Building Remotely: Tips for Home Builders

Due to COVID, a lot has changed for home builders. While the world initially slowed down (for some States everything stopped), business is back with a vengeance and builders need to find ways to manage operations remotely.

In this panel webinar, Robert Cain, VP of Professional Services for ECI, Matt Collins, COO of Elliot Homes, and Jason French, Director of Technology for Red Door Homes and Senior Consultant for SMA Consulting, provide tips for builders to be proactive and work effectively in this “new normal.”

People management

• Builders who can incorporate a remote workforce can take advantage of talent across the country and scale up and down to manage back-office processing.
• A results-focused work environment helps manage your team effectively. Own your data so you can measure the results with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). A cultural shift may be needed to move the focus from the number of hours someone is “in the office” to “what are the results?” To know whether people are achieving KPIs, you need readily available reports, which requires leveraging your business management systems as opposed to working outside them using spreadsheets to manipulate the data.
• When implementing a remote workforce, you need to look at the mechanics vs. culture—and recognizing the difference between these two components is an important step. Mechanics is the easy part, while the cultural change is more process focused and a bigger hurdle.

Communication

• Communication for builders is the new challenge. While people are used to walking into someone’s office to talk to them, there now is a need for more scheduled, structured communication. Shorter, effective, frequent meetings with specific goals/agendas help keep things on task better than longer sessions.
• A scheduling app allows communication in the field with office staff without going into the office.
• Recorded sessions for internal meetings and training. These recordings provide a great way to share information so those who can’t make the live sessions can access it as needed and digest the information at their own pace.

Technology

• Using cloud-based technology has been essential to keeping business going during social distancing requirements.
• Leveraging technology—such as virtual tours and meetings for home buyers—accommodates building and buying homes remotely.
• Knowing the best practices before implementing technology is vital. Use the vendor consultants or other builders to help determine the best processes for you and what your goals are before implementation.
• Thinking long-term is important. If you’re only looking at the immediate issues and filling short-term gaps, you’re missing the impact of the new environment. Change your mindset to look beyond today’s issues and figure out how this impacts your business long-term. See how you can incorporate pieces of the remote/virtual nature of home buying today into your business for the future.

Learn more about setting up your business systems and home builder software for a remote environment. Watch the webinar on-demand.