A study on quality gaps in private and public sector residential apartments

Abstract

There has been a significant growth in the residential apartment market in Sri Lanka during the last decade. The main reasons behind this upsurge include the population growth, changes in living patterns and the soaring prices of property particularly in urban areas of the country. The sustainability of this segment of construction depends, to a greater extent, on the ability of developers to satisfy customer requirements in the long run. Satisfied customers are believed to be the backbone of the residential housing industry, and the developers have now come to realise that the ability to correctly assess customer requirements and the quality of services are crucial to their financial viability. At present, most of the residential apartments are designed without the involvement of potential users or customers. When there is a communication gap among the parties, particularly with respect to user requirements, the goal of customer satisfaction and high quality services cannot be achieved. To overcome this problem, the concept of 'quality gap' could be used. It is an indicator, based on the difference between 'expected quality' and 'perceived quality', often used for identifying areas for improvement in residential housing.