Centex, Pulte, Weekley dubbed top builders in Tampa

The top builders for customer satisfaction in the Tampa Bay area are Centex Homes, Pulte Homes and David Weekley Homes.

So say the hundreds of people who filled out J.D. Power and Associates 2008 builder customer satisfaction survey.

Here's the list

A few thoughts. Just because your builder targets the budget market doesn't mean it's hopeless with a hammer. Centex is hardly an upscale builder, but collected the highest score of "5" in eight of 10 categories having to do with workmanship, customer service, price and amenities.

The lowest ranked builders in the Tampa market were Beazer, KB, Mercedes, Ryland, D.R. Horton and Maronda. All scored 2 out of 5 in overall customer satisfaction, which J.D. Power considers below average.

Strangely enough, KB was one of the top ranked builders in the Jacksonville survey, which just goes to show that brand is no guaranteed badge of quality or ineptitude.

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Comments

[Steve Simon]

Differing markets have a very different set of people performing the same tye of work.
A national builder might have a great regional or local project person in one area, and someone less trustworthy in the next region or locale.
Even the same builder and the same product from subdivision to subdivision can produce varying results depending upon the subcontractors. After all it comes down to, "who is swinging the hammer"
Just my thoughts:)

[James Thorner]

Good points. One further thing I learned later after talking to J.D. Power: Jacksonville has a lower overall average builder score. The bar is set higher in Tampa in determining who's average, above average and below average.

[Jonathan]

The other side of this argument is that JD Power is a subscription service for customer surveys. So are these really the top builders in the are? Doubtfully so. JDP is expensive, and it's believed that favoritism is shown based on your subcription.If you're not entirely inclusive and unbiased, how can it be accurate? Would you be unbiased when some are paying you when others aren't?

What's always scary about new home builders is their financial integrity. The builder might look great on the outside, but be rotten to the core financially. Few things are worse than having a builder collapse financially half way through completing your home. One of the big advantages of buying a resale home is--what you see is what you get.