California Pacific Is Tops in Buyer Satisfaction

J.D. Powers and Associates, best known for customer satisfaction ratings of cars, has taken its first public plunge into the new-home market with a study of the five-county greater Los Angeles area.

And the winner is . . . California Pacific Homes, owned by Irvine Co. real estate magnate Donald Bren, who in many years has been Orange County’s most prolific home builder. J.D. Powers said California Pacific leads the local industry in five of the seven factors it rated, including the two that buyers said were most important, physical features and customer service.

The award “meant a lot to employees” but wasn’t entirely a surprise, said Cary Bren, California Pacific’s president. He said his company conducts its own surveys and buys reports from National Survey Systems, another home buyer research firm that ranked California Pacific first in its region last year.

Ranked No. 2 was Lewis Homes of Upland, whose recent projects include several on the Irvine Ranch. Lewis’ president, Richard Lewis, said his company also conducts its own extensive post-sale surveys of buyers. But the Powers ranking, he said, “was a total surprise.”

Costa Mesa’s Standard Pacific Corp. and Dallas-based Centex Corp. tied for the No. 3 spot, said Powers, which plans additional studies in several major U.S. markets.

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E. Scott Reckard covers real estate for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-7407 and at scott.reckard@latimes.com