J.D. POWER RELEASES ANNUAL SURVEY ON HOME BUILDERS.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Wilcox may refer to: Place names in the United States
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WESTLAKE Westlake, city (1990 pop. 27,018), Cuyahoga co., NE Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland; inc. as a city 1956. A growing city, its various manufactures include ink and plastics. VILLAGE - For the second consecutive year, California Pacific California Pacific can refer to either:
prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a J.D. Power survey released Wednesday. Customer satisfaction increased to an indexed average of 107 this year, up from 101 in 2002, said Power's 2003 New Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study. Irvine-based California Pacific and Corona-based Del Webb each received a score of 127. In leading last year's survey they each scored 120 on Power's customer satisfaction index. Neither company returned calls seeking comment on Wednesday. This year Westlake Village-based Power included 45 builders in the survey conducted by mail and received 8,646 responses in the market area from Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. to San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. . Los Angeles-based KB Home ranked 14th with a score of 111, up from last year's score of 103. Last year the company ranked 18th of 38 builders and was also scored just above the industry average. KB Home did rank among the top builders in the Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. and Austin, Texas, markets. Asked to comment on the results, KB Home, one of the nation's biggest builders, issued a statement attributed to Jay Moss, the company's regional general manager for Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . ``KB Home is pleased to have improved our score in Southern California and to have helped raise the benchmark for customer satisfaction in the market. This improvement is important because we know it reflects the voice of our homebuyers and we look forward to continuing our commitment toward achieving 100% customer satisfaction,'' it said. Calabasas-based Ryland ranked 28th with a score of 102. The company scored 99 last year, 20th of 38 builders, said Paula Sonkin, Power's senior director of the real estate industries practice. Ryland ranked among the top builders in Minneapolis/St. Paul market. Ryland spokeswoman Pam Krebs Krebs , Sir Hans Adolf 1900-1981. German-born British biochemist who discovered (1936) the Krebs cycle. He shared a 1953 Nobel Prize for investigations into metabolic processes. said that customer satisfaction is an important part of the company's culture but sidestepped addressing the issue of again scoring below the market average. ``We'll be looking to continue to improve our scores. We look at all aspects of our operation,'' she said. Sonkin said there was improvement across the board nationally and in Southern California. And builders take the study seriously. ``They have have to improve or the other guys are going to come up and pass them, so they are not resting on their laurels,'' Sonkin said. While Power, which funded the study, releases scores it keeps detailed information about a builder's rating confidential. The company will discuss specific results with any builder willing to pay a fee for the information. Nationwide, overall customer satisfaction increased 8 percent over 2002. The robust home-building market has resulted in about 1.2 million new housing starts annually since 1998. Pulte Homes Pulte Homes, Inc (NYSE: PHM) is a Bloomfield Hills, MI based company founded by Bill Pulte. Pulte is the third largest (by units) builder of homes and residential community developers in the United States according to Builder Magazine's"Builder 100", and is the nation's , including its Del Webb and DiVosta brands, ranked highest in 12 of the 21 markets Power surveyed. And the company ranked among the top three in 17 markets. ``Pulte's continued focus on customer satisfaction is evident, but what is remarkable is that they have been able to improve on already high scores,'' said Sonkin. Gregory J. Wilcox, (818) 713-3743 greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com SATISFIED CUSTOMERS Builders rated in the top 10 for customer satisfaction in Southern California. 1. California Pacific...127 1. Del Webb.............127 3. Lennar...............126 4. M.B.K................122 5. Pulte................120 5. Shea.................120 7. S&S..................119 8. Centex...............117 9. Greystone............115 10. Standard Pacific....114 10. Warmington..........114 Source: J.D. Power and Associates CAPTION(S): box Box: SATISFIED CUSTOMERS (see text) |
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