How to Implement a Quality Assurance Program in Home Building: Three Key Considerations

A quality assurance (QA) program is an important part of any home building business. These programs ensure customer satisfaction and maintain construction quality. Since QA is so important, you might think that everyone in the home building industry is an expert on the subject, however, that’s often not the case. The saying “if it were easy, everyone would be doing it” certainly applies to QA.

If you’ve never had a program like this before or lack the elements needed to implement one, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Here are a few important things to consider when contemplating a QA program:

1 – Customer Feedback is Priority Number One

There are a number of factors that contribute to an effective QA program, but asking for customer feedback is at the foundation. Distributing customer satisfaction surveys to all homebuyers will uncover issues that need to be addressed and give them an opportunity to share what’s important to them. 

Some builders hire an outside survey firm for this, while others prefer to do the work in-house. Regardless, the survey results identify recurring problems that need to be corrected first, which sets the course of action for the rest of your program.

2 – The ROI of QA

Before developing or adopting a QA program, it’s important to understand how it could impact your business. Aside from ensuring satisfied customers, you’ll also experience a significant amount of return on your investment (ROI).

Quality issues and callbacks can have a detrimental impact on a builder’s brand and profits. Investing in a QA program can create significant savings for builders by addressing common issues, resulting in less callbacks. 

3 – Simplify By Partnering with a Franchise

Developing your own QA program requires a lot of time, resources and money. Builders across the country have found that partnering with a franchise has given them a blueprint to solve the challenges that come with building and managing a QA program. At Epcon, we supply our franchise builders with a complete, field-tested QA system, along with multiple support options. 

Pat McKee, owner of McKee Homes, became an Epcon Franchise Builder in 2007 and has gone from building 20 to 200 homes per year. The support he enjoys includes all the essential elements of a QA program: pre-engineered floor plans, a library of best practice details for use by installers and surveys of each homebuyer.

“[Epcon does] a great job evaluating a range of products, and recommending those that have been shown to last longer and generate fewer callbacks.” – Pat McKee, owner of McKee Homes

Uncover the six keys to an effective QA Program when you download our toolkit.