Best Practices:
Corporate Profile: Veridian Homes of Madison, Wisc. is a semi-custom production builder of single and condominium homes. Family-owned and operated, Veridian was formed in 2003 through the merger of Don Simon Homes and Midland Builders, two of Wisconsin's oldest and most respected home builders. Veridian is Wisconsin's largest home builder.
Mission: Dream. Build. Live. Veridian's mission is to build great homes by never losing sight of what is important: customers, employees, communities and the environment in which we live.
Management Team: David Simon, president of operations; Jeff Rosenberg, president of land acquisition and development; Jeff Simon, president of Marshall Towne Millwork (former executive vice president of operations, Veridian Homes); Gary Zijicek, vice president of construction; John Maasch, vice president of sales, marketing and customer relations; Jeff Hackel, vice president of human resources; Bill Bublitz, vice president of finance; Dan Gorski, vice president of estimating, purchasing and design; and Don Esposito, vice president of land acquisition and development.
Strategic Goals: Veridian has formed strategies around product and market diversification, integrated planning through the entire development cycle, improving sales and marketing effectiveness and managing costs. These strategies are created with an eye on customer loyalty and business profitability. To foster loyalty, Veridian sets strategies for market research, product development and increasing the effectiveness of the sales team. To ensure profitability, Veridian focuses on cost control.
Judge's Comments: “Veridian is a company of fun, hard working, well intentioned people that work with a uniform vision and produce outstanding results that virtually set the bar for others in almost every area. Veridian understands and embraces its mission, vision and values. This must be understood for leaders to set priorities for their leadership activities.“Employees are completely aware of the vision, mission and values of the organization – they live them daily and use them as a guide in their work. Customer and Trade Partner focus is a key part of performance management and this is highlighted in how work systems are designed and how trade partners are involved in providing proactive improvement and frequent weekly 'even-flow' meetings. This includes the support of Trade Partner Certification.”
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