A home improvement scorecard

J.D. Power has released its customer satisfaction rankings once more, and it has a short list of home improvement winners.

The category as a whole has seen movement in customer satisfaction. According to the J.D. Power 2017 Home Improvement Retailer Satisfaction Study, overall customer satisfaction increased to 816, up from 795 in 2016 (on a 1,000-point scale).

“Even in a large market like home improvement, it’s the attention to detail that can affect customer satisfaction,” said Greg Truex, senior director of the at-home practice at J.D. Power. “Home improvement retailers understand that customers with higher levels of satisfaction are more likely to repurchase and more likely to recommend to their friends and family.”

And for the 11th consecutive year, Ace Hardware took home first place, with an 835. Menards came in close second at 824, and Lowe’s was in third at 817.

The rankings were determined by a number of factors, most notably: number of times received sale/promotional flyers/brochures (received more than once in past 12 months); quality of merchandise (above expected); and length of time waited for greeting (waited less than 5 minutes).

The February–March 2017 is based on responses from 2,751 customers who purchased home improvement-related products from a home improvement retailer within the previous 12 months.