SEE HOW YOU GET MORE FROM HERITAGE HOMES PEOPLE
More Pleasure In Your Building Experience
Here's what some of our most recent customers are saying about Heritage Homes associates:
Service is everyone's job at Heritage Homes. But promising service isn't enough. At Heritage Homes service responsibilities are assigned. Employees are evaluated and recognized for their customer service. Some of the assigned responsibilities are:
Making Financing Easier
Financing Specialist Patti King knows what mortgage lenders want. She knows which mortgage lenders are right for each situation. Patti doesn't just give advice about obtaining mortgage loans. She helps customers determine what they can qualify for and works with them to solve past problems. Her list of Preferred Lenders contains the lenders that serve our customers well. When she refers a customer to one of our preferred lenders, they pay attention because they know Patti sends them customers that meet their criteria.
Custom Plan Modifications
Vice-President - Marketing Joe Houk knows how to turn your home into just what you want. He knows you have special dreams and needs and he can modify any of our 36 plans to meet them. Recently, he turned one of our plans sideways so it would fit on a customer's lot. With this modification the customer was able to have exactly the house he wanted on a small lot. Joe does the plan modifications here at Heritage Homes so he can help control the costs of the modifications themselves.
Building Orientation
Building Coordinator Frank Lott III meets with every customer before construction
begins on their new home. He introduces them to their Heritage Homes builder (all are
full-time employees), reviews the steps in building their home, gives them their homeowners
manual, explains how to stay in touch with their builder. After the meeting, their
builder becomes their primary contact with Heritage Homes.
Framing Walk Through
Heritage Homes Builders Ruben Miller, Charlie Turner, and Bernard Wood
are proud of their work. They want their customers to know how their homes are
constructed. At the framing stage, they use a Heritage Homes designed checklist to
explain how the home is being constructed. The Framing Walk Through includes a
review of the engineered trusses and walls used to build Heritage Homes homes and
why they are superior to other construction methods.
Satisfaction After The Closing
After the closing and enough time for you to settle into your new home, Heritage Homes
Satisfaction Manager Byron Hart will call to make sure everything is still right. He
will use the Heritage Homes developed Satisfaction Checklist to review your home's
features and equipment and make sure everything is operating properly. He'll review the
2-10 Warranty Program and ongoing Heritage Homes warranty service.
Builder Charlie Turner saved the day for this new homeowner. Just after his yard had been graded and prepared for sod, a huge storm threatened. Charlie realized the rain would make a mess of the yard and require another day of preparation before the sod could be laid. He went to work. He covered the yard with house wrap and anchored it down with bricks. The storm raged but the yard stayed. It was ready to sod on the next nice day. Both the new homeowner and his father were grateful.
There is a lot of jargon to building that non-builders don’t keep up with. Builder Woody Godwin wasn’t sure he understand what a customer was saying over the phone. He wasn’t using the trade names for the things he was talking about. He was trying to describe them and didn’t think he was doing a very good job. “No problem,” Woody told the customer and jumped in his truck to meet him in person. The extra effort made for an extra happy customer.
A new owner whose home was still under construction told Closing Coordinator Lashanda Joiner about an experience that made him very proud he chose a Heritage home. He was working on the front yard when a couple stopped, looked over the house and then asked him who they needed to talk to make an offer. He said he knew he had Heritage Instant Equity in the house and could make money by selling it even before he moved in. But he also knew his wife wouldn’t let him sell it.
Salesman Frank Bolton helped a prospect deal with the jargon of homebuilding. The customer apologized and then asked what a floating slab was. Frank explained the definition of a floating slab, used on lots that aren’t level or to add elevation, and then began to explain other building terms. The prospect said he felt comfortable with Frank because he explained everything in words he understood. He later said Frank’s helpfulness was a big factor in his decision to choose Heritage Homes.
Understanding monthly payments helps customers know they can afford a home of their own. Vice President - Marketing Joe Houk and Financing Specialist Vickey Aubrey often work out estimated monthly payments for prospective homebuyers. As they calculate them, they also help customers understand taxes, insurance, utility costs, etc. Frequently, they help them understand the tax advantage of buying a home. Their service helps customers understand that they can afford a home of their own.
Knowing what is going on with the building of their home is important to customers. All Heritage builders keep their customers informed about progress. Builder Brad Forward keeps the phone numbers of his customers with him all the time so he can contact them about progress. He says his goal is to stay in contact with his customers so they never have to call him.
