Audacious Goals to Grow and Improve Your Business

This article first appeared in the November/December 2024 issue of Pro Builder.

You can thank Camelot Homes for this column.

Five years ago, the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based luxury production home builder set its sights on earning Gold in our National Housing Quality Awards program, which recognizes operational excellence in the housing industry. It was, as managing director Mark Hancock called it then, an “audacious goal” meant to push his company further and make it measurably better. Which it did.

Last year, Camelot achieved its goal (the first builder to earn NHQA Gold since 2019), and then started looking for its next summit among a never-ending range of continuous improvement initiatives.

Don't Wait to Pursue Your Own Audacious Goals

While I certainly welcome other builders reading this column to follow Camelot’s lead and engage in the NHQA program (we’re currently accepting applications), I’m more apt to encourage you to find and pursue an audacious goal that solves a particularly troublesome or chronic problem that’s hindering your success. And 2025 seems poised to be the perfect time to do so.

As long as I’ve covered the housing market and seen boom and bust cycles come and go, I have watched and heard home builders shy away from making bold moves in both good times (“too busy”) and bad (“too poor”), which means no truly meaningful advances ever happen.

But if your own predictions for the coming year—reflected in our annual forecast survey—are any indication, you’ll be in a much better financial position in 2025 to take a big swing at a transformational goal that will benefit and bolster your company in any market condition. 

RELATED

• Apply for the National Housing Quality Awards
• Gold-Worthy: Camelot Homes Earns the NHQA's Highest Honor
• Our 2025 Housing Forecast: Renewed Optimism ... With a Vengeance! 
• A Legacy of Luxury: Camelot Homes is our 2024 Builder of the Year

To Get Started, Consider These Goals

I’m confident you can find your own way to an audacious goal, but if you’re looking for places to start, consider:

• Eliminating or significantly reducing model homes in favor of photorealistic, customizable virtual tours (14% of builders are already doing this);
• Incorporating more off-site construction methods—precut framing packages, panelized roof trusses, wall panels, and floor systems, volumetric modular—to speed production, enable reliable scheduling, and reduce materials waste and costs for labor (this initiative ranks within the top four growth opportunities in our survey);
• Committing to 100% Energy Star or Net-Zero Ready homes—a move that will put you ahead of the more stringent building and energy codes coming down the pike, instead of always playing catch-up (also a top-4 growth opportunity);
• Diversifying into build-to-rent or another segment to hedge against a market dip in your core business (see what Camelot Homes has done to diversify).

My point is this (and my guess is that you already know it): You simply won’t improve, gain stability, keep good subs, earn customers and positive reviews, or prepare for the future of this industry by standing pat.

Adapt audaciously or die.

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