Buyers give Del Webb top ratings
The J.D. Power and Associates new home customer satisfaction surveys out Wednesday moved Del Webb into the top spot for overall satisfaction.
Del Webb, a subsidiary of third-ranked Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte Homes, specializes in active adult communities for the 50-plus age range.
Del Webb developed Sun City Huntley and also built homes at the Edgewater in Elgin, the Grand Dominion in Mundelein and Shorewood Glen in Shorewood.
"This is validation from our customers that they value our commitment to them," said Chris Naatz, vice president of sales for Pulte Homes.
Westlake Village, Calif.-based J.D. Power said the slowing housing market may be helping the overall quality of service in the industry.
"In these tough times builders are realizing the benefits of relationships with home buyers," said Paula Sonkin, vice president of real estate and construction at J.D. Power. "Overall satisfaction remains high."
The marketing information services firm compiles several indexes, including measures of overall satisfaction, quality, design and mortgages.
Topping J.D. Power's new home quality list was South Barrington-based Kennedy Homes.
"If you are looking for a home with not a lot of problems, Kennedy may be the one for you," Sonkin said.
Each index used different criteria. At Schaumburg-based Lakewood Homes, LHI Mortgage topped the mortgage originator list. Del Webb also topped the new home design index.
Prominent builder Buz Hoffman's Lakewood Homes topped the overall satisfaction list last year and came in second this year.
"The same builders tend to do well every year," Sonkin said.
J.D. Power found overall home quality improved this year with new-home buyers reporting an average of 13 problems with their homes, a 7 percent decline from 2006.
The index found the fewest new home complaints in Minneapolis and the most in the Washington D. C. area.
Rounding out the list was Schaumburg-based William Ryan Homes. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.
"Some people assume because a company is at the bottom of the list that is the worst," Sonkin said. "But we're ranking the crème of the crop."
The indexes are based on responses from more than 50,000 buyers of newly built single-family homes, after an average of four to 18 months in the home. In the Chicago area, more than 2,000 home buyers participated in the survey, the firm said.