trading.
If you want to know more about After Build speak to our Director of Sales and Marketing, Mark Fawcitt on 07342 037810 (markf@afterbuild.com)
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