The Lean Builder The Lean Building Blog: Nothing left to take away? If asked, I would be hard-pressed to pick a favorite author, but if forced to choose just one I would go with Antoine St. Exupery. St. Ex,...
Customer Satisfaction Home Building and the Ultra Marathon The idea of running a 100 mile race ten years ago was as inconceivable and foreign to me as the possibility of a 6 year real estate crash. ...
Building Operations Why most Builders are stating they can't find the right talent In the Wall Street Journal on 10/24 an article was published indicating that 52% of US companies were reporting major difficulty in filling...
Lean Design Tips on how renderings can sell the home — not the house Traveling around the country I see a lot of renderings - most of them leave a whole lot to be desired. The worst are the black and white CAD...
The Lean Builder The Customer Code – are you meeting it? One of the greatest misconceptions about Lean process and methods is that they cheapen the product. Lean is first and always about value,...
Quality Management Opportunities: November is World Quality Month November is World Quality Month and November 10th is World Quality Day ! This can be a great opportunity to leverage local and regional...
Building Operations Live and work without execuses Not a day goes by that I don’t experience multiple builders telling me why improvement in their business won’t happen. The economy, the lack...
Lean Design 2 hot design trends that will delight your customers Our lives are busy and getting busier. Some of the most popular new design trends focus on making life a bit easier. Simplifying access and...
The Lean Builder Poster child for bad design The accompanying picture was used recently with what was an otherwise good article on how to create profitable design. That article is much...
Quality Management Increasing Sales & Revenue: NHQA Winners 2011-2012 Achieving Performance Excellence In this economy these builders are growing sales, expanding into new markets and achieving 100% customer satisfaction! They are building...
Quality Management Learning from the dysfunctional The vast majority of what is written about management and business is about excellence, those people and organizations that excel. Little is...
Quality Management Change, short and sweet "It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."--W. Edwards Deming ...
Quality Management Simple and fun introduction to lean concepts: Thinking outside the dome Using Lean concepts can be very powerful; the trick is using them correctly. In an earlier blog I discussed ‘Lean and Six Sigma in...
The Lean Builder Hangin’ with HCG: big, rich and smart! Recently I was asked to present to a group of purchasing managers for a Top 20 builder, led by a Corporate VP who truly gets it when it...
Lean Design 4 baby steps that will save you $150 or more per house "Baby step onto the elevator... baby step into the elevator... I'm in the elevator." If you have not seen Bill Murray in "What about Bob,"...
Quality Management Video and product list for the All American Home Building a home made entirely from American made products from the nails to the bathtub was achieved by Bozeman, Montana builder Anders...
The Lean Builder 'If you think you can, or you cannot, you are right' — Lean Tuesday with Scott Sedam Henry Ford was a genius and if not father of the automobile per se, he was arguably father of the automotive industry. As usually...
Lean Design Value engineering’s role in Lean design – Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett Imagine yourself walking into McDonalds and ordering lunch (if you are anything like me this would probably not be a huge stretch). You walk...
Building Operations Break from the pack, and do it now I recently saw the movie "MoneyBall" with Brad Pitt as the lead playing a GM of the Oakland A’s baseball team. For the readers who have not...
Quality Management It doesn’t matter where you excel, it’s where you need to improve that counts Are you curious? Sometimes I wonder just how curious people really are. For example do you talking to those next to you at conferences? I...
Quality Management Big Q and little q Big Q and little q is a term coined by Dr Juran and is key in fully understanding quality. It contrasts the difference between managing for...
Quality Management The peanut butter & jelly sandwich workshop: A lesson in quality Yes believe it or not we can learn a lot from the simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich. While this is very simple it is also a low cost,...
The Sweet Spot Real-life remodels: Tips and trends from this year's Design Awards If there’s one theme that runs through this year’s Professional Remodeler Design Awards, presented this month, it’s practical. After years...
Lean Design Look ma! No jogs! Look ma! The war cry for young show offs world wide. I’m sure you have had a “look ma” moment or two in your life. I don’t know about you...
The Lean Builder A supplier never forgets In the past month I have had the opportunity to present to and spend time with two different groups of 25 successful, independent lumber ...