<b><b>Judith Harrison, project director of the Housing Forum, looks at what housebuilders could gain by turning their efforts to whole life costing </b></b><br><b>I am, no doubt, not the first person to wonder how the housebuilding industry would change if all builders were responsible for the long term maintenance of the houses which they build, and for ongoing relationships with their customers. This wondering goes beyond the possibility of reducing the number of corners cut during construction, of increasing liaison with subcontractors and avoiding the drive to complete the maximum number of properties before the year end, to looking at the more fundamental changes taking place within the industry as a whole and to wondering how these might eventually affect the private housebuilder. </b><br><b><b>Assessment</b></b><br> The Housing Forum is well placed with its contacts across all sectors to spot the trends amongst the leaders and how the lessons might influence others within the industry. <p></p><p>So, what are these changes and how might they affect the housebuilder&amp;’s longer term perspective?</p><p>The first is the published measures of customer satisfaction now being established within the private sector as the second National Customer Satisfaction Survey of private housebuilders by the Housing Forum is nearing completion. As …