Your builder is NHQ Certified, but what does that mean to you as a homebuyer? NHQ (National Housing Quality) Certification* is presented by the NAHB Research Center, the quality assurance leader in the residential construction industry, and represents a company's ongoing commitment to continual process improvement and customer satisfaction. In order to become NHQ Certified, a home builder must:

• Have consistent, documented management processes
• Implement a customer-focused quality management system that meets NHQ builder requirements
• Participate in a rigorous annual audit conducted by NAHB Research Center quality experts to ensure compliance with these elements

They Value Your Investment

Your home is one of the largest investments you will ever make, and you want it done right – that's what you'll get working with an NHQ Certified Builder. For NHQ Certified Builders, your satisfaction is the top priority and they will stand behind the quality and craftsmanship of the home they build for you. They won't waste your time waiting for long punch lists to be developed before they fix any problems. Their quality management systems were developed to help spot and correct any issues as they happen, not after the fact. This saves everyone time and money.

They Value Your Time

These efficiencies in construction processes also allow NHQ Certified companies to deliver your home, ready for you to move in, when they say they will. The efforts of their staffs and all their workers are highly coordinated which results in "job-ready" conditions for each tradesperson that comes to work on your home, and more reliable timeframes for overall job completion. From sales staff, to production personnel, to material suppliers, their processes are coordinated for maximum efficiency and designed to get you in your completed home as quickly as possible.

NHQ Certification - Builder Requirements

Below is just a sample of the quality management practices included in the NHQ Builder Requirements, but it reveals what makes NHQ Certified Builders the best choice for discerning consumers.

• Mandatory written quality plan with quality and safety statements for each functional area of the business (e.g., Sales, Purchasing, Construction, Customer Service, Warranty)
• Integral role for senior leadership to set, implement, communicate, and evaluate all quality and safety expectations and benchmarks
• Established training program for all personnel involved in meeting homebuyer expectations
• Ongoing training program to ensure continual improvement for all personnel – emphasis on preventative action to identify, prioritize, analyze the cause, and develop a plan to prevent recurring issues
• Documented sales process completion procedure that secures homebuying customer's confirmation that each step in the process has been completed
• Documented, regular customer feedback procedures and performance measures wherein results help to identify areas for improvement and necessary changes in the system
• Documented in-process inspections prior to any covering or concealment of a trade contractor's work to ensure quality plan is being followed
• Documented final inspection of production work product to verify conformance with job completions policy
• Formal job completion policy that states conditions under which a new home can be closed, including how any completions or corrections after closing are handled
• Defined company warranty policy that is provided to each homebuying customer – must include a warranty request completion policy
• Documented, regular internal company audits of quality and safety systems with reports sent to the NAHB Research Center
• Annual third-party audits by NAHB Research Center quality experts of company quality and safety systems in order to maintain certification

Find Out More

Find out more about the NAHB Research Center's NHQ Certified Builder program or contact us.

*NHQ Certification does not guarantee the quality/workmanship of individual homes. Rather, it certifies the quality management and business practices of a home building company.