Homebuilding experience management firm Eliant announces winners of 25th Annual Homebuyers’ Choice Awards

For the second consecutive year, The New Home Company and Olson Homes earned top honors, taking home The Eliant at this year’s Homebuyers’ Choice Awards. Scott Smith of Grand Homes was named Customer Experience Leader of the Year.

ALISO VIEJO, CA – The winners of the 25th annual Homebuyers’ Choice Awards were announced online on March 4th, 2021 in lieu of an in-person event due to safety precautions for Covid-19. This year’s builders and individual representatives were honored for their exceptional performance and unwavering commitment to deliver a positive homebuyer experience—especially in the challenging circumstances of the past year.

The Homebuyers’ Choice Awards are presented annually by Eliant (eliant.com), a customer experience management company with more than 37 years of experience measuring homebuyer satisfaction. The winning builders and representatives were determined by analyzing the results of nearly two-hundred thousand surveys administered in 2020 to homebuyers from 185 major homebuilders across the USA. There were 33 first-place honors awarded across 13 categories, including individual representative awards.

The event’s top honor is The Eliant, a cumulative award given to builders who rate highest for Best Overall Purchase and Ownership Experience. The New Home Company and Olson Homes received this award for the multi-division and single-division segments, respectively.

TOP AWARDS RECIPIENTS

The New Home Company, a long-standing participant in the Eliant Home multi-stage homebuyer assessment and experience management program, was also honored with first place awards for Purchase Experience, Design Experience, First Year Quality, and First Year Customer Service Experience among all large-volume builders. In addition, six representatives from New Home Company earned premier awards (1st, 2nd, or 3rd in each category) for sales, design, and customer service in both Northern and Southern California markets.

“We’re extremely honored to award The New Home Company and Olson Homes with The Eliant for the second consecutive year. Their signature service, drive, and commitment to deliver exceptional homebuyer experiences continues to set the bar extremely high,” said Fernanda Luick, President of Eliant.

“To receive The Eliant again this year is a great honor,” says Leonard Miller, President and CEO of The New Home Company. “We understand that buying a new home is a huge milestone in people’s lives, and I’m proud to work with a team that goes above and beyond to ensure the best possible home buying experience for our customers.”

Olson Homes, a Southern California-based builder, once again earned The Eliant for the single-division builder segment. Olson Homes received a total of six Homebuyers’ Choice Awards, winning first place in First Year Customer Service Experience, First Year Quality, Best Customer Communication, and Customer Service Representative of the Year categories.

“We’re excited to have won such a prestigious award for the second year. This past year has been particularly challenging for everyone, so this award is testament to the perseverance, commitment, and hardwork of our team,” said Scott Laurie, President and CEO of Olson Homes.

Scott Smith from Grand Homes received the Customer Experience Leader of the Year award, an accolade that recognizes exemplary leadership in customer experience excellence across all qualifying builders.

PREMIER AWARDS WINNERS

Another clear homebuyer favorite was Century Communities, whose divisions received a total of 19 awards, 14 of which were premier awards (1st, 2nd, or 3rd in each category). Its accolades include first place for First Year Quality, Customer Service and Construction Representative of the Year.

Other standout builders include Tri Pointe Homes, winning a total of 11 awards, Irvine Pacific with 10 awards, Grand Homes and Label & Co. with six and five awards respectively. The majority of Tri Pointe Homes’ recognition was achieved in premier awards for First Year Customer Service, Sales, Design, and Construction Rep awards. Irvine Pacific also took home First Place for Purchase Experience, Design Experience, Design Rep, and First Year Customer Service.

Camelot Homes won first place for Purchase Experience, while Century Communities – Austin division took the first place for First Year Quality among high-volume builders. Label & Co. was awarded first place for Design Experience and second place for Purchase Experience among medium-volume builders, as well as Best Customer Communication. Irvine Pacific took second place for The Eliant Award in the Single Division category while a new Eliant builder, Conaway’s Homes Group was awarded second place for the Multiple Division category. Other big winners included Giddens Homes, Rosewood, HistoryMaker Homes and Minto Communities-USA.

“We also want to recognize those who have shown hard work and tremendous growth in elevating a customer-focused culture,” said Eliant Vice President of Innovation Eric Mitchell. This year’s award for the Most Improved Builder with an overall increase of nearly 13% was awarded to Diversified Pacific Communities, LLC., Cresleigh Homes Corporation and Lokal Homes were awarded second and third place, respectively.

PERCENT OF SALES FROM REFERRALS AWARD

Eliant’s experience management solution helps builders improve their customers’ purchase and ownership experiences to such a degree that homeowners become a leading source of referral sales. When analyzing top builders, the percentage of sales from referrals has nearly doubled in the past ten years. This indicates that top-performing builders are increasingly implementing Eliant’s referral driver recommendations and insights. This is captured in the Percent of Sales from Referrals award category. Taking home First Place was GL Homes, Palm Beach Family in the medium-volume division, View Homes-Armadillo, Laredo in the large-volume division, and Granite Ridge Builders in the high-volume division, which sold over 41% of their homes from referrals in 2020.

INDIVIDUAL REPRESENTATIVE AWARDS

The Eliant Homebuyers’ Choice Awards also recognize the nation’s top performing sales, construction, design and customer service field representatives as voted by homebuyers who purchased new homes in 2020. More than 5,600 representatives were evaluated in medium (MR) and high (HR) response categories.

The award for Sales Representative of the Year went to Mike Mahdi of Tri Pointe Homes, Sacramento (HR), and Stephanie Gonzalez of Label & Co. (MR). Terrance Konkel of Irvine Pacific (HR) and Melissa Rasmussen of Robson Resort Communities (MR) were named top design representatives. The top customer service representative in the high response segment was Paul Drake of Century Communities, Central Valley. In the medium response segment, Matt Smelser of Olson Homes, Obrian Jennings of The New Home Company, Southern California, Roger De Haro of The New Home Company, Southern California, and Uriel Casillas of The New Home Company, Southern California tied with perfect scores for first place. Jeremiah Hill of Century Communities, Central Valley placed first for the nation’s top construction representative (HR), while Dru Heintz of Century Communities, Arizona, Saul Martinez Galvan of Century Communities, Bay Area, Jacob O’Hair of Irvine Pacific, and John Ferguson of Minto Communities – USA tied for top construction representatives among the medium response segment.

“While we had to forgo an in-person celebration this year, it’s still an incredible honor to acknowledge these companies and individuals whose core values, skills, and commitment to homebuyers continue to set the bar higher,” commented Luick.

About the Homebuyers’ Choice Awards

The Eliant Homebuyers’ Choice Awards has been the arbiter of superior customer experience in the homebuilding industry. Powered by Eliant’s best-in-class technology, reliable data, and actionable insights, the awards consist of 13 categories, each reflective of the values, opinions, and experiences of more than 170,000 recent homebuyers from 185 major new homebuilders across the U.S. The 2021 Homebuyers’ Choice Awards was sponsored by Peninsula Publishing. For a complete list of winners and detailed selection criteria, visit Eliant.com/choice-awards.

About Eliant

Established in 1984 as the original homebuyer survey company, Eliant has evolved into a full-service experience management partner to the homebuilding industry. Powered by superior  assessments and best-in-class technology, Eliant offers homebuilders, vendors, trades, lenders and consumers reliable answers to their most critical homebuilding and home buying questions. Headquartered in Aliso Viejo, CA, Eliant is the parent of the annual Homebuyers’ Choice Awards, arbiter of homebuyer satisfaction in the homebuilding industry.