Customer Satisfaction
How to Lose a Happy Customer
A sad story about how a builder goes to the trouble to find a great piece of land, build a good house, do all of the hard stuff well, then blows it over four or five details
Sales
Queen Elizabeth II: The Reckoning
The lesson of the two Elizabeths is that as an industry we must begin to see salespeople in a holistic manner, as complete members of the team. It's no longer enough to simply bring in the bucks
Human Resources
You're Fired!
Think through your termination process; set mutual expectations with new employees about what you want from them - and what they want from you
Labor + Trade Relations
Lesson on the Road to Everywhere
The legions of hard-working immigrants that enable our livelihood go mostly unnoticed. Get out to the jobsites and listen to their stories—their journeys of what they left behind
Business Management
Can You Pass the Bonus Test?
Profit-based compensation systems have the proven potential to motivate employees while increasing their focus on critical business issues such as revenue, cost control, profit, and customer satisfaction
Regional Builders
Housing's Underdogs Live On: Part 2
Does the notion popularized by some housing industry analysts and the popular press that large national home builders have advantages destined to render local and regional builders helpless and unable to compete hold true?
Customer Satisfaction
The Customer Experience: Overpromised and Underdelivered
Avoid flying into the customer expectation trap
Business Management
Strange Bedfellows: Uncertain Economy + Business Plan? Yes
Even during days of economic uncertainty, try to stick to your company plan
Business Management
Desperately Seeking Differentiation: What Sets Your Home Building Company Apart?
What is it that separates your company from other home builders in the marketplace?
Labor + Trade Relations
Becoming the Builder of Choice
Building as usual is no way to survive in a tightening labor market