"It's so much easier with a professional's advice." That's what one Heritage customer told Vice President Frank Lott III after working with Heritage's decorator to choose the colors, carpet and flooring for her new home. Frank said customers make their own decisions but like to have input from a professional who spends her full time decorating homes. "I think the most important thing our decorator provides is her knowledge of how different colors work in different settings.
Often Vice President-Marketing Joe Houk's follow up calls to prospective customers helps them realize they can afford a new Heritage home. During one recent call, Joe realized the prospect didn't think he could afford his own home because he thought the 5% down payment must be made with cash. Joe explained that when you buy a Heritage home, the down payment can be made with the lot and with improvements such as a septic system. Joe is helping this customer choose his new Heritage home now.
Many Heritage Homes employees teamed up to provide this repeat customer with both value and service. Thrilled with the size and features of her home, she told Builder Ruben Miller that Heritage builds homes people can afford to pay for in their lifetimes. She described the value provided by Heritage Homes as a "ministry." Vice President-Building Tim Lovvorn built her first Heritage home 12 years ago. The equity in this home helped pay for her new home. At the closing of her new home she cited both Mortgage Loan Coordinator Vickey Aubrey and Closing Coordinator Kathy Hall for their service.
A couple new to America are grateful to Mortgage Loan Coordinator Vickey Aubrey. She called them after they visited the Heritage model and learned that they had been turned down for financing. Vickey took the time to understand their situation. Then she guided them to one of the Heritage Homes Preferred Lenders. "Our Preferred Lenders know the value of Heritage homes so they make special efforts for our customers," Vickey reports.
Satisfying customers is a satisfying experience for Heritage employees. Satisfaction Manager Byron Hart got an armful of satisfaction recently from one happy customer. She had asked him to take a look at her roof. She wasn't sure it looked just right. Byron listened carefully to her concerns, examined the roof, figured out what didn't look right and fixed it. The customer took one look at her roof and gave Byron a big hug.
Often the experience and concern of Heritage Builders can save customers both time and money. Builder Ruben Miller found the county had put a culvert in the wrong place. Because of the mistake, the customer thought he would have to abandon the home plan he preferred and choose another. Ruben studied the situation and determined that reversing the house would solve the problem. At first the customer didn't understand reversing. He thought it meant just moving the garage. Ruben explained that it is like creating a mirror image of the home and can solve many site challenges. The mirror image home plan is now under construction. Ruben's expertise and service attitude helped the customer get the appearance and floor plan he wanted as well as a home that looks good on his lot.
Taking the time to help saved this customer big bucks. When Builder Ruben Miller and Vice President-Building Tim Lovvorn inspected a customer's lot, they found it had a slope that would increase building costs. Instead of just building on the lot the way the customer had asked, they took the time to show him a way to position his home on the lot that would avoid the slope. By taking the time to work with their customer, they saved money for him on fill dirt and improved the appearance of his home.
Salesman Frank Bolton recently followed up with a prospect and learned that his lot purchase had fallen through. Frank explained Heritage's Lot Locator Service and mailed the prospect a list of lots available in his area. The customer was so pleased he told a friend who was planning to build a competitive home that a Heritage home was a better investment and gave him his Heritage color brochure. Frank also realized that the prospect was a veteran who could take advantage of a VA loan. Frank put him in touch with Financing Specialist Vickey Aubrey. After talking with Vickey, the customer said Heritage offered "the best value for his money" and that he will schedule a meeting to sign a contract as soon as he locates a new lot. He also said he expected his friend to buy a Heritage home. Frank told the customer he could expect just as committed service from his Heritage builder once his new home was under construction.
Technology is making even more service available from Heritage Homes. Builder Bernard Wood recently used e-mail to expedite a payment to a customer who had paid for fill dirt herself. Bernard received e-mail from the customer informing him she had purchased the dirt. Within minutes he had authorized a payment to the customer by e-mail and a few minutes later a check was on the way to the customer.
Inspecting customers' lots prior to building is an important service of Heritage Homes. Usually these inspections help determine which models will fit on the lot. However, sometimes they are even more important. That was the case recently when Head Builder Tim Lovvorn noted that a customer's lot required extensive site preparation work. Tim discussed to the problem with the customer and then enlisted the help of Heritage Homes staff members in making a lot swap. "The change saved our customer about $7,000 in site preparation work," Tim reported.