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Warranty provider Zurich Insurance’s annual Customer First Survey monitors homebuyers’ attitudes but its results show little increase in satisfaction.
Did the experience of buying a new home live up to expectations?
% agreeing/year2000200120022003
Buying brand new has been better than expected18171717
Buying brand new has been worse than expected29342931
Buying brand new has been51475251
There has been a slight improvement over time, but the housebuilding industry clearly has plenty of scope to delight its customers.
Did your housebuilder offer you an accompanied walk-through of your new home?
%/yearÌýÌýÌýÌý
Yes66737574
No32252325
Three-quarters of customers were offered a walk-through with their builder – no change on last year. Of those, 29% did it between six and eight days before taking possession and 22% between nine and 14 days before. But more than one-third did it less than six days before they moved in, which is far from ideal as it gives the builder little time to rectify any snags identified by the customer.
How was move-in day? Do you agree with the following statements?
% agreeing/yearÌýÌýÌýÌý
The builder made me feel special34353739
My new home was clean from top to bottom57525554
All snags reported had been attended to33293030
Everything supplied by the builder was connected 68646766
All the keys were available79768079
All instruction manuals were available73727272
Housebuilders are doing better at making their buyers feel special, but are still falling down on the basic of providing a home that is clean.
How satisfied/dissatisfied were you with the level of information provided by your housebuilder?
% in 2003Very satisfiedSatisfiedNeitherDassatifiedVery dissatified
How to operate the central heating133519245
How to operate the locks164322123
How to operate the security system92115164
How to operate kitchen appliances113327205
Position and operation of stopcocks113020278
Position and operation of fuse box133822195
How to look after your new new home92435205
Details of your warranty cover61927339
How to report emergencies103122268
How to report other problems113422237
Procedures for dealing with problems1227182911
As the responses above show, housebuilders are not doing well at informing their customers, although they are getting better at telling buyers about locks, fuse boxes, kitchen appliances and central heating.
How satisfied were you with after-sales service?
This is the Achilles’ heel of the housebuilding industry.
% in 2003Very satisfiedSatisfiedNeitherDassatifiedVery dissatified
The ease with which you can report problems213614166
The feedback about when work will be undertaken1022173012
Remedial work being done in the time agreed1019153214
Standard of remedial work when complete133319165
Homebuyers’ top 10 problem areas for 2003
Problem(% of buyers reporting problem)
external doors47%
heating/hot water46%
water leaks43%
windows42%
seals around bath38%
internal doors34%
walls/ceilings 34%
sanitaryware29%
kitchen appliances29%
kitchen, bedroom, bathroom furniture28%
Zurich asked new homebuyers what problems they had reported that required remedial work. Almost all customers had to report some problem requiring remedial work after they had moved in.