Some new-home builders probably view 2007 as one of the worst possible years to roll out a new provincewide customer satisfaction survey to new-home buyers across Alberta.

But the folks at the Alberta New Home Warranty Program (ANHWP) take a different view, says program president and CEO Dennis Little.

Consider the facts.

While prices are cooling demand for new homes in Alberta, the total volume of housing starts is still expected to make 2007 the third-best year on record, meaning few in the industry will experience anything that feels like a market slowdown.

Instead, the new-home-construction industry can brace itself for another year in a business characterized by strong demand for a quality product - and complicated by continued shortages of skilled labour and the highly unpredictable hassles of pricing a product consistently rocked by rising energy costs, not to mention the weather.

Market complications aside, Little says Alberta's new-home builders are good at what they do - and want to do better.

Which is exactly why ANHWP has forged a new relationship with J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information-services company that delivers highly respected quality and satisfaction data on a variety of products, based on information collected from millions of consumers a year.

In the past, companies enrolled with ANHWP could choose to have their customers surveyed as part of the program's Customer Choice Awards. The top three winners in each market (from Grande Prairie through to Medicine Hat) were announced publicly.

Other participants received feedback, but not a formal ranking in terms of how their company was doing compared to other firms building in a similar price point market.

"We're at a point in history where that isn't good enough as an indicator (of performance)," says Little.

Beginning this July, new-home owners across Alberta will be asked to complete surveys based on all aspects of their new-home buying experience, from their first visit to a model home, through to construction and the first six months of occupancy.

Feedback to individual builders will begin almost immediately after the first surveys are returned, giving builders access to real-time data on the primary interests and concerns of their clientele, says Darren Slind, senior director for real estate and performance improvement practices with J.D. Power and Associates.

The results will be posted on the Internet by September 2008, along with "power circle" points to give consumers a way to compare builders in different markets and price points. (Firms with five power circles will be considered "best," with three circles earning an "average" assessment.)

J.D. Power and Associates is already collecting similar data in 34 of North America's largest markets, including the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa/Carleton region. While some of those surveys focus on high-volume companies, the Alberta survey will cover all firms enrolled in the ANHWP.

Launched in 1974 to help new-home builders provide a package of warranty protections and set improved performance standards, a builder's ANHWP membership was once considered a prerequisite for high-ratio financing.

Today's ANHWP, which remains voluntary, includes close to 750 companies across Alberta. Together, they built approximately 30,000 new homes in 2006, a figure that accounts for between 80 and 85 per cent of the new homes for sale in 2006 (it does not include building permits), says Little.

Customer satisfaction surveys can be a tough sell to those who haven't experienced the benefits, admits Garry Zetsen, of Camrose-based Zetsen Master Builders Inc. A long-time ANHWP member and a board member from 1992 to early 2007, Zetsen wasn't an early advocate of the Customer Choice award program, which was set up in 1998.

The company eventually opted in, believing it would be easier than administering its own survey. Zetsen says they were surprised to find it also yielded better information.

More specifically, he remembers reviewing survey data that showed clients wanted a more courteous interaction with field staff. Other survey results showed that while clients appreciated that service work was completed, they wanted it done in a more timely fashion.

Zetsen, whose company has won Customer Choice awards several times, says the data helped him zero in on specific business practices to improve. More importantly, it helped him understand his business in terms of the many relationships involved.

He expects the new survey to yield even better data. He also likes knowing he'll be able to attend professional development programs set up by J.D. Power and Associates and based on the global information-service company's broad range of experience in many industries, including new-home construction.

The new survey will be of more value to consumers, too, as they'll be able to log onto the Internet to compare builder rankings at similar price points, says Zetsen.

The whole process delivers what Slind describes as a "transparency to the marketplace."

Transparency - and a commitment to improvement, adds Little.

Last year's Customer Choice data shows a two-per-cent rate of customer dissatisfaction. That means 29,400 relatively happy new home buyers - and 600 with complaints.

Numbers such as that show Alberta "has created a certain level of confidence in the marketplace," says Little.

He and Zetsen are also quick to note the level of dissatisfaction with new homes enrolled in the ANHWP has not risen alongside the recent building boom.

"In other words, most builders are doing a really good job of fulfilling (their customers') expectations," says Zetsen. "If you bring a sense of time to (the discussion), I'm astounded at how well the industry has done."

Is there room for improvement? Absolutely, says Little, especially since the two per cent typically includes a couple of one-off horror stories. He views the new surveys and professional development opportunities as one more way to help Alberta builders do an even better job.

Now - if only someone could do something about energy prices and the weather.

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)