Home Improvement, Remodeling
and
Repair - Contractor Complaints
For the first time since the beginning of the Consumer Federation of America consumer complaints survey, this year home improvement/home construction passed auto sales and auto repair as the top generator of consumer complaints.
This news confirms a long slide in consumer confidence in the building and construction industry. It also illustrates, once again, the lack of any governing body to regulate the remodeling/construction industry. We regulate Realtors who sell the new and previously owned houses, but we don’t regulate the people who build or improve them.
For years, homeowners have been telling me how difficult it is to even find anyone to work on some of the smaller jobs we all need to do around our homes. Here’s the problem: people who don’t have a lot of experience or expertise in construction or home maintenance are out there right now trying to work on these homes across the country. As a result, homeowners are finding that the jobs are not being completed to their satisfaction. Sometimes they are even prepaying for services that don’t get done.
This does not just apply to home improvement or handypersons working on small projects. New construction and new home building is generating just as many complaints. Too many homebuyers are only worried how many square feet or how big a house they can afford and not how the home is constructed and the quality of that construction. Trust me folks, the technology and products are out there now to build a home that is both energy efficient and low maintenance if the homebuyer and builder want to spend the time and money to build it that way. The problem today is homebuyers are more worried about what color carpeting they are going to install and the color scheme of the house rather than the walls and floors themselves.
There are ways to build a quality home but it takes a little more time and effort and – yes - a little more money, too. Let’s imagine two homes constructed side-by-side. One was constructed using all of the newest products and techniques available in the industry today and is 1,800 square feet. The second home, totaling 2,000 square feet, is built using less expensive materials and services, but acceptable under the code restrictions. Both houses may be the same price, but buyers seem to opt for the extra square footage and don’t seem to worry about the quality of construction.
Personally, I believe homebuyers would worry more about the construction quality if they were educated how a home really should be built as well as the great new products and services now available. Most home builders are aware of these facts, but are hesitant to build with this type of quality or expense because they aren’t convinced homebuyers want to spend that extra money for something they cannot see. The builders are also unconvinced because the products or services don’t add any extra square footage to the home. Many believe this is a “bottom line” for homeowners. This is a shame!
The problem, then, is twofold. If homebuyers will just quit buying cheaply made homes, the builders will be stuck with them and will be forced to stop building them. If builders will just build every home as if they were going to live there themselves, then perhaps homebuyers will have confidence their home purchase will not cost them an arm and a leg to maintain and fix each year.
We have to work both sides of the fence here. Homeowners need to be educated not only on how a home should be constructed but the products to use to make their home the quality purchase they expect. Likewise, home builders need to inform the buyers as to why they are building the home a certain way and why it is going to cost a little more than the one down the street. |
