The further buyers get into the process, the better they feel about their decision. "We really hook 'em with service after the sale," Wishneski says. One aspect shows the foresight that makes Cedar Knoll a winner. "At closing, we set up a 30-day walkthrough visit to the home. If an emergency arises, we take care of that immediately, but if not, we ask them to write down their concerns and wait for the 30-day.

"When we get there, we take care of all the easy stuff with tools on our customer service truck. For the things that require a visit from one of our trades, we make the call to set that up right on the spot so the visit fits the cus-tomer's schedule, not the trade's," Wishneski says.

"That's a huge wow factor," Cardis says. "Doing that on the spot takes all the worry out of it for the homeowner. There's no question that the work is going to be covered. There's no anxiety about issues related to access to the home.

"And Cedar Knoll's willingness to budget for and perform work beyond the warranty period shows they know how important long-term customer relationships are. They'll say 'no' on the front end (during the selection process) to set expectations and avoid building a house that may have maintenance issues later on, but then they overdeliver on the back to cement positive relationships."