Quality Management Quality and risk management Standards provide crucial communication, alignment and compatibility at an international, national, industry and individual organizational...
The Design Side The bungalow: An icon of American architecture An article in the Chicago Sun-Times this past Sunday featured the Chicago bungalow, an architectural style much beloved in the Windy City....
Building Operations 4 tips for the coming labor crunch A CNN Money article this week elaborated on what many construction firms already know: good labor is now hard to find. Some find this news...
Remodeling Insider The power of saying “No” To a remodeling contractor, saying “no” to a potential client could possibly be the best decision you make for your company. A few years...
Quality Management Call for entries for the 2014 National Housing Quality Award For over 20 years, the National Housing Quality Award has been helping some of America’s best home builders improve their operations and...
The Design Side Great America, meet MainStreet America A new theme park just opened in Houston, and it’s not Six Flags. MainStreet America is a collection of 12 show homes, ranging from 1,800...
Customer Satisfaction Find Your Special 007 Sales Agents You'd be amazed at the number of referrals a satisfied homeowner can refer to their home builder
Building Operations How to use information to become indispensable This thing will change your life. It may appear to be another timemarking commodity. It’s not. This clock not only gathers...
Building Operations Socialize this There’s a new business buzzword spreading like Strep Throat. I’m betting it’s still in the early adoption phase, but these viral epidemics ...
Lean Design Avoid this costly mistake! After my January 2013 article in Professional Builder, “3 Ways to Huge Profits Through Lean Design,” was published, I was thrilled to get a...
The Lean Builder The immigration conundrum As often happens in my articles and columns in Professional Builder Magazine, I set out to write one article, which quickly morphs into...
The Design Side More reasons to buy a new home Michelle Jennings Wiebe is helping to spread the message that new homes are better than resales. Wiebe, president and principal designer of...
Building Operations Leveraging the smartphone for a safer jobsite Considering the millions of people wandering around with chins buried in their chests, thumbs ablaze on glass keyboards, few would suggest...
The Lean Builder Design for failure When I travel with my wife, or sometimes just run to the grocery, cleaners or hardware store, she frequently has to remind me, “Scott,...
Building Operations Visualizing your future This pottery is the future. OK, not the pottery itself. What the pottery represents… is the future. Our future. This ceramic...
Customer Satisfaction Have you Drunk the Social Media Kool-Aid? When I was part of a growing home building company we learned to be on guard for the newest “technology” coming down the pike that promised...
Quality Management The costs of not using quality: Are you willing to pay for quality in your business? Studies show that across industries Cost of Quality (Failure, Appraisal & Prevention) is: 2.6-4% of sales revenue. In the...
The Design Side The Renovation Revolution … on TV Did you know that Bronson Pinchot has a show on the DIY Network? That’s right, folks — Balki renovates houses! It turns out that Pinchot,...
The Design Side Attainable sustainability in the ‘hood Green building has touched nearly every new-home price point in urban areas as well as the suburbs. A recent Chicago Sun-Times article...
Building Operations Gordon Gekko and the information imperative. Yesterday we revisited the information-gathering tactics of The Master of the Senate - Lyndon B. Johnson. But when it comes to...
Building Operations What LBJ can teach you about the most valuable commodity. Early in Lyndon Johnson’s senate career, he lobbied for the title of Senate Majority Whip. The more seasoned senators chuckled. ...
Building Operations Do you have Cool Hand Luke Syndrome? Why has high school Spanish failed so many students? Let’s face it - foreign language failure is acceptable in America today. Yes, I...
Customer Satisfaction Do You Really Want More or Less Realtor-Generated New-Home Sales? Helping home builders understand the mechanics of outside real estate agent cooperation
Building Operations What high school theology taught me about Spanish. I attended a Catholic high school. Nuns. Uniforms. Morning prayers. Mass injected into random school days. And...
Lean Design Great home plans: check out this 2,500-square-foot head turner Today we have a ranch (or if you are on the East Coast, a rambler) to review. It is a Lean Design with a ton of amenities, and it is a...