The latest news from GuildQuality.

Each year, Remodeling magazine recognizes 50 growing, successful remodeling companies that distinguish themselves in professionalism and integrity. With over 1500 companies now in its ranks, the Big 50 is a bit of a remodeling Hall of Fame. We’re thrilled to have the GuildQuality members below as part of this year’s select group.

Business Savvy: Curb Appeal Renovations of Keller, TX and Progressive Builders of Fort Myers, FL

Fine Design: Murphy Bros. Designers and Remodelers of Minneapolis, MN

Industry Impact: A.B.A. Home Remodelers of Clifton, NJ

Market Wise: Creative Design Construction and Remodeling of Northvale, NJ

Movers and Shakers: Encore Construction of Dennisport, MA

Teamwork: Trace Ventures of Nashville, TN

You can read more about all of the winners here in Remodeling Online. Congratulations to all of these companies!

Carol Smith is a recognized expert in customer satisfaction for the homebuilding industry, and we’re proud to share many customers with her company, Home Address. Carol and her team offer consulting services and products such as on-site assessments, telephone consultation, and in-house training for any size builder.

GuildQuality is thrilled to have Carol’s endorsement (below) - she and her team certainly share our passion for service excellence:

“GuildQuality brings a fresh approach to the customer survey process. Their common sense insights make gathering feedback from your customers easy and economical while providing you with information you can apply to reach your customer satisfaction goals. I am pleased to recommend them to builders of all sizes.”

We hope that you’ll take a close look at Home Address’s offerings - several GuildQuality members have enlisted their services and have seen terrific results.

When we started surveying for quality-minded building professionals, we offered a single standard survey, shortly after closing. Two years ago, we introduced fully-customized surveying for all phases of the building process. And now, we’re expanding our service to enable you to reach out to non-customers as well.

The GuildQuality Sounding Board enables prospects, lost leads, employees, brokers, and subcontractors to contribute their feedback to help you in your pursuit of excellence.

Are you wondering why your lost leads evaporated? How do you think your employees are feeling about the 2007 strategic plan? What would all of your customers in a neighborhood most like to see in the new swim and tennis club?

You can now send campaign-style email surveys to 5 or 5,000 recipients. We have pre-built surveys, a (growing) catalog of questions, and you can create your own questions as well.

GuildQuality’s Customer Satisfaction Surveying still provides the best way to consistently monitor customer satisfaction among your homebuyers, custom clients, or remodeling clients. With the Sounding Board, you can also get a great simple surveying solution for any kind of market research project.

Access your Sounding Board through your existing GQ account. Try it for free — every member gets to send one campaign with up to 50 recipients at no charge.

If you’re not sure how to get started, join one of our upcoming online webinars where we’ll show you the ins and outs of the program. To register, simply click on the link to your desired time:

Monday, August 13th @ 1:00 EST

Tuesday, August 21st @ 4:00 EST

Thursday, September 6th @ 4:00 EST

Tuesday, September 18th @ 1:00 EST

In the late nineties, St. Joe acquired Charlotte-based homebuilder Saussy Burbank. The acquisition was designed to facilitate their expansion beyond the Florida market. St. Joe recently changed course and decided to focus in on their assets at home. That meant Saussy Burbank was no longer a core part of their long-term plan.

The Charlotte Observer reports that St. Joe’s shift in strategy opened the door for a team led by Charles Teal and (company founder) Jim Burbank to purchase Saussy Burbank back from St. Joe for $74 million.

Congratulations to Jim and his team. I haven’t seen many volume builders that can produce the quality of design and construction that have earned Saussy Burbank its reputation.