BC Business
Top 20 Innovators in BC, Mibroc Group of Companies
Congratulations to Mibroc, #19 in 2011's Most Innovative Companies in B.C. With building and selling homes arguably B.C.’s favourite business, pastime and obsession, it’s gratifying to include a medium-sized developer on this year’s list, even if it’s for its marketing, of all things. ?
With building and selling homes arguably B.C.’s favourite business, pastime and obsession, it’s gratifying to include a medium-sized developer on this year’s list, even if it’s for its marketing, of all things.
The Mibroc Group of companies is a Kamloops-based operation that plans and builds custom homes and condos. It has 25 staff and five projects in the works, including the 450-unit Talasa condo project in Kamloops. What sets Mibroc apart is an aggressive customer satisfaction strategy, started two years ago in response to a simple problem: “They found that most people hate the whole home-building process,” says one of our panellists.
Mibroc’s solution was to find about 10 moments in the home-building ordeal where it could create positive, memorable experiences for its clients. With a new single-family home, for instance, it will invite the family out for a groundbreaking ceremony, even outfitting the kids with tiny hard hats and shovels. Another gimmick is a time capsule that clients can lay in the walls or even in the driveway concrete of their new home. Photos and videos of these events are all uploaded to a website where they can be saved and shared.
It certainly won’t transform the fundamentals of home-building, but in terms of what a construction company offers its customers, it definitely raises the bar. And besides, as one of our panellists points out, “the rumour is that, in Kamloops at least, a lot of the traditional guys who build homes are a bit upset with these guys. As soon as you hear that, you know they’re doing something right.”