<b><b>Malcolm Pitcher&amp;’s examination of the correlation between improved customer satisfaction and profitability continues with the views of Linden and Berkeley </b></b><br><b>Peter Hawkey, director of innovation at Linden Homes, argues that profitability will come from improved customer satisfaction but not in the short term. As with the Laing Homes team we interviewed last month, Hawkey says that it costs you initially whilst you clean out the old ways and get to grips with the new. </b><br><b>&amp;“It will take three to four years before we can really measure improvements in profitability,&amp;” he says. </b><br> &amp;“But I can already see a difference in the way we work. Like many builders we used to spend hundreds of hours looking backwards at problems with existing houses and developments - now we spend a lot more time focusing on the future, which is far more productive and rewarding.<p></p><p><b><b>hand in hand</b></b><br> &amp;“We&amp;’ve put a lot of emphasis on quality. We believe that customer satisfaction and quality go hand in hand. As an example we don&amp;’t dryline until after the customer care manager has carried out a very thorough frame inspection. If the window boards are not straight it takes ten minutes to rectify at this stage whereas …