HOME BUILDERS GET C-MINUS 22 OF 40 IN REGION RATED BELOW AVERAGE.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - More than half of the home builders in Southern California received a below-average rating from customers in a J.D. Power & Associates survey released on Wednesday.

Twenty-two companies, including Calabasas-based Ryland Homes, placed below the industry average, and 18 were ranked above it in Westlake Village-based Power's 2004 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study.

This is the second consecutive year that Power published marks for all the companies evaluated, but the first time the greater-Los Angeles metropolitan area from Ventura thorough the Inland Empire was studied separately. Last year's study included San Diego, which is now a separate market. In that analysis 25 out of 45 builders received average or lower marks.

However, overall satisfaction in the current study increased seven points from last year, lifting the index average to 114 points, Power said. By comparison, overall industry improvement averaged three points in the 25 markets studied nationally, the company said.

Builders included in the Southern California study sell in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, in Simi Valley and elsewhere in Ventura County, and in the Inland Empire. To be eligible for evaluation, the companies had to have sold at least 150 homes in 2003.

``Builders are providing higher levels of satisfaction than they have in the past, and we're delighted to see it,'' said Paula Sonkin, Power's executive director for real estate industry practice.

California Pacific, an Irvine builder, topped the list with an index rating of 140.

KB Home, which has projects in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, rated 117. The company has improved its score 14 points in two years, said Jeff Mezger, KB Home chief operating officer.

``They are very critical for us. We focus heavily on the customer in our business. These reports are really a report card for us. We definitely pay attention to them,'' he said.

And even though Ryland ranked below the industry average of 114 with a rating of 108, its officials, too, were pleased with some improvement.

Spokeswoman Marya Jones said that the company improved its customer satisfaction rating six points in this survey and 10 in the previous one.

``It shows that we remain focused on home buyer satisfaction, and customers are noticing it,'' she said.

Gregory J. Wilcox, [phone]

greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com