HOUSING QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH REFERENCE TO DELIVERY METHODS

This paper considers the measurement of customer satisfaction and quality in new housing. The research so far has identified the fact that customer satisfaction in terms of new housing is more than just the technical quality of the constituent components of a house. The research has found when asking purchasers for their overall rating of the quality of their new home that certain service related aspects of the developer could skew the overall rating from very satisfied to very unsatisfied. Whilst there may not be a major difference between the ideas of the developers and those of the customers in terms of technical quality in new housing, it would appear that there is an abyss between the two in terms of perceptions of what contributes overall quality. This perception gap seems to be the problem area, and this gap appears to be more to do with perceptions about service issues than technical issues. It appreciates this by discussing a range of external issues that have been used outside of construction to interpret quality; and considers their application to define and measure quality in new housing. This paper proposes that housing quality ought to be considered in terms of economic and ecological dimensions in addition to traditional, architectural, technical and qualitative dimensions. The relative nature of these dimensions, and hence of housing quality, varies according to the societal context in which they occur. Consequently, this paper suggests that more integrated studies of housing availability, affordability and quality in precise localities should replace the transposition of generalized concepts and normative criteria from one locality to others.