It’s no easy job! With incessant pressure to increase output, conflicted by the risk of finding suitable land, the cost of securing consent and running the gamut of a depressed market, would you want to be a developer right now?
The above aside for a moment, amidst the many and wide-ranging challenges of new homes development is the growing noise around ‘after care’. A once relatively inconsequential aspect of property development that has become a focus for many, not least the consumer. We’re all consumers of something and have experienced at some point … disappointment! It may have been over the purchase of a new phone, or a car, or holiday …. or for some, a new home.
We live in a world of constant measurement – the countless online review platforms such as Trust Pilot (120 million reviews across 530,000 businesses) providing feedback both in comment and as a numerical score, of customer experience. It is no longer possible to ignore the importance of service and after care, whatever business sector you may occupy, least of all where people make their largest life-time investment.
After Build charge developers who wish us to manage their after care obligations. It is a cost-centred aspect of your business (however you may decide to handle it). There’s no income stream or profit, just the business critical need to avoid bad feedback or complaints by providing a professional after care service to every new home buyer. Remember, bad reviews cost business, they remain a part of the digital world in which we all exist and whenever a consumer web search takes place, poor reviews will always be a part of the result of such an exercise. How much does it cost – frankly peanuts when compared to the cost of a poor reputation (deserved or otherwise).
We recognise that some developers will decide to contain after care as an integral aspect of their business, choosing to manage it internally with their own resource. And that is fine, many do this extremely well. But overall, it tends to be larger volume businesses who opt for this route; the ability to gain economies of scale for smaller developers is impossible as there are certain minimum requirements regardless of whether you complete 5 plots a year or 105 plots. After Build specialises in providing after care for the small and medium developer; we achieve huge economies of scale which we pass on to our client and, in doing so, are able to fix their price.
Either way, we have amassed a vast amount of knowledge over the last two decades which we have decided to share with the house building community – to assist you in making the decision about how best to proceed.
So, if you’ve reached a bit of a crossroads and aren’t sure which way to go, why not download it? There’s no cost or obligation. Read it, discuss it, and if you then decide to organise your business to keep after care inhouse, good luck to you. We’ll always be happy to have a chat later if problems should arise or you change your minds. Equally we will always be delighted to hear from any developer (of any size) if you think the best way forwards is to engage After Build. Download it today with our compliments and best wishes.
Download the free copy of ‘New Homes After Care’.
After Build – the UKs leading provider of fixed-price after care. www.afterbuild.com
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