prev next

 

Brookfield Homes Calgary Snapshot

---

Company: Brookfield Homes Calgary (previously known as Heartland Homes and Hawthorne Homes)

Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta

Principals: John Olson, president; Doug Owens, general manager for multi-family

Employees: 55 in the Calgary multi-family division (167 in three divisions across Alberta)

Operations: Two divisions in Calgary and one in Edmonton

Market segments: First-time home buyers ages 25-35 and older “right-sizers”

Product: Multi-family condominiums; stacked bungalows; and semi-detached and detached single-family homes

2010 Closings: 200+ for Calgary multi-family division alone

2010 Revenues: $399 million for all of Brookfield Residential

 

 

Take an HD Video Tour of a Brookfield Home

 

 

 

There’s a lot of talk about what drives customer satisfaction in the home building industry, but in this economy, it often comes down to two factors: delivering a quality home and charging a reasonable price. Brookfield Homes Calgary does both and much more, which is why the company has been presented an AVID Award for the best customer satisfaction in Alberta among builders with more than 150 closings a year.

Based on home buyer surveys from 2010, the award technically goes to Hawthorne Homes Calgary, which merged with Heartland Homes earlier this year to become Brookfield Homes. According to survey respondents, the Calgary-based builder excelled in these five areas:

1. Value for price paid for options and upgrades was reasonable (16.38 points above Canadian housing industry average)

2. Items corrected before move-in (+10.21)

3. Time until closing (+8.39)

4. Buying process was pleasant (+5.80)

5. Site supervisor was dedicated to quality (+5.49)

“While it may sound cliché, I take tremendous pleasure in pulling an AVID report or two and seeing that the top five survey scores always, always relate directly to a customer interaction with our staff,” says Doug Owens, business manager for Brookfield Homes Calgary. “Our staff make all the difference — the level of care, the personal pride, and the ownership they take in ensuring we meet the customer’s expectation is second to none.”

This level of customer care is inherent in Brookfield’s corporate culture. “We really are about customer satisfaction and it goes deep within our roots as a company,” says John Olson, president of Brookfield’s Alberta division. “We believe we have to keep our customers satisfied, so they tell their friends and generate repeat business.” Today, about 35 percent of Brookfield’s customers are referrals, Olson adds. “So we know if we do a good job with our customers, they will recommend their friends and family.”

A People Business

It takes a customer-oriented staff to deliver the home buyer experience Brookfield does, and it all begins with hiring the right people, Olson says. “When we hire people, we look at their personalities and do profile assessments on people just to see how well we think they’ll deal with customers. We are in the people business, so we need to make sure we have the right people on staff who know how to serve our customers and home buyers.”

To reward employees for delivering outstanding customer experience, Brookfield offers financial incentives that start paying out at 85 percent customer satisfaction, with a full pay out at 96 percent. Generally, Brookfield has 94 percent of its home buyers willing to recommend the company to family and friends.

Although the Canadian housing industry weathered the global recession better than the United States, builders still had to make sure their product was positioned for cash-strapped consumers. “We’ve had a challenging time over the last number of years, but one of the things that has helped get us through is where we’re positioned in the market,” Olson explains, adding that its homes are typically priced from $250,000 up to just under $400,000. “We are very much positioned in the affordable end of the market, which is the biggest share of the market. Our position will help us get through the tough times.”

One strategy that helps Brookfield keep pricing low while boosting customer satisfaction is its approach to options. Many builders look to options to significantly pad margins, but Brookfield doesn’t. “While we expect to make a margin on everything we sell, we have very conservative expectations when it comes to option margins,” Owens says. “Today’s buyers are very well educated, and with the proliferation of home improvement stores in the Calgary market it makes comparative shopping very easy. Buyers recognize when you are asking for an unreasonable price for flooring, tile, granite and other options. Our pricing strategy is to present value that the consumer can easily see and readily compare to our competition.”

Another way Brookfield keeps pricing competitive is by offering “right sized” homes that are designed to offer a living experience that belies their relatively small size. Brookfield builds as small as 800 square feet, and its average home size is 1200 square feet. Not only are these homes affordable, they’re also cost-effective to maintain.

“When you start talking about green, we’re the Honda Civic of the home building industry,” Olson says. Although most green initiatives have a higher return on investment when used with larger homes, Brooksfield’s homes are naturally energy efficient because of their small size and tight construction. “Our building envelop is very well constructed from a heat-loss perspective. When you look at the mechanical systems, we have high efficient furnaces and hot water systems. Our homes are very economical to operate,” Olson says, adding that the company continually studies emerging green technologies and is willing to move further in that direction when they become both proven and economical.

“When you get down to the right size home, that’s where we’re good at designing small spaces,” Olson says. “When you start getting into a small footprint, you have to get into how the rooms flow. And we’ve won tons of awards for our design.”

A Great Start

While today’s consumers are understandably concerned about price, they are also focused on quality. To that end, Brookfield as been delighting buyers by delivering “zero deficiency” homes more often than not.

“A while back we realized that the only way we were going to be able to meet customers expectations was to deliver zero deficiency homes,” explains Owens, adding that it’s been a tremendous effort and years in the making. “We have learned some valuable lessons in setting expectations for both the customer and our trade partners, and most importantly we have improved our communication inside and outside the company.”

Brookfield’s process is relatively simple: Two weeks prior to possession, the builder meets with the homeowner to do walk through and identify any deficiencies. “At this point, the home is done and we are really picking out minor cosmetic deficiencies with the customer,” Owens says. “In many instances, there are even zero-deficiency pre-occupancy walkthroughs.”

After the walk-through, Brookfield’s trade partners and staff put the finishing touches on the home. “Although this sounds simple, it feels Herculean in effort sometimes, and I have to credit our trade partners and staff who go out of their way at times to make this happen for our purchasers,” Owens says.

Moving Forward

Currently, Brookfield is working in 13 developments in Calgary and Edmonton. Olson projects 100 to 200 units for its multi-family division in 2011. Meanwhile, its single-family programs are ongoing and benefit from the fact that a sister division oversees land development. “Every year we do a five-year business plan and we know we have the land to support it. Because Brookfield Homes Calgary doesn’t have to worry about land acquisition, it’s able to focus its energies on product development and customer services — or as Olson says, “the tangible things that mean the most to us.”