Reducing Warranty Callbacks with Technology
In today’s technology driven world, the home building industry continues to innovate to help change how we live. Major players like Google, Amazon, and Apple for example are leading the way to help make living in our homes more enjoyable. They’re able to do this by making homes smarter.
Home builders are also taking advantage of cloud-based technologies. They use this to improve the relationships between themselves and their clients throughout the warranty period. Cutting scheduling issues and reducing emails and paperwork to fix warranty items the traditional way isn’t doing its job. Solving warranty issues, like HVAC, plumbing, or pesky bathroom fans are now just a few short taps away on your smartphone. This technology helps make many of the headaches go away for the modern homeowner.
Third-Party Raters to Reduce Warranty Callbacks
Technologies like Glasshouse offer builders real time solutions for improving client relationships. However, for many builders, this can be outside the budget. Therefore, builders are finding creative ways to keep up with their competition and keep their customers happy. This includes third-party quality inspectors. Depending on the certification you choose, a third party rater will take look at a variety of items. By providing this value to your homes, their findings help reduce utility bills and warranty callbacks. As a result, they’re helping you build a better home.
No News is Good News
As a home builder, the best thing to hear from a client is silence. And an even better thing is to receive is a 5 star review on Houzz. Limiting the number of warranty callbacks and adding extra value to the home should be your number one priority. So how do you go about achieving this? As previously mentioned, utilizing third-party energy raters is one of the top ways that builders are able to accomplish this. There are several industry recognized platforms that may fit your needs. Energy Star for Homes, ecoSelect, and NGBS are just a few that have rigorous standards in place that help you build a better home and reduce warranty callbacks.
Having an extra set of eyes on your insulation, air barriers, framing, HVAC, and more can help you catch details that you missed or simply weren’t aware of. Having an unbiased party carefully looking at your work creates a home that is better built, more comfortable, and healthier to live in.
With the residential construction sector continuing to grow, builders and subcontractors are busier than they have been in years. The strong growth can potentially lead to small mistakes by you or hired subcontractors in order to keep up the pace. Partnering with a third-party rater may help you identify items that have fallen through the cracks. Finding out about a preventable issue from a homeowner wastes valuable time and money. As a builder, your reputation, time, and money is valuable.
How Energy Ratings Help
Many third-party certifications require two inspections (a pre-drywall inspection and a final inspection). Each inspection is used to help identify issues and provide recommendations for any improvements that need to be made at these stages of construction. Below are a few items that are checked.
Pre-Drywall Inspection
- Ensures quality of insulation installation
- Improves air sealing practices
- Identifies HVAC problems early
Final Inspection
- Building infiltration test (blower door)
- Duct Leakage test
- Testing of Ventilation Strategies
Benefits
In conclusion, third-party energy raters can work with you to identify issues sooner. Your rater should knowledgeable of the best products and techniques available to ensure that the home you build is of superior quality.
Working with a quality Rater on your energy efficient home helps in many ways beyond lower warranty call backs and the energy rating. Established energy management firms have years of experience helping builders identify and market these differentiators.
This weeks post was co-written by Jeffrey Palmer.
Jeffrey Palmer is a Business Development Manager on the Building Energy Services Team. He focuses on helping builders in the Charleston, SC area build a better home.
