Building Operations How to lower your fixed payroll cost by at least 40% Recently, there has been a lot of press about football player’s compensation. Specifically, many of the new contracts written for superstar...
Affordability Title here Jane McNamara is a tech-savvy CEO of a non-profit agency in Michigan. In February of this year, she bought a second home in Florida from...
The Lean Builder Honest wrong beliefs or just pig-headedness? Both my grandfathers were self-made men who did well during the Great Depression and retired quite comfortably, if not wealthy by today’s...
Lean Design Help for Haiti I have been fortunate enough to be working with Jeff Rutt and Matt Collins from Keystone Custom Homes, Perry Bigelow from Bigelow Homes, and...
Building Operations 72% of home building employee's indicate they would resign if an employment alternative existed ! I recently conducted an online survey of over 1200 home building employees. The survey asked the question,” If the US market was good today,...
Quality Management The Great Pyramid and Pantheon: ancient construction quality In a recent discussion regarding the impact of quality on the ASQ Design & Construction Division Linkedin Group, a member made the...
Building Operations Misunderstood communication issues will derail your business strategies In every industry I have worked in, Communication seems to be the common denominator, of dysfunctionality. We write books about, train our...
Lean Design Get to the point: Clarifying structural loads on construction drawings Eric Tiffin our magically talented Project Manager brought up the idea of writing about point loads this week. My first thought was that...
Market Data + Trends What I learned about the future of housing You know that phenomenon where you hear a reasonable sounding, logical guy armed with facts that presents an convincing analysis of a...
Quality Management Managing in a downturn Wisdom is timeless, which is why two Harvard Business Review articles published in 2001 and 2008 are still as valid and thought provoking...
Building Operations Using a outside consultant could give you the extra you need..... From 1979 to 2001 I worked in high level positions within corporate America. I was always surprised over the number of consultants that...
Building Operations The white elephant still exist for leaders in coaching For over 30 years I have worked with executives that indicate they are interested in improving their skills, leadership ability or their...
Building Operations Are you afraid of getting better? As a consultant, I literally spend 30 hours a week on the phone with builder owners, CEO’s and senior level staff of Home builder’s, Real...
The Sweet Spot More doubling up impacting housing trends The latest numbers from the Census Bureau confirms what we've all been seeing: more people are doubling-up. Whether it's getting a roommate...
Lean Design My biggest eye opener relating to the building business — Lean Tuesday with Todd Hallett We all have our eye opening moments in life. When I was 17 my dad would often remind me to keep checking the oil in my 72 Bonneville. I did...
Quality Management Risk Management for Home Builders Don't get caught out. Know the risks and prepare for risk management
The Lean Builder You don't have time NOT to do this Probably the simultaneously most understandable yet least valid excuse for not launching a Lean implementation is that your staff is...
The Sweet Spot Tablet Revolution It seems hard to believe now, but when the iPad was introduced last year, there was a lot of question about whether or not Apple had finally...
Building Operations Save $5 a square foot with the right integrated software system From the year 1999 to 2001 I led the enterprise wide SAP conversion for a top ten builder. Up until that time, very little was ever seen of...
Quality Management BIM are we using it to its max and not forgetting quality? BIM is technology which can be of enormous help. It can of course be a great tool to help us integrate for example design and estimating. It...
Lean Design Design checklists made simple Check yourself before you wreck yourself. This delightful saying comes from a rap song by Ice Cube. Mr. Cube’s message urges us all to make...
Quality Management An impact of quality video, a builders view So often I hear builders say that quality may work in manufacturing plants, but not out here building homes. Well of course it does work,...
Great Solutions for Builders Don’t let stock market swings impact sales One of the many harsh realities we’ve grown accustomed to during this economic downturn is the turbulent nature of stock market indices,...
Building Operations Using Performance Feedback to increase Productivity In speaking to many builders and re-modelers weekly, it has been interesting to take note that the classic performance appraisal has fallen...
Building Operations How to get your Real Estate Firm to Perform For several years I led 600 real estate agents across multiple markets. About 20% of my business involved the Homebuilder. Here’s what I...