Spotlight: Professional Warranty Service Corporation

In this company spotlight, we’re featuring Professional Warranty Service Corporate (PWSC). Read how PWSC helps builders of all sizes with experts and solutions that will bolster their overall risk management strategy, facilitate claims resolution without litigation, and provide important claims data to run their business.

Who is PWSC?

PWSC is a nationally recognized risk management partner serving the housing industry. The company began in 1995 as a home warranty administrator. Since that time, PWSC has evolved to design and offer protection and support for the entire home-building ecosystem. The company uniquely serves residential construction, resale homes, and single-family rental properties. PWSC helps builders, buyers, and property managers mitigate home risks—from leaks to litigation avoidance.

How does PWSC help home builders?

The recent construction boom has placed tremendous pressure on residential builders. A limited housing supply and rising prices have homeowner expectations at an all-time high. Labor and supply shortages, along with rising insurance premiums, are taxing builder budgets. Plus, builders must navigate a litany of attorneys looking for reasons to take legal action against them. It is the perfect storm for more frequent, higher-priced claims that cost builders time, money, and their reputations.

PWSC’s A-rated insurance-backed warranty gives builders financial protection against workmanship, materials, and structural defects. The builder-backed warranty leverages PWSC’s more than 100 years of staff construction expertise to manage homeowner claims and mediate disputes.

PWSC also goes the extra mile by arming builders with construction defect claims data to identify trends and lower their overall risk profile. These wraparound risk mitigation services better protect builder profits and give homeowners peace of mind.

How does PWSC help home buyers?

Last year set record-high home prices. This year, price tags are still increasing by double-digit percentages. A big-time investment at an inflated price has homeowners on high alert for defects.

PWSC offers systems and appliance warranties for both new and aftermarket homes. The plans take the guesswork out of homeownership. They pick up where insurance policies leave off, ensuring a system or appliance malfunction does not destroy a family’s savings. The warranties protect most standard appliances with an option for add-on coverage. PWSC supports 24/7 claims submissions for homeowner convenience. All repairs and replacements come from a vetted national network of highly skilled service professionals incentivized to provide high-quality work.

How are home builders’ warranty exposures changing?

What we’re seeing is that current market conditions have builders reconsidering how they think about warranties.

For example, large builders usually invest heavily in general liability insurance and then self-insure ancillary risks like warranties. However, insurance rates were up by more than 10% last year with similar increases projected for 2022. Builders already pay some of the highest premiums. Having less affordable insurance options means increasing liability exposures or self-insuring more. Both are costly propositions. That makes an insurance-backed warranty an attractive option they might previously have overlooked.

The labor market is another cost pressure with long-term implications. There simply are not enough skilled tradespeople to keep up with housing demand. That has builders turning to a less skilled workforce. For large-scale developments, this increases the likelihood of a repetitive problem happening in multiple homes. Plus, most defects do not present themselves until after year four, so we won’t truly know the impact for many years. A builder warranty provides 10 years of coverage to help mitigate and manage problems.

Overall, builders are seeing warranties as less of a nice-to-have buyer perk and more as a true risk management tool.

How can a home builder’s warranty impact customer service and satisfaction scores?

Many builders report that they accommodate every repair request to keep homeowners happy. That sounds good but is unsustainable and often ineffective. Every state offers its own set of complicated building standards. PWSC translates those regulations into measurable standards homeowners can understand. This keeps builders and owners on the same page about what constitutes a defect. Both sides clearly understand the reason behind a denied repair request. It may surprise people, but our data consistently shows offering a warranty with clear standards improves customer satisfaction by 20%.

How does PWSC work with MarkSystems?

ECI and PWSC have operated together for years. We’ve improved how we address the housing industry’s needs by leveraging each other’s expertise. MarkSystems home builder software gives builders the resources necessary to manage first- and second-year warranty requests. PWSC addresses years three through ten. Together, we operate as an end-to-end solution that brings operational efficiency and effective risk management to the warranty process.

Learn more about PWSC by watching the on-demand webinar "It Won’t Happen To Us: Famous Last Words as Builders Brace for More Construction Defect Claims” or visit their website, pwsc.com