Whose Brand is it Anyway?
December 15, 2005
Greg Robinson, Customer Loyalty Blog
I was visiting my mother recently when I was struck by the stark contrast in her neighborhood. On one side of the street were a row of beautiful new homes ranging from 2,000 to 3,500 square feet that sell for $600,000 to $800,000 with well manicured lawns and landscaping. On the other side of the street were remnants of a construction site that has overgrown with weeds.
The contrasting conditions have existed for the two years since my mother moved into her home. It seemed with the pace of new home construction that it would simply be a matter of time before the construction site was developed and new homes were built on the raw land. So we waited to see what would happen.
Then the parking lot was taken out from the model home. Ground was broken to build a new house where the parking lot had been. The model home was sold. And the raw land became overgrown with weeds.
See pictue of "Dirt Mountain" by clicking on link below.
{Do you know where Dirt Mountain is? The first person who posts a comment with the correct identity of the community and the builder will win a $50 gift certificate.}
Being a good son, I decided to make a few calls on my mother’s behalf to see what was going on with the land. I started with the builder’s website—the community was no longer listed as an active community. So I emailed the customer service department listed on the website and got a prompt response from Lenny which said, “I have been told that my company intends on continuing the construction process to develop the rest of the [community] and to do so a.s.a.p. However, delays are very common in this industry. Hopefully, you will be pleased to know that we are presently at permitting stage for the area across the street. This usually indicates the construction will commence in a short period of time. Thank you for your inquiry.”
When I pressed Lenny to define what a.s.a.p. meant in terms of actual days, I was referred to Howard, the VP of Sales. When I called his office, I was referred to Joan in the Sales Center. She did some research and told me that a.s.a.p. meant that sales would begin in 2007 and she referred me to Tony in customer service to get information on what would be done to clean up the construction site in the interim. Tony called, told me he would find out what was happening, and never called me back.
See picture of homes opposite "Dirt Mountain" by clicking on link below.
I told a client of mine about the situation and he told me that he new the developer of the site and the developer, not the builder, owned the land. I made me wonder why the representatives of the builder did not tell me this. It also made me wonder whether the builder or the developer has more at stake in terms of reputation given the eyesore the construction site has become.
From the developer’s standpoint, the value of the site has not become less valuable because of the weeds and dirt piles. They have no incentive to clean up the site. As land prices go up, the value of the site goes up.
On the other hand, my guess is that the value of the homes across the street is being negatively impacted based on the ugly view from their homes. Wouldn’t you pay more for a house on a beautifully landscaped street than one across from an overgrown construction site?
I suspect that the homeowners don’t make a distinction between the builder and the developer and, frankly, think of them as one as the same. So a builder’s cries that they are not responsible for the construction site even though they may have an option on the land is likely to fall on deaf ears when a customer decides how much he or she is willing to pay for the house across the street.
It is ironic that the brand damage being done by the existence of the construction site is borne solely by the builder even though they are not responsible for the land. In this case, the builder seems to have no recourse to ensure that the developer maintains the entire site in a way that is consistent with the builder’s brand image or is not concerned with the impact that dirt mountain has on the willingness of their customers to refer them to others.
© Carpe Diem Consultants, Inc.
http://www.loyalty-cdci.com