Thanks to its unique brand of customer care, The Green Company has an impressive
97.5% of customers who would recommend to others and 55 percent of their actual
sales coming from buyer referrals. This fact, in combination with the excellent
customer experience surveys, puts this builder #1 in North America. But that
wasn’t always the case. In fact, the company’s customer satisfaction
ratings didn’t really start to take off until 1998, when the Newton, Mass.-based
builder began its journey of professionally measuring customer satisfaction and
letting the results guide them on how it would better serve homebuyers. Since that
time, the company has garnered the prestigious National Housing Quality Silver Award
and two other top placements in the NRS Award program. In 2006, however, their customers
gave them the top rating which makes The Green Company the best in the business.
Founded by company chairman Alan Green over 50 years ago, The Green Company has
grown from a small builder working on Massachusetts’s Cape Cod to a leading
builder serving Boston’s suburbs. The company has been catering to empty nesters
for over 25 years and is on target to close about 100 homes this year in the high
$300,000 to $700,000 range.
Today 65 employees work together on every aspect of the home-building process, from
design and marketing to construction, sales, customer care and community management.
“We need to be involved with all aspects of our communities to do a good job,”
says company president David Caligaris.
One thing the company realizes is that not all empty nesters are looking to downsize
their home. Plus, many of these buyers still work and lead very active lifestyles,
so the social and community aspect of their new neighborhood is very important to
them.
To create that sense of community, The Green Company provides numerous physical
amenities for homeowners. These include a centralized post office, swimming pools,
tennis courts and meetinghouse — places that bring people together. “We
provide these physical spaces up front so they are there from the beginning of the
project,” Caligaris points out. The builder even helps the neighborhood social
committee get events up and running.
Most of the events promote the lifestyle of living in the neighborhood, where homes
are built in clusters of two or three. Though the homes share common space, they
each have an individual front courtyard that a homeowner can personalize. To highlight
this feature, the builder sponsors courtyard garden tours, which is just one of
the many ways this builder uniquely adds a special touch to home ownership.
Another way the builder brings homebuyers together is via its ambassador program,
whereby the company asks current residents to attend events with prospective homebuyers
and honestly share their experiences with them. “They are our best salespeople,”
Caligaris says.
Along with getting to know some of the residents, prospects are offered the opportunity
to tour the town and area businesses to help them feel more comfortable about making
the move.
As vice president and principal Dan Green states, “The company is selling
a lifestyle, and the house comes with it.” Not only does the company
believe in this goal with customers but “buyers really feel that we deliver
on that promise,” says Dominique Sampson, vice president of sales and marketing
To appeal to a wide variety of tastes and budgets, The Green Company offers eight
models in 11 house styles ranging from 1,100 to 2,400 square feet. Over the past
few years, the builder has the rare distinction of impressing homebuyers with its
reasonable cost of upgrades. Caligaris credits this to a transparent purchasing
process that includes an options catalogue that lists all of the prices up front.
Also, the builder offers a reasonable allowance, which helps cover some of the cost
of upgrades. Plus, the company’s knowledgeable home coordinators do a tremendous
job explaining the added value of optional home features that are offered to its
buyers, so they can choose the ones best suited for the way they like to live.
The Green Company has earned a reputation for reliability, too. The builder gives
homebuyers a closing date when purchasing agreements are signed, and will go to
great lengths, without compromising quality, to make that commitment — even
switching vendors if it means more reliable deliveries.
Closing dates couldn’t be consistently met without the ardent support of plumbers,
electricians and other major rough trades. “They’re the ones that have
the most adversity to deal with,” Caligaris says. “We’ve had guys
laying shingles when it’s below zero.”
This devotion comes from treating their trade partners like internal team members
and making them feel like they are part of the process. As a result, “whenever
a tradesman sees a need, he does what it takes to get the company back on track,”
says Caligaris.
The Green Company also ranks high for having its homes clean and ready for occupancy.
Several pre-inspections are done as part of its quality assurance program. In addition
to regular builder reviews and quality checklists at each step of construction,
separate independent walks are completed by the design center and an independent
builder, prior to Customer Care doing the final walk-through with a homebuyer.
The key for The Green Company is that most every problem has been corrected before
the home is presented to the homebuyer at the pre-closing orientation. In this way,
orientation lists are small and most all items can be completed prior to conveyance.
To show its appreciation, the builder presents each homebuyer with a sterling silver
Tiffany & Co. key chain, a photo album showing their home being built, and a
laminated card with every department’s phone number on it — from Sales
to Customer Care, Residential Services, Community Management and emergency contacts
— to assure them that they are connected to the company, even after closing.
With such systems in place, employees can be more spontaneous in the ways they wow
customers. For example, one sales rep arranged for customers to be lifted up inside
a bucket loader so they could get a sense of the view they’d have from their
new home.
At their Wislowe’s View community in Plymouth, Mass., The Green Company wows
buyers with residential services to meet the needs of new homebuyers. Handyman services,
charged by the hour, include things like move-in assistance, furniture set-up and
assembly, window treatment installation, countertop sealing, fireplace pilot lighting,
tile grouting and caulking, picture and mirror hanging, light bulb replacement,
and much more. Residents can also opt for home improvements services, such as storm
door installation, cabinet and molding installation, finished basements, and more.
They even offer spring and fall maintenance packages that bundle various services
buyers want every year, as well as a home watch program for those who will be away.
One thing that consistently surprises new homebuyers, however, is the call they
get from Alan Green, the company’s founder. When prospects sign a nonbinding
reservation, the chairman calls them for an informal chat and to answer any questions
they may have. “That really is unique,” Sampson says. “It’s
amazing how people really love that call.”
