<b><b>Last month Malcolm Pitcher explored the relationship between customer care and profit. Now he asks housebuilders themselves why they bother pursuing a policy of customer satisfaction</b></b><br><b>&amp;“We have introduced new initiatives designed to raise the benchmarks for our customer satisfaction to the highest levels. Our aim is to be the best in our industry in this particular sphere.&amp;”</b><br> These quotes are taken from the latest Laing Homes annual report. And they do not appear to represent a load of wishful thinking by a team that thinks differentiation through service is worth a punt - although heaven knows we&amp;’ve had a few builders try to go down that route, creating loads of hot air about customer service excellence and delivering very little in exchange.<p></p><p> Laing Homes was one of few builders that significantly improved its rating in the recent Housing Forum survey. The company might not be at the top yet, but I wouldn&amp;’t bet against it getting there soon given its current positive customer service culture.</p><p><b><b>why bother?</b></b><br> But why do they bother? After all, we are in a numbers driven industry where no builder has yet gone public with figures to support the view that there is a positive correlation between …