Customer satisfaction, JD Power, & Pulte

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Pulte makes a BIG DEAL about their JD Power’s awards for customer satisfaction. JD Power’s awards are based on surveys of homeowners taken the first few weeks or months that they’re in their new houses.

But, is “customer satisfaction” a good measure of judging the quality of a house? Is the typical homebuyer in a position to evaluate the quality of construction of a house’s structural, mechanical, and electrical systems? Within the first few weeks or months of occupying their new house?

It would be like judging the soundness of a country’s financial system based on a customer's satisfaction with a local bank within weeks of their opening a new account. The fact is that most homebuyers aren’t in a position to evaluate the quality of construction of the structural, mechanical, and electrical systems that make up a house.

Then there’s the fact that defects can take MONTHS and even YEARS to discover:
* roof trusses that are barely attached
* stucco that is defective
* a retaining wall collapses
* roofs leak
* tile floors crack
* wood floors turn black
* unsightly stormwater lagoons are discovered to be constructed FEET off in elevation
* etc.

A little research on the internet (google “Pulte shoddy”) and you’ll discover HUNDREDS of complaints and lawsuits for shoddy house construction.

So who’s right? The average customer who knows little or nothing about the structural, mechanical, and electrical systems that make up a house, or the construction experts, who tell us that:
* the roof trusses are barely attached
* the stucco wasn’t mixed or applied properly
* the lagoons weren’t built right
* the concrete wasn’t mixed right
* the soil under the foundation slab wasn’t compacted (and now the slab is settling differentially and cracking)
* etc.

Or do you simply believe your own eyes?
* The roof truss connections with one or no nails that miss their target or are driven into split wood
* The stucco that is cracked, with rusting corner bead exposed
* The musty, moldy smell coming from your walls
* The water coming from your ceiling
* The retaining wall that collapsed
* The plants growing and birds walking around in the middle of stormwater lagoons
* The dead and dying trees in wetlands
* Cracked tile floors
* Wood floors that have turned black
* Etc.

So, who do you believe? Pulte’s sales people? JD Powers? The internet? Construction experts? Or, your own lying eyes?

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