Andrin Homes Turns Customer Pain Into Business Culture Shift

In a year when many homebuilders north and south of the Canadian border found themselves in reactive mode — navigating the sharp-edged realities of demand-side caution, affordability pressures, and political whiplash — Toronto-based Andrin Homes made a choice.

Not a leap into technology for its own sake.

Not a “nice-to-have” innovation project. Rather, a business cultural decision, triggered by insight and delivered through discipline: to work differently, together.

Basically a year of grinding,” is the backdrop Anne Marchildon, Vice President at Andrin describes. “The sales numbers are below the 1990s recession levels. We’re doing what we can to make sales whenever we can, but the volumes are very, very low… it’s not unique to any particular market we’re in.”

In that kind of climate, the margin for error is razor-thin. Mistakes — especially in communication, execution, or coordination — don’t just cost time. They break chains of trust and operational momentum. They injure brand equity. And they stress already-strained teams.

That’s what made Andrin’s shift in 2023-2024 so notable. While many builders battened down the hatches, Andrin operationalized a quiet transformation — one that began with a reframe: stop flying blind.

Objective Insight as a Cultural Trigger

For Marchildon and her team, the initial driver wasn’t cost savings or speed. It was clarity.

The whole purpose of finding something more objective,” she explains, “was to get a better analysis of the whole picture, as opposed to just the parts that people remember.”

Memory has known flaws as an operating system. Homebuilders who rely solely on gut feel, sticky notes, siloed spreadsheets, or fragmented email chains can’t see the root causes of breakdowns — or the patterns in buyer pain.

Andrin wanted more than anecdotes. They sought data with context, shared visibility, and actionable insights. So, they made a change.

They implemented Constellation HomeBuilder Systems’ homeowner portal — a digital platform designed to streamline post-occupancy service requests, centralize communications, and give homeowners real-time updates on warranty claims, walkthroughs, and punch lists.

It’s not the software alone that’s notable — it’s the mindset shift it catalyzed.

From Firefighting to Flow

Before the portal, we were always reacting instead of being proactive,” Dorothy Dranitsaris, Director, Information Services at Andrin tells us. “Now we only accept warranty service requests through the portal. Homeowners appreciate it because it’s transparent—they can track progress from start to completion without having to follow up with us.”

The change was as much about homeowner experience as it was about internal alignment.

• Homeowners stopped feeling like they were shouting into a void.
• Construction teams stopped fielding redundant calls about status updates.
• Andrin’s leaders gained a shared dashboard of activity and accountability.

We’re all on the same page now,” says Dranitsaris. “Construction, Pre-Closing and Warranty Services are all seeing the same data at the same time. We don’t have as many phone calls, emails, or meetings with frustrated homeowners.”

The result: less noise, more flow.

Homeowner Central gives homebuyers a direct line into the builder’s process for handling service requests,” says Jeremy Halbert, Vice President of Customer Experience and Initiatives at Constellation HomeBuilder Systems. “That level of accessibility helps builders deliver better service, faster.”

Quantifiable Outcomes — and an Unexpected Upside

In a market where every basis point of margin matters, even modest improvements in quality or efficiency can have a bottom-line impact. At Andrin, the transformation produced more than modest results.

We are seeing reductions in the number of warranty claim forms submitted to Tarion [an Ontario, Canada-based non-profit that ensures consumers get warranty protection on new homes],” says Dranitsaris. “There’s at least a 40% reduction compared to communities that didn’t have the portal. That’s the biggest number I’m seeing.”

Fewer claims mean fewer callbacks, less reputational risk, and lower exposure to third-party arbitration or regulatory scrutiny.

But the real breakthrough came in the form of reputation repair.

One of the biggest issues we saw on surveys was that communication with Andrin was poor,” Dranitsaris notes. “Since implementing Homeowner Central, communication scores are always coming in really high. Homeowners specifically comment that they really like the portal.”

What had been a liability — unclear and inconsistent communication — became a strength. And it happened because of follow-through, not lip service.

A Change Management Playbook

Perhaps the most instructive part of Andrin’s journey isn’t the tech stack. It’s the cultural adoption curve—and how unexpectedly smooth it was.

It was actually very simple,” says Dranitsaris. “Once the team knew Homeowner Central was going live with our homeowners, everybody was on board. Construction had some concerns at the beginning about the number of portal service requests, but that didn’t happen. Everyone embraced it.”

That’s not the typical builder story. Adoption of new systems — particularly ones that expose internal accountability — often triggers resistance, turf wars, or shadow workflows.

What made the difference?

• The problem was clear and agreed upon.
• The solution was well-defined and easy to use.
• The leadership message was unified: this is not optional.

Andrin’s experience underscores a broader insight: change management isn’t about a long roadshow or handholding. It’s about clarity, urgency, and a shared belief that things can get better.

Lessons for Other Builders: Culture Follows Visibility

The Canadian market — and most of North America — is grappling with VUCA conditions: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Many builders remain stuck in a state of survival mode.

But survival doesn’t mean stasis. Andrin Homes chose to invest in team clarity, workflow discipline, and data-driven trust-building at a time when many peers deferred those decisions.

The lesson is transferable and straightforward:

• You can’t fix what you can’t see.
• You can’t align if no one shares the same source of truth.
• You can’t improve if all your time is spent reacting.

By moving from reactive to ready, Andrin didn’t just improve warranty claims or homeowner sentiment. They changed how their teams think, communicate, and work. And they’re now better equipped — culturally and operationally — for what comes next.