(This article appeared in the March/April issue of Building Systems Magazine)

By Thayer Long

For any industry, meeting the expectations of your customer is the most critical element of ensuring customer satisfaction and your success. Surveys have time and again shown that buying a home is one of the most stressful and life-changing events an individual experiences in their lifetime, as well as one of the largest and most important investments they will ever make. So given the high-stakes game in home buying, the ability to satisfy your customer’s experience and happiness becomes more challenging and even more important. A satisfied customer will be more likely to recommend your company to friends and family; more likely to make their next home purchase from you; and refer your company to others thereby increasing your visibility and cultivating sales leads.

But how do you measure satisfaction in the modular housing industry, and how is the industry doing so far? As with any industry, there are a limited number of resources available that address performance. By identifying key areas that impact the customer experience the most, industries and its individual companies can strategically allocate its resources.

That’s why, as part of an industry-wide effort to examine customer satisfaction in the factory-built housing sector, the Manufactured Housing Institute (MHI) and the National Modular Housing Council (NMHC) initiated a major research project with the nationally recognized firm, J.D. Power & Associates (JDPA), in early 2006. The goal was to better understand what determined homebuyer satisfaction for modular homes, and to obtain buyer feedback on the performance of their home.

Most of the top modular manufacturers, by volume, in the U.S. participated in the study, and provided a list of contact information for people who purchased a modular home in 2005. A four-page questionnaire, developed specifically for the modular industry, was mailed to the homebuyers, and a response rate of close to 20% provided JDPA with a reliable and credible basis of information.

Nine Factors Drive Customer Satisfaction

First, JDPA identified nine key areas of the modular home buying process that influence customer satisfaction. These areas were (as ranked in importance by the homebuyers): Sales Staff, Home Readiness, Installation/Contractor, Customer Service After Move-In, Quality of Workmanship/Materials, Price/Value, Options Selection, Financing Staff, Physical Design Elements.

The ability to follow through and solve problems in a timely manner is the most significant driver for a satisfied customer in all of these nine factors. The biggest trap builders/dealers and manufacturers can fall into is not properly managing the buyers expectations from the beginning. The typical scenario of overpromising and underdelivering is something that needs to be given the most attention in all facets of the process. Make sure the homebuyer understands not all items will go according to plan. Most buyers expect hiccups along the way when building a house. But most buyers also do expect that when problems do occur or they do have questions, the solutions and answers follow quickly.


Quality Will Equal Quantity

86% of modular homebuyers cited the quality of construction and workmanship as being extremely important to modular homebuyers in the selection of their home. This was followed by overall design and floor plan, 77%. The price of home came in third at 59% followed closely by reputation of manufacturer, 58%. What does this mean? Customers are quality conscious first, price sensitive second. Stick to focusing on the workmanship and quality of the home and designing customer friendly floorplans, and tout these as the main advantages of modular construction. The rest will take care of itself.

Missed Deadlines, Missed Opportunities

This is an important area since so much of the customer experience can be traced to the anticipation and excitement of occupying their new home. Suprisingly, only 35% of modular homebuyers reported the home was ready for move-in by the date originally promised. While not meeting home readiness dates is not necessarily a reflection of more problems that occur with modular homes, it does have a direct impact on the overall customers satisfaction with the company. Meeting and managing the customers expectations with regard to occupancy deadlines will greatly improve overall satisfaction.

Short Term Gains Will Equal Long Term Rewards

How long a homebuyer has lived in their new modular home does impact their overall satisfaction. For those homebuyers who lived in their home for 6-9 months, the satisfaction with their purchase was less than that of site-built homes. However, for those living in their homes for greater than 18 month, the overall satisfaction was greater than that of site-built homebuyers. This is probably linked to how long it takes problems to be resolved after move-in. 62% of reported problems only took one visit to correct, while 23% took two visits, and 15% took three or more visits. That’s a total of 38% of problems took more than one visit to resolve the problems experience by the homebuyer. How you manage problems when they do occur will greatly impact the satisfaction level of your buyers.

Interesting Facts

•Of all home buyers, 40% used the Internet as a resource while shopping for their modular home.

•The overall satisfaction with the purchase of modular homes increased over time, exceeding expectations of site-built housing around the 18 month period.

•There are three important and relatively equal drivers of the modular home-buyer’s satisfaction with the Sales Staff: ‘courtesy and patience with questions’, ‘ability to follow through and solve problems’, and ‘honesty and integrity’.

•The overall condition (interior and exterior) of the home at move-in drives the modular home buyer’s assessment of Home Readiness.

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