Information for Builders

RateYourBuilder is the most dynamic and comprehensive forum for home shoppers, buyers and owners in the United States and Canada to share experiences with communities, home builders, and warranty companies. The right to display the ratings, comments and forum posts on this web site are protected by various laws such as the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) 47 U.S.C. Section 230 and supporting case law. The information posted on this site has been provided by volunteers for the purpose of improving the residential construction industry. The volunteers have agreed to provide honest and fair opinions based on their personal experiences. Rating Insights, LLC (Rating Insights) accepts the good faith of these volunteers but is not in a position to verify the accuracy of their opinions. Users of this site (including their principals) and the information provided by this site ACKNOWLEDGE and ACCEPT that they will not rely on Rating Insights to screen or otherwise monitor the opinions posted on this site and will not advance any claim against Rating Insights in connection with the opinions posted on this site. In addition, users of the site (including their principals) will not disclose the information found on the site without prior written consent of Rating Insights. By accessing this site, you (and your principals) signify your agreement with and understanding of the above terms, conditions of use and disclaimers and agree to be bound by them. How does my company benefit from having ratings? In the absence of good information on service and experience, customers are limited to a few tangible things they can measure and identify themselves, so builders who make the effort to build the highest quality homes and provide the greatest level of service are at a disadvantage since the value of these intangibles is unknown until a prospective buyer becomes a home owner. With an adequate base of ratings, builders can better differentiate on quality and service. This raises the bar for all builders and so also benefits all stakeholders in the long run. Ultimately we hope that builders will be able to learn from the information collected on RateYourBuilder to improve their products and services so that a bad customer experience is the exception. Builders can use the reports tools provided through Rating Insights to improve the customer’s experience. And for those builders who can improve or already provide exceptional service, your performance will be reflected in your reviews and this information becomes a running dynamic platform for your business. You can even link directly to our rating pages to show your prospects that you live up to your marketing claims! RateYourBuilder does not accept direct advertising or support from builders. Reviews posted on RateYourBuilder represent the opinions of individual reviewers—or volunteers—and do not in any way represent the views of RateYourBuilder, Rating Insights, its employees, partners or affiliates. RateYourBuilder lets customers speak for themselves through their ratings, their comments, and their forum posts. A customer’s endorsement is the best marketing and doesn’t require you to do anything other than deliver a great experience. As a home builder, the best way to ensure that the ratings on this site present a relevant picture of your communities, homes and service is simply to ask all of your customers to visit RateYourBuilder.com and provide feedback on their experiences. For home builders who do quality work and strive to deliver an outstanding customer experience, this will naturally lead to many positive testimonials that potential customers can see at any time. The numbers, as they say, will speak for themselves. We accept the good faith of these volunteers to share their honest opinions but we are not in a position to verify the accuracy of their opinions and we cannot edit reviews submitted by consumers. Through the Builder Review & Respond tool on RatingInsights.com, builders can provide responses to consumer comments. For example, a builder can thank the anonymous homeowner for kind comments. Or a builder can respond to unique community situations that may have led to an unhappy customer experience. Builders can register on RatingInsights.com in order to launch Builder Review & Respond and reply to what their customers are saying. This is a free service. We are also looking at ways to allow builders of all sizes to provide accurate community information to us so we can ensure that consumers are able to correctly identify you and your communities. If you have suggestions on ways we can better work with you without compromising our independence, please Contact Us and send us your ideas. Legal references The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) 47 U.S.C. § 230 and related decisions and case law are very strong in the exemptions granted to the operators of online services from the duties and liabilities of a traditional publisher. See the article on Wikipedia for more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Decency_Act 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(1) states: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.” Ratings, comments and forum posts on RateYourBuilder are authored by users of the site, so RateYourBuilder and Rating Insights cannot be legally regarded as the “publisher or speaker” of the information contained here. Therefore, we are not liable for user-provided information on this site.