In the customer satisfaction survey for new residential construction, the average for the industry weakened from the previous year. The study, conducted for the seventh time, now for the first time included separate quality indices, according to which the customers' assessments of the quality of both construction and design were very high.
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The customer satisfaction index of the EPSI Rating 2022 survey, which measures the experiences of new home buyers, was 74,6, while it was 76,4 in the previous survey. The limit for highly satisfied customers is 75 or more.
"According to the results, buyers' expectations have increased during the measurement history. This makes customers evaluate companies more and more critically, and they have to work even harder for customer satisfaction", states Heidi Laitinen, Country Director of EPSI Rating Finland.
"However, it is good to note that even though the results of the different areas of customer satisfaction have come down from the peak years, they all still exceed the limit of 75 index points."
The EPSI model is used to measure customer needs and satisfaction. Its key areas are image, expectations, product quality, service quality and value for money, each of which is measured using a versatile battery of questions.
"In general, we could say that if you can hand over the apartments to the customers flawlessly, on time and sufficiently customized, and if you can solve the customers' problems smoothly and quickly, then the customers will be satisfied", sums up Heidi Laitinen.
Since the importance of quality in construction and customer experience is great, in addition to the product quality included in the standard questions, the survey now introduced indexes that separately measure customers' assessments of the design quality and the quality of the construction itself. Both were at an excellent level: the design quality reached 80,2 index points and the implementation, i.e. construction quality, reached 78,8 index points.
In the mutual comparison of the companies, Peab returned to the top spot
The top spot in the comparison between companies was taken by Peab, which has also held first place for the previous four years. Second was Hartela, who took part in the ranking for the first time, and YIT, the winner of the previous two years, now ranked third. The average level of the industry was also exceeded by SRV, which suffered the most compared to the results of a year ago.
"For the companies that fell below the average, it cannot be said that customer satisfaction is weak either. The companies have very satisfied customers in most locations, but there are individual projects that weigh down the result," says Heidi Laitinen.
In addition to the eight companies participating in the public comparison of the results, the study also includes a separate group of medium-sized and smaller construction companies.
The annual EPSI Rating survey of new housing construction covers the customer satisfaction of the entire industry as well as the results of the eight companies that agreed to the public ranking. This time, the study interviewed 950 consumers who have received the new apartment they bought in 2022. In addition to this, around 500 people from the general population were interviewed, whose views were compared, for example, regarding the factors influencing the purchase of an apartment and the level of trust in the construction industry. EPSI Rating is an independent and non-profit academic organization.