Ideal Homes - Proactive Customer Care

Not all homes come with instructions. Luckily, for Ideal Homes home buyers, their new homes do. From home owner manuals and information given out during the walk-thru to the two follow-up visits that happen during the first year of home ownership, Ideal Homes believes that well-informed home owners make happy home owners. Ideal Homes takes a proactive approach to customer service. Ron Olson, Ideal Homes Customer Care Representative, explains what takes place at the "Orientation Appointment" with the home owners prior to closing. (Closing is when buyers sign documents and loan papers and take legal possession of their new home.) He describes the orientation as an "educational tour regarding the care and use of the home." "We tell them how everything operates so the new home owners will be familiar with the home. We also cover warranty information and make them aware of maintenance tips and cleaning information regarding what products to use and not to use," Ron says. Once living in their new home, home owners receive a 60-day follow-up visit. During this appointment, minor repairs are made, and friendly reminders are given about items like changing air filters monthly and landscaping requirements for new sod and trees. In addition, the Customer Care Department reminds home owners of seasonal tips and refers them once again to Ideal Homes' two maintenance and warranty publications, "Guide to Home Ownership" and "Quick Start Guide."  Right before the home owners' one-year anniversary, they receive an 11-month follow-up visit. This appointment is similar to the 60-day follow-up, and repair items are corrected by an Ideal Homes field technician or a contractor. "Our home owners are pleasantly surprised at how well we service their homes and do the follow-up," Ron says. "We work with great trades by the way. They treat our home owners really well, and we treat them really well. In turn, the home owner has a really good experience because of that." To be pro-active in home owner maintenance, Ron recommends changing air filters once a month, changing batteries in smoke detectors twice a year, paying close attention to landscaping requirements, flushing the hot water tank (a very simple task, he says) and steam-cleaning carpets at least once a year. Ron, an Ideal employee for almost 10 years, says, "Many of us who work here own Ideal homes. We live in these homes and know how they behave. It's a great quality home, very energy efficient. We have one of the top customer satisfaction ratings in the country. We have one of the highest referral rates of builders in the country. We do our best every day to try to make everyone have a great Ideal experience."