Building Standards verification performance framework - national customer satisfaction survey: survey findings 2021

7. Quality of service

7.1. Advice, Guidance, and Staff Service

1. Just under two in three surveyed customers (64%) agree that they received sufficient advice and guidance from the local authority verifier building standards service. This is a slight decrease from 67% in 2020 and 69% in 2019. A majority of 61% feel the advice and guidance they received was consistent and 65% found it generally helpful (Figure 7.1.a).

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021

2. The strength of satisfaction is slightly higher among agents than among applicants, with around two thirds of agents (65%) being generally satisfied with the quality of advice and guidance received, compared to 63% of applicants (Figures 7.1.b and 7.1.c, respectively).

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021

3. The majority of customers (80%) agree that building standards staff were polite and courteous, which is 2% lower than in 2020. The strongest areas of disagreement relate to feeling valued as a customer (25% disagree) and feeling that someone took ownership of the enquiry (20% disagree) – Figure 7.1.d.

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021

4. The strength of satisfaction follows a similar pattern between applicants and agents, with slightly higher proportions of agents agreeing (Figures 7.1.e and 7.1.f, respectively).

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021

5. Customers strongly agreeing and/or strongly disagreeing with at least one of the above statements were asked to provide their reasons.

7.2. Customers Stating 'Strongly Agree'

1. A total of 1,610 customers provided supporting reasons. The most common adjectives given to describe staff (from most to least cited) are as follows: Helpful, Quick, Polite, Responsive, Clear, Knowledgeable, Professional, Friendly, Excellent, Prompt, and Approachable.

2. Some respondents indicated that they were expecting more delays due to the pandemic and that staff went above and beyond in communicating requirements and adjustments in the process for Covid-19. Alongside this, a small number of respondents, both agents and direct applicants, commended building standards staff for being consistent in their interpretation of standards, as well as assisting the customer in understanding complicated jargon, or being proactive in resolving issues such as queries, limitations, or restrictions.

"Admin staff went over and above the minimum standards required to enable me to progress my application expeditiously". (Direct applicant)

"Advice was always concise and clear. Guidance was freely given as and when/where required. Quality of Service is exactly as I would expect." (Direct applicant and agent)

"Always happy to help and respond even through Covid-19 when it was clearly challenging to be able to continue to deliver services." (Direct applicant)

"Building control officer was extremely useful and helpful. He went out of his way to help when asked for advice." (Agent)

7.3. Customers Stating 'Strongly Disagree'

1. A total of 585 customers provided supporting explanations for their disagreement. Most reiterated concerns raised previously, including lack of responsiveness to queries, inaccessible staff, inefficiency, and inconsistency in the quality of service between different officers in a single local authority verifier, or between verifiers.

"Conflicting information given. The individual dealing with our planning application was unhelpful and we felt personal preferences of the planning officer were contrary to local planning policy." (Direct applicant)

"The process has taken far too long because of the response times." (Direct applicant)

"During this Covid-19 pandemic period contact with officers was lost due to basically no phone contact and very intermittent emails response." (Agent)

7.4. Inspection Visits

1. Questioned about aspects of any inspection visit that had taken place, just over half (52% on average) were satisfied with various specific aspects of the visit (Figure 7.4.a). Whilst this is a large drop from 84% in 2020 and 2019, there has been a notable increase in the proportion of "don't know" responses, likely reflecting that this question may not have been applicable if site visits had not taken place due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021

2. Satisfaction levels are higher among direct applicants (54% on average) than agents (47% on average) (Figures 7.4.b and 7.4.c, respectively).

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021

Source Pye Tait Consulting, 2021