The need for customizing maintenance services in social housing

Market segmentation theory is based on the notion that although customers are unique they may be grouped into relatively homogeneous categories which respond in a certain manner to the supplier's marketing efforts. Despite the lack of commercial necessity for the Dutch social rented sector in meeting the demands of tenants, public objectives do compel housing associations to be efficient and effective in maintenance spending. Through customization of maintenance service delivery, the match between users' expectations and the results of maintenance may be improved. Given the limited body of knowledge with respect to preferences of target groups in maintenance of dwellings a post hoc approach is used for this purpose. A large-scale survey was conducted among tenants of large housing associations in the Netherlands. By means of respectively principal component and cluster analyses, customer segments were given shape. Profiling of these segments was achieved through ANOVA and chi-square analyses. There seem to be grounds for housing associations to differentiate, to a limited degree, in their maintenance (purchasing) policy. This, however, always depends on the applicable strategic objectives of the housing association in question.