Fairgrove scores strongly in customer satisfaction survey
When it comes to customer care, East Midlands-based Fairgrove Homes is stealing a march on its rivals, according to figures released by the firm today.
The new homes firm carries out a series of benchmarking and quality assurance activities every year to ensure it continues to meet or to exceed customer expectations. For the calendar year January 2007 to December 2007, the firm scored highly among its customers, with a staggering 93%* saying they would recommend a Fairgrove home to somebody else and 93%* saying they would buy from the firm again.
Fairgrove’s customer satisfaction figures have been published just a day after the Home Builders Federation (HBF) released its industry findings for the period October 2006 to September 2007. The HBF survey revealed that 76% of purchasers questioned during the period were satisfied with the overall quality of their home.
“Our ranking of 93% puts us more than 15% above the average achieved by new homes builders nationwide,” says Steve Midgley, managing director of Fairgrove Homes. “Although our survey is for a slightly different period to the HBF’s, it has been highly encouraging to note the very positive response we’ve received from our clients.
“As a local business with a strong focus on providing a quality experience for all our customers – from the moment they first step into our sale room to the day they receive the keys for their new home – it is pleasing that our customer satisfaction survey so clearly demonstrates that we are achieving our mission of building quality new homes that are designed for the individual tastes and requirements of our clients. We already have several clients who bought from one of our earlier developments and were so impressed by the experience that, when they needed to move to a bigger home, we were their natural first port of call.”
Fairgrove has invested significant resources in promoting customer-centricity throughout its organisation. As Steve says: “To ensure our customers get what they want – a new home that is finished on time and to a high specification – requires commitment and expertise at every level of our business: from our land staff researching the best locations to build new homes; to our designers, builders, plumbers, electricians and carpenters who ensure the
finished product meets our customers’ requirements; to our sales staff who act as the link between the company and the client, ensuring the clients’ needs are heard; to our back office staff who keep the developments on schedule by ensuring every stage of the building process is well managed and executed. We achieved Investors in People status several years ago as we recognised this was an essential part of ensuring customer satisfaction.”
Fairgrove’s figures come at an interesting time for the industry. “We got off to a good start during the first quarter of 2008,” says Steve. “In fact, our unit sales for the year to date are
up on previous years, bucking national trends and proving there is still a significant market for new homes that are built to the right specification, in the best location and backed up by high-quality customer support. With the general property market being less certain, new homes buyers want the reassurance of purchasing from a firm they can trust. Our figures reveal high levels of customer satisfaction that are well above the national average – and we believe this has been a contributory factor in making so many people choose a Fairgrove home.”
Date of Publication May 2008