Lifestory Research America s Most Trusted January
The Home Builder Brands We Trust Each year thousands of consumers over the age of 50 consider purchasing a new home community in an active adult resort community. These communities span the country and offer residents a rich and fulfilling life through an abundance of social activities and community amenities. Given the significant financial business investment of a resort lifestyle community, as well as the required commitment of a builder to deliver a host of high quality amenities, consumers are keenly concerned with the trust they have with the builder as they make a purchase decision. Having trust in a home builder provides consumers with the confidence in making a purchase decision. So, the question is which active adult resort home builders are trusted the most by consumers? To answer the question of trust in active adult resort home builders, Lifestory Research conducted 10,400 surveys among new home shoppers over the age of 50. To be included in the study, a consumer must have indicated that: they were actively shopping for a new home in 27 of the top new construction markets in the United States, they were considering active adult communities in their new home search, they planned to own their next home, and they had a household income in excess of $50,000. The markets included in the study include: 1. Atlanta, GA 2. Austin, TX 3. Baltimore, MD 4. Charlotte, NC 5. Chicago, IL 6. Dallas-Ft Worth TX 7. Denver, CO 8. Houston, TX 9. Indianapolis, IN 10. Inland Empire, CA 11. Las Vegas, NV 12. Los Angeles-Ventura, CA 13. Minneapolis- St Paul, MN 14. Miami-Ft, Lauderdale, FL 15. Orange County, CA 16. Orlando, FL 17. Philadelphia, PA 18. Phoenix, AZ 19. Portland, OR 20. Raleigh, NC 21. Sacramento, CA 22. San Antonio, TX 23. San Diego, CA 24. Seattle, WA 25. San Francisco Bay, CA 26. Tampa, FL 27. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Portland SF Bay Los Angeles Orange County San Diego Seattle Sacramento Las Vegas Inland Empire Phoenix San Antonio Minneapolis Denver Austin Dallas Chicago Indianapolis Houston Charlotte Atlanta Philadelphia Tampa Orlando Miami Baltimore Washington D.C. Raleigh Participants complete several dozen questions about the new home marketplace including motivational drivers, demographic characteristics, and brand equity measures. The brand measures include measures of brand awareness, quality, price value, and trust. In each market, the top builders in the market were evaluated. Lifestory Research All Rights Reserved.
America s Most Trusted s In the analysis of the America s Most Trusted s, the top national builder brands in the US were evaluated. To qualify for inclusion in the national ranking, home builders had to be among the top active adult builder brands in the United States. To assess the Net Trust Quotient Score (NTQS) for each of these brands, consumers in all of the markets in which the brand currently operates (in the 27 surveyed markets) were asked to evaluate how much they trusted the brands. 1 In other words, if a brand was in one of the Lifestory Research markets surveyed, all of the consumers in that market were asked: Based on anything you have seen or heard, what is your impression of the trustworthiness of the following home builder? Responses could range along a 10 point scale of Very Trustworthy to Not Trustworthy. Trust is measured through the Lifestory Research Net Trust Quotient Score. This score is based on the fundamental perspective that every organization s customer can be divided into three categories: advocates, who feel a significant trust toward a given brand; neutrals, who trust a specific brand, but do not see a specific brand as standing on the shoulders of other brands in regards to trust; and antagonists, who are skeptics with little, if any, trust in a specific brand. Scores are standardized with 100 being equal to the overall average. Scores can array above and below the 100 point average. What is your impression of the trustworthiness of the following home builder? Antagonists Neutrals Advocates 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Not Trustworthy Very Trustworthy NTQS = % of Advocates (9&10) - % of Antagonists (0-6) Once we have the NTQS, we then convert these scores to an index score based upon established statistical procedures. The index mean is equal 100. Therefore, scores can array above and below the score of 100. The closer a score is to this average means that a builder is average in their trustworthiness. Using this statistical approach noted above, we calculated scores for the top active adult resort builder brands. The scores were calculated at a national level, which simply means all the scores for a given home builder, from all the markets in which they operate, were used to calculate the Net Trust Quotient Scores. 1 In order to be evaluated on the dimension of trust, a consumer had to first indicate that they had heard or seen the builder name. This measure of awareness was used as a filtering question as to which builder brands were then evaluated in the study. Lifestory Research All Rights Reserved.
Lifestory Research America s Most Trusted Rank Resort Builder Index Score 1 Trilogy by Shea Homes 114.9 2 Toll Brothers 109.5 3 Robson Communities 109.2 4 Standard Pacific 106.0 5 Del Webb 102.3 6 K. Hovnanian 101.8 7 Meritage Homes 101.4 8 Taylor Morrison 98.0 9 Lennar 94.4 No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this document without the express prior written consent of Lifestory Research. Charts and graphs must be accompanied by a statement identifying Lifestory Research as the publisher and the Lifestory Research America s Most Trusted study as the source. Lifestory Research All Rights Reserved.
About Lifestory Research Headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., Lifestory Research is a trusted national independent market research firm focused on consumers and their homes. We take a consumer-centered approach to helping developers, home builders, financial institutions, product manufactures, utilities, and organizations serving customers in their homes. We provide timely analysis that allows our clients to make informed decisions. Our research is backed by in-depth consumer and market intelligence that drives confident business decisions. www.lifestoryresearch.com About America s Most Trusted Award America s Most Trusted is a designation awarded to companies that provide services or products to customers in their home. The award was first established in 2012 by Lifestory Research, a national consumer research firm. Companies and categories currently awarded the designation of America s Most Trusted include: home builders, active adult resort home builders, electric utilities, kitchen appliance brands, laundry appliance brands, and residential realtor organizations. Awards are based upon the collection and evaluation of consumer surveys administered over the course of a 12 month time period. Contact Information: Lifestory Research 20271 S.W. Birch St., Ste. 100 Newport Beach, CA 92660 Phone: 949-234-6940 I www.lifestoryresearch.com Lifestory Research All Rights Reserved.