We just caught wind of some big news on the customer satisfaction front: J.D. Power and Associates has canceled its 2011 U.S. New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study.
Citing difficult market conditions in residential construction and a smaller pool of builders to evaluate, J.D. Power senior director Dale Haines said in a statement to customers that the organization has “decided not to move forward with the 2011 U.S. New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study.” Haines said J.D. Power will continue to provide consultation services for builder “voice of the customer” programs.
J.D. Power started measuring customer satisfaction in home building in 1997. Its annual builder customer satisfaction study grew to cover 34 markets at its peak, but the housing downturn force the organization to eliminate a number of market reports. It studied 17 markets last year, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas/Ft. Worth, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
Here’s the letter that J.D. Power’s Dale Haines emailed to customers last week:
July 21, 2011
Dear xxx,
As you know, J.D. Power and Associates has been measuring customer satisfaction in the residential construction industry since 1997. Our plan is to continue to provide Voice of the Customer research and analysis to enable home builders to succeed. However, we wanted to let you know that we have decided not to move forward with the 2011 U.S. New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study.
As we are all aware, U.S. market conditions of the residential construction industry have changed considerably over the last several years. While promising signals of industry recovery periodically appear, the duration of this current downturn remains uncertain.
Because of this reduced volume of transactions — combined with a much smaller pool of builders eligible to be evaluated — we would be unable to provide the analysis and actionable insight that our industry has come to expect.
While this was a very difficult decision, it will provide us with an opportunity to conduct a complete review of the program. This will involve many conversations with the industry, both in group and in one-to-one meetings, to better understand how we can enhance the value of our homebuilding industry research going forward.
J.D. Power and Associates continues to serve industries in the Real Estate and Construction space, including:
* Residential construction
* Real estate agents and brokers
* Mortgage originators and servicers
* Building products and components
* Residential and commercial property management
* Green/sustainable building
* Major home appliances
* Home improvement products and retailers
We continue to provide proprietary tracking and benchmarking research, social media insights, call center/contact center assessment, mystery shopping, and qualitative text analytics services to companies in these industries.
Please be sure to notify other individuals within your organization or your divisions that we are not conducting the 2011 U.S. New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study.
J.D. Power and Associates values the relationship it has with the residential construction industry. We will continue to monitor industry conditions to assess the appropriate timing and approach for re-introducing our New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study.
Sincerely,
Dale Haines
Senior Director
Real Estate and Construction Industries
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J.D. Power scraps 2011 builder customer satisfaction study
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