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Mattamy Calgary Snapshot

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Company: Mattamy Homes, Calgary Division

Headquarters: Calgary, Alberta

Principal: Greg Mills

Employees: 45

Operations: Suburban Airdrie, new projects coming in all quadrants of Calgary market

Market segments: First-time buyers, move-ups and some empty-nesters

Product: Single-family detached homes and attached townhouses

2010 Closings: 179

2010 Revenues: $59.04 million

 

 

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Elaborating on the theme that size is no barrier to achieving a high level of customer satisfaction, the Calgary division of Mattamy Homes, Canada’s largest builder, garnered an AVID index score of 272.397, third highest in the entire country, and took the AVID Award in Alberta for the category of builders closing between 50 and 299 homes a year.

But along with that, this division also beat the score of every builder — no matter the size — in Alberta. Mattamy Calgary has set the standard for customer satisfaction by which all builders in the province will now be judged. Here are the division’s best scores:

1. Time taken to correct items (13.35 points above Canadian industry average)

2. Perception of items (+ 11.17)

3. Price of home (+9.33)

4. Number of problems corrected (+8.88)

5. Floor coverings (+7.41)

The presence of price among Mattamy Calgary’s top five scores is significant. It indicates not only that the firm is perceived as a value leader in the new home market, but that developing land may be creating a competitive advantage against other builders in that marketplace. Most production builders in Alberta buy building lots at retail from developers rather than developing their own subdivisions. Expect that to change if Mattamy really is able price below competitors by buying raw dirt and developing its own lots.

The AVID index score, upon which each builder in the AVID system is ranked, is a weighted measure combining the builder’s survey scores for total home buyer satisfaction, the “would recommend to a friend” question, and the percentage of buyers who make actual positive recommendations. Across the board, Mattamy Calgary’s numbers are among the highest not only in Alberta, but in all of North America. The firm scored 94 percent on “overall value of the home,” and 93 percent on “would recommend.” In fact, 30.6 percent of Mattamy Calgary’s home buyers made six or more actual, documented referrals of the builder to friends and family members.

What’s Mattamy’s Secret?

If you compare and contrast the two Mattamy divisions (Calgary and Greater Toronto) that won AVID Awards this year, you’ll find that their systems and processes are nearly identical in each division — and they obviously work.

The key elements that distinguish Mattamy from other large builders are 1) building the entire company culture around customer relations and 2) the customer care coordinator position, which is a Mattamy innovation.

Jill Lalonde, Mattamy’s vice president of customer relations, describes this position as a “wedding coordinator” steering customers through the long process from contract to warranty. Norah Latter, the Calgary division marketing manager, calls it a way to break down the bigness of the company and bring customer relations back to a one-on-one personal relationship.

“Our sales cycle from contract to closing is not as long as Toronto’s 12 to18 months,” says Latter, “but we’re moving in that direction. We’re now at 10 to 12 months. And that’s a long time, especially when you have handoffs in customer contact from sales to construction to warranty. That makes our customer care department critical, to bridge those gaps and answer questions all along the way. Their goal is to coddle customers through those many months and keep them on our side. But really, the culture of the entire company is built on a foundation of customer service.

“We all know that buying a home is stressful, especially for first-time buyers, and that communication is the most important element to keep it from becoming overwhelming. So our builders and warranty service people are also skilled in customer relations.”

The unspoken implication is that taking care of customers is the way to get ahead at Mattamy, and that becomes obvious if you talk to Mattamy employees all along the chain of customer contact. For example, Michelle Smyth, a transplant from the Greater Toronto division, is now in her seventh year as a customer care coordinator. “We act as a conduit,” she says. “Anyone who has a question comes to us, and we go to the various departments in the company to find the answer for them.”

Smyth says her personal relationship with a customer begins at “Mattamy University,” an evening orientation session where buyers meet not only their customer care coordinator, but also their new neighbors. “When they buy from us, they get a package with tons of information about their home and our building process,” she says, “and there’s a personal letter from me, along with my photo and all my contact information.

“When they come to Mattamy University, they meet me in person. It’s a group session that includes all the people closing at the same time, especially the people on their street. So they get to meet their new neighbors. Then I take them through everything that’s going to happen, from site preparation right through to the end of warranty.”

Buyers don’t like surprises, Smyth says, “and neither do any of us. Fortunately, all of our people are very personable, and we are all trained in relating to customers, so up and down the line, we are really good at handholding. The first-time buyers get a little more of that.”

Warranty Nurtures Referrals

In each division, construction must “sell” the house to the warranty department a week before warranty walks the house with the customer, just before closing. The builder has that one week to correct items that warranty identifies, with the goal that the house will be pristine for the final walk with the customer.

Ana Vidal, Mattamy Calgary’s warranty service manager, was a builder for five and half years, but now does those quality assurance walks with the perspective of the buyer. “We’re going through the house with a second set of eyes, and while we have the customer in mind, we have a lot more training than our customers have. We find this quality walk is a big help in eliminating problems that would come up during the warranty period.”

Vidal teaches her warranty staff what to look for, based on her experience in both building and warranty service. But the most important lessons she teaches deal with relating to customers. “Service is our most important product,” she says. “We go into people’s houses, so we have to make them feel comfortable. That’s where referral sales come from. That’s where repeat buyers come from. ‘You need anything, just call us.’ That’s our message.”

The builder has to manage the trades, and the work is very technical, says Vidal, “but my job is all about relationships and reputation building.”

From the sales office to Vidal, all of Mattamy’s Calgary division is doing that job well.

Bill Lurz has been reporting on every aspect of the home-building industry since 1970. A former editor-in-chief of Canadian Building and senior editor of Professional Builder, Bill is currently editor-in-chief of AvidBuilder.com. He can be reached at bill.lurz@avidbuilder.com.