Impacts of residential construction defects on customer satisfaction

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of defects on the satisfaction of residential construction customers. Three working hypotheses were tested: first, defects in residential construction impact the customer satisfaction; second, different defects have different impacts on customer satisfaction; and third, interviewing customers about defects in their residential units is not a reliable method to collect data. Design/methodology/approach The research investigated correlations between data on defects and customer satisfaction surveys carried out by a construction company on its projects. Data were cross-checked to determine what kinds of defects have the worse impact on customer satisfaction. Findings The occurrence of defects does not necessarily jeopardize customer satisfaction, although it appears to be a concern to the customers who responded to the survey. When the occurrence of defects did interfere with customer satisfaction, it was found that the worse impacts resulted from the occurrence of multiple defects in a single unit, the inability of the construction company to communicate with the customer after a claim was filed, and the occurrence of functional defects. Results suggest that interviewing customers about the defect occurrence in their units is not a reliable method to collect data for research purposes. Practical implications Results can be used to help companies better define continuous improvement activities and avoid the occurrence of defects that cause the worse impacts to customer satisfaction. Originality/value Data availability is a challenge for studies on defects. This study had direct access to data from a construction company, which made the presented analyses possible.