Lakewood #1 for the Sixth Time!

Lakewood Homes was just ranked #1 in overall customer satisfaction for the sixth time! No other builder can make that claim in the Chicagoland market! Here are the details...

LAKEWOOD HOMES ACHIEVES FIRST PLACE RANKING
ONCE AGAIN IN LATEST J.D. POWER AND ASSOCIATES®
NEW-HOME BUILDER STUDY
Lakewood Earns Its Sixth First Place Finish In Eight Years
Among Chicagoland Home Builders

Hoffman Estates, IL - (September 10, 2008) - Lakewood Homes has achieved yet another first place ranking for customer satisfaction among home builders in Chicagoland*. According to the 2008 J.D. Power and Associates New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction StudySM that was released September 10th, Lakewood is ranked in first place among Chicago area home builders, as part of a three-way tie for the top spot. This marks the eighth year in a row that Lakewood has been ranked at or near the top of this annual industry study, including six first-place awards.

In the 2008 Customer Satisfaction study, Lakewood tied for first place with two other builders for customer satisfaction, with each company scoring 823 points on a 1,000-point scale. Lakewood’s score of 823 represents a seven point increase over last year’s score. Builders must have delivered at least 125 homes in 2007 to be considered for the study.

The 2008 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study includes satisfaction ratings for builders in 33 markets. Nine factors drive overall customer satisfaction with home builders (listed in order of importance): builder’s sales staff (15%); builder’s
warranty/customer service staff (15%); workmanship/materials (14%); price/value (14%); home readiness (13%); construction manager (13%); recreational facilities provided by the builder (7%); builder’s design center (6%); and location (4%).

In the 2008 study, Lakewood performed particularly well in the Chicago market in three of the nine factors: builder’s design center, home readiness and price/value factors.

“Regaining the top spot in the latest J.D. Power and Associates study is once again confirmation of our all-out efforts to have the highest levels of customer satisfaction among new home builders in Chicagoland. The competition this year was incredibly intense and the fact that three builders received the same score at the top is testament to all of our efforts in making customers happy,” said Buz Hoffman, president of Lakewood Homes. “Despite the current market conditions, we have continued to make customer satisfaction the focus of our efforts and are pleased to have validation of our efforts through our ranking in this year’s study.”

The average customer satisfaction index score in Chicago is 794, which is 15 points above the 33-market average of 779. In addition, satisfaction has improved substantially in the Chicago market in 2008, being up 51 points since 2007.


Lakewood has been consistently listed at or near the top in the annual J.D. Power and Associates study for eight years running, so continuing to achieve these high rankings means the company strives for continuous improvement year after year.

“Now more than ever, home buyers are doing their research very carefully and typically mention our rankings in the J.D. Power and Associates study as one reason they are considering Lakewood. With this year’s three-way tie, the bar has already been set higher for next year’s study and we’re ready to work even harder to maintain our position,” Hoffman said.

The 2008 J.D. Power and Associates New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study noted that “Efforts by builders to respond to changes in the market landscape have contributed to the increase in customer satisfaction in 2008.”

Another reflection of Lakewood’s high customer-satisfaction rankings is reflected in the fact that 42% of its homebuyers have been referred by an existing Lakewood homeowner, a friend or an associate.

“Everything we can do to improve customer satisfaction is put into practice everyday at our company and we never lose sight of what can be done to make a customer satisfied. The J.D. Power and Associates study helps to give us a true feel for how good of a job we are doing, but it also shows we can still do better, despite being ranked at the top, and this is our ongoing challenge,” said Hoffman.

Lakewood Homes is one of Chicagoland’s largest homebuilders and is currently building clubhouse neighborhoods in Plano, Joliet and Hampshire. Saddle Ridge is a
new single-family and townhome community in the St. Charles area and Easton Park in Carol Stream features luxury townhomes.

For more information on Lakewood Homes, call the Lakewood Prairie Office at (815) 439-5777 or visit www.lakewoodhomes.com.

*To be included in the studies, Chicago-area builders must have closed 125 or more homes in the market in 2007. The new homes are located in the following counties: Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Kenosha, Wisc., Lake, McHenry and Will. These studies are based on responses from 50,837 buyers of newly built single-family homes who provided feedback after living in their homes from four to 18 months, on average. There were 1,639 respondents in the Chicago market.