Lifestory Research Reports: Ashton Woods Homes Recognized by Home Shoppers as Most Trusted Builder in America for Second Consecutive Year

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Trust is the new measure by which consumers evaluate home builders, according to ground-breaking national research of more than 40,000 new-home shoppers who identified Ashton Wood Homes as the Most Trusted Builder in America for the second consecutive year.

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"In our second year of performing the Lifestory Research Most Trusted Builder in America Study^SM, we once again identified that three of four customers believe trust is paramount in choosing a home builder," said Lifestory Research President and CEO Eric Snider. "We find that the trust held by a customer toward a home builder plays a central role among home shoppers as they seek to reduce uncertainty in the high-risk decision of purchasing a new home."

The Lifestory Research Most Trusted Builder in America Study tracks 133 home builder brands in the top 27 housing markets in the United States. To qualify for inclusion in the national ranking of the Lifestory Research 2014 Most Trusted Builder in America Study^SM, builders had to be among the top 20 builder brands in the United States. A top 20 builder brand is a single builder brand being built in multiple markets with total revenues exceeding $500 million in sales.

Ashton Woods Homes is one of the nation's largest builders, selling homes in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Antonio and Tampa. As the Lifestory Research 2014 Most Trusted Builder in America, Ashton Woods produced a Net Trust Quotient Score of 113.2, followed in order by (2) Meritage Homes, (3) David Weekley Homes, (4) Toll Brothers, (5) Taylor Morrison, (6) Standard Pacific Homes, (7) Shea Homes, (8) Drees Homes, (9) Ryan Homes–NVR, (10) Khovnanian (11) Highland Homes of Texas, (12) M/I Homes, (13) Richmond American Homes, (14) Lennar Homes, (15) Ryland Homes, (16) Pulte Homes, (17) D.R. Horton, (18) Beazer Homes, (19) Centex, and (20) KB Home.

The study, in its second year, evaluates attitudes from tens of thousands of consumers who are actively in the process of shopping for a new home in one of the top 27 housing markets in the United States. 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.

The most effective way to gauge the trust of a brand is to take the percentage of customers who are trust advocates and subtract the percentage of people who are distrusters. Scores are standardized with 100 being equal to the overall average. Scores can array above and below the 100 point average. Each Net Trust Quotient Score represents the net value of a brand on trust. A brand with a high positive score is an indication that the brand is trusted by a large portion of the target market. Conversely, a low score is an indication that the brand is not trusted by the consumer marketplace.

To qualify to participate in the study, participants must have met all of the following criteria:  Household located in the metro area of one of the 27 markets in the study (see link for list of markets), a household income in excess of $50,000, between the ages of 25 and 69, actively shopping for a home during the last 90 days, and with intentions of owning their next home (versus renting).

Detailed information about the study can be found at www.lifestoryresearch.com/2014MostTrustedBuilder

About Lifestory Research

Headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., Lifestory Research is a full service consumer research firm dedicated to helping clients evaluate their brand and strengthen their understanding of their customers and employees. The Lifestory Research team has designed and executed qualitative, quantitative and observational solutions while adhering to a client-focused ethic built on being easy to work with and delivering best-in-class insight. The company's core competency is measuring attitudes and behaviors to accurately explain and predict bottom line impact of a client's actions. Offerings include market entry studies, segmentation studies, product development studies, branding studies, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction research, pricing strategy and advertising studies. Lifestory's client base spans private education, real estate, energy, financial services, medical providers and not-for-profit organizations. www.lifestoryresearch.com

No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of Lifestory Research.

Lifestory Research 2014 Most Trusted Builder in America Study^SM

Source: Lifestory Research 2014 Most Trusted Builder in America Study^SM

Charts and graphs extracted from this press release must be accompanied by a statement identifying Lifestory Research as the publisher and the Lifestory Research Most Trusted Builder in America Study^SM as the source.  No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release or Lifestory Research survey results without the express prior written consent of Lifestory Research.

SOURCE Lifestory Research