Homebuilding experience management firm, Eliant, announces winners of 24th Annual Homebuyers’ Choice Award 2020
The New Home Company comes in first among multi-divisional builders and The Olson Company named top single-division builder; Dave Patwell of Irvine Pacific wins top individual honor.
Homebuilders who provided their customers with the best purchase and ownership experiences, according to surveyed homebuyers, were honored in the 24th annual Eliant Homebuyers’ Choice Awards that took place on March 5th, 2020.
The Homebuyers’ Choice Awards are presented annually by Eliant (www.eliant.com), a customer experience management company that has been surveying buyers of new homes for more than 36 years. For 2020, the winning builders and representatives were determined by analyzing the results of 170,000 surveys administered to homebuyers from 178 major homebuilders across the U.S. A total of 28 first-place awards were given at this year’s awards. Although approximately 40% of Eliant’s clients are east of the Mississippi, western builders dominated this year’s 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 Eliant was awarded to The New Home Company and The Olson Company for the multi-division and single-division segments, respectively.
TOP AWARDS RECIPIENTS
The New Home Company, a long-standing participant in Eliant’s Benchmark Evaluation Series, was also honored with the First-Place Award for First Year Customer Service Experience among all high-volume builders. In addition, four New Home Company representatives were awarded top honors for delivering extraordinary customer experiences.
“We couldn’t be happier to award The New Home Company for its ongoing commitment to delivering excellence in customer satisfaction year after year,” said Fernanda Luick, President of Eliant. Lawrence Webb, Chairman and CEO of The New Home Company, added “The Eliant Award is the ultimate recognition of all we do to make our customers our top priority and ensure we’re constantly delivering the best service possible. We’re thrilled to receive this award and will continue to raise the bar in providing outstanding customer experiences.”
The Olson Company, a Southern California based builder, once again earned The Eliant award for the single-division builder segment. The Olson Company received a grand total of thirteen Homebuyers’ Choice Awards, winning First Place for Purchase Experience, First Year Customer Service Experience, First Year Quality, Best Customer Communication, Design Representative of the Year, and Customer Service Representative of the Year.
“It’s an honor to win The Eliant award and receive recognition for our unwavering commitment to delivering the best possible experience for homebuyers. I’m fortunate to work among a group of people whose genius and hard work make it all possible and continues to move us forward every day,” said Scott Laurie, President and CEO of The Olson Company. “To be recognized at such a prestigious event and among so many talented builders is something we don’t take for granted, and we will continue to deliver an unsurpassed level of service.”
PREMIER AWARDS WINNERS
Another clear homebuyer favorite was Century Communities, whose divisions received a total of fourteen awards, nine of which were premier awards (1st, 2nd, or 3rd place in each category) including First Place for Purchase Experience, Design Experience, First Year Quality in high volume builder segments, as well as First Place for Most Improved Builder. Century Communities also received premier awards for First Year Customer Service Experience and Highest Percentage of Sales from Referrals.
Other highly awarded builders include Irvine Pacific, winning a total of seven awards, Grand Homes with six awards, and The TRI Pointe Group and Rosewood Homes winning a total of five awards each. The majority of Irvine Pacific’s recognition was achieved in premier awards for Purchase Experience, First Year Quality, First Year Customer Service, and Best Customer Communication. Irvine Pacific also took home First Place for Design Experience and Percentage of Sales from Referrals.
Rosewood Homes won First Place for both First Year Quality and First Year Customer Service Experience among medium-volume builders. They also took Second Place for The Eliant Award in the Single Division category while The TRI Pointe Group was awarded Second Place for the Multiple Division category. Other big winners included GL Homes of Florida, Label & Co., Woodside Homes, and Minto Communities-USA.
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. This generative referral cycle is captured in the Percent of Sales from Referrals award category. Taking home First Place was MainVue Homes in the medium-volume segment, Irvine Pacific in the large-volume segment, and Granite Ridge Builders in the high-volume segment, which sold over 56% of their homes from referrals in 2019.
Each year, Eliant analyzes its builder clients’ sales from referrals. In 2009, 32% of the top ten builders’ sales were sourced from referrals. This year the number has grown to 57%. These numbers indicate that top-performing builders are increasingly implementing Eliant’s key referral driver recommendations.
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 2019. More than 5,300 representatives were evaluated in Medium (MR) and High (HR) response categories.
The award for Sales Representative of the Year went to Blake Wuellner of Century Communities, Austin (HR), and Michael Wang of The New Home Company, Southern California (MR). Nancy Semas of Anthem United Communities (HR) and Anne Mandala of The Olson Company (MR) were named top design representatives. The top customer service representatives were Paul Drake of Century Communities, Central Valley (HR) and Matt Smelser of The Olson Company (MR). Finally, Daniel Bugher (HR) and Kurt Depuydt (MR), both from Minto Communities – USA, were named the nation’s number one construction representatives.
The Customer Experience Leader of the Year, sponsored by First American Title Company, was awarded to Dave Patwell, Director of Customer Care for Irvine Pacific. Patwell helped create and ensure the consistent delivery of memorable customer experiences from sales through customer service. Since starting with Eliant in 2013, Irvine Pacific’s ‘Willingness to Recommend’ ratings have improved for seven consecutive years!
“It’s an honor to recognize these individuals whose skills and core values are reflected in the extraordinary customer experiences they deliver every day,” commented Fernanda Luick, President of Eliant.
“In addition to highlighting our winning builders and representatives, it is also important to recognize those companies making progress in creating a customer-centric culture,” said Eliant Vice President of Innovation, Eric Mitchell. The 2020 award for the Most Improved Builder was given to Century Communities, Utah Division.
The Homebuyers’ Choice Awards 2020 was sponsored by Pacific Sunbelt Mortgage, New American Funding, First American Title, loanDepot, IB Construction, LJP Construction, My Home’s Story, Peninsula Publishing, JWilliams Staffing, and Truss Creative. For a complete list of winners and detailed selection criteria, visit Eliant.com/choice-awards/.
About the Homebuyers’ Choice Awards
For nearly 25 years 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 178 major new homebuilders across the U.S.
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.