Beyond the sale: comprehensive customer care for house buyers

Ash  and Ruth are first-time buyers who purchased a townhouse built by This Land in 2023. After living in several rental properties with poor energy efficiency ratings, finding a house that was more environmentally friendly with energy-efficient features was a priority.

However, before purchasing their new home, Ash had reservations about newly built properties due to people’s experiences with other developers; he had seen and read about challenges with poor-quality construction and issues remaining unresolved for lengthy periods. As a result, he was unwilling to consider a newly built house. Nevertheless, when Ruth saw an advert for an open day at This Land’s Spiregrass Square development in Cambridge, which looked like it would offer houses that met their needs, she persuaded Ash to accompany her.

“I was quite pessimistic about the visit because I was anti-new build at that point”, shares Ash. “The speed at which many newly built houses are being constructed made me question the standard of what was being built and, after reading horror stories on different Facebook pages, I believed that a newly built house would be plagued by problems.”

“When we viewed one of the houses on the estate, we were blown away by the specification and the finish”, comments Ash. The property wasn’t the right size for the couple but, when they were offered the opportunity to view one of the remaining townhouses onsite, they realised that a newly built house could be the home they were searching for. “What set it apart was the quality of the finish and we fell in love. Bearing in mind that the property had no flooring and no garden at this stage, it highlights how impressed we were by the design and the quality.”

Identifying and resolving problems

However, while they loved the house, Ash still had concerns about what would happen should the couple discover any defects in their home. While This Land offers a two-year aftercare service as a standard and a 10-year warranty on its new homes, it was the communication and transparency that Ash and Ruth found most reassuring after moving into their new home.

Even before moving in, This Land’s customer care manager arranged a tour of the house with them both. “Anything we were even slightly concerned about was noted and promptly sorted”, explains Ash, “our pre-conception was that housebuilders are only concerned with sales, but we quickly got the impression that This Land genuinely cares about the people living in its houses.”

To enable people to efficiently report any problems that arise with their new home, This Land uses an aftercare portal. Ash notes that “the reporting process is so efficient. I can log anything easily and see its status. Anything that we have reported has been resolved quickly; we have never had a situation where we have been left waiting for a repair – in fact, it is usually our availability that is the challenge.”

In addition to the house tour, a welcome booklet was provided for Ash and Ruth, which clearly outlined This Land’s responsibilities as the developer and what to expect as the house settled. This was particularly helpful for the couple who had no experience with a newly built property. Ash notes that “everything documented in the welcome book was so helpful. We knew what changes to expect to the house during our first summer and winter. With the two-year aftercare commitment, we are confident that any cosmetic damage such as cracks will be repaired by This Land promptly when we report it.”

After moving in, the couple experienced a challenge with the thermostats in the house. “The thermostats weren’t lining up with the correct rooms”, explains Ash, “but we reported on the aftercare portal and within a few days, we had been contacted to arrange for this issue to be resolved for free”.

Ash also highlights how quickly a problem with the underfloor heating was fixed by This Land. “When our underfloor heating wasn’t quite kicking in, we reported the issue using the portal and, again, it was fixed within just a few weeks. This Land never gave us the expectation that things might not go wrong, but its process to resolve anything that does go wrong has been to an exceptionally high standard, which we have appreciated”.

Care goes beyond customers

To ensure that its houses are environmentally friendly and energy efficient, This Land installs air-source heat pumps in all its houses. Ash and Ruth’s house has an EPC rating of B and a carbon-neutral design. “Ruth cares a lot about the environment, so it is important to us to live in a property with a much higher PEC rating than we had previously. We love having a heat pump as it is better for the environment.”

“One of the contractors who has visited the house confirmed it has the best insulation he has seen in a new build, which gives us peace of mind. We know our house is future-proofed and will still be high-quality in five or even 10 years”, continues Ash.

Having a heat pump is a new feature for the couple but This Land arranges an instructional presentation with its installation team for buyers to provide a clear explanation of using the heat pump, which Ash appreciated. “The heat pump is quite complex to set up but the talk was so helpful and the heat pump is automatic so we don’t need to worry about it now.”

Why This Land?

“We love our house. It feels like This Land has spent time building good-quality houses and they care about the work they produce. I have gone from being anti-new build to pro-new build because of our experience with This Land and its customer care”, concludes Ash.