A rare and becoming rarer, group of builders still draw elevations by hand.  Though quaint and talented, not usually highly profitable, except as a niche.

Why is that?  Because avoiding change is un-American.  That is right. To resist change is contradictory to everything that makes us great, that makes us better, improving, working on being better than great, being, in fact, American. 

From software, computer aided design, tools, paper types, business machines, analog to digital, the acceptance of using electronic mail (email), the realization that web sites aren’t just for creative types, trucks with GPS navigation systems, and so much more.  It has all changed for builders, and all for the better, usually. 

Consider the past 10 years: 

GPS navigation systems were uncommon
Thousands and thousands of builders had no web site, and scoffed at the idea
Most builders didn’t have an email account
The line between natural products and man-made for many building products has changed
Marketing theory has been revolutionized by the power technology can now leverage
We can order supplies from a dirt field, using a stick, at least the stick attached to a PDA
Technology on the tool belt has emerged
Dynamic (think real-time immediate) changes, such as lot inventory, were by no means immediately known in mass. Now a consumer should/can know exactly what’s available
Foundation repair was not all that cut and dry

The way we speak, think, act, suggest, imply, convey, do, act, react, create, desire, entice, sell, operate, manage, pretend, believe, buy, eat, sleep, bank, play, drive, parent, and our very existence is after all, all, and forever, changed by technology.  Pity the builder who thinks they can avoid it. 

While every residential construction company has embraced some amount of change, the more advanced ones embrace it (i.e. profit from it) and leverage it.  They have advanced technical functions with their web site, using it as a production tool. They employ software to do more with less people, do it faster, better, and separate themselves from their competition, such as online bidding and contracting, minimizing travel, storing data with immediate access. Builders who can make more accurate predictions on when money comes in, and how and when it will be used, have an advantage with the math. Billions, millions or even thousands of dollars is, after all, worth watching, and more importantly, using wisely and precisely. 

What’s next? 

Yes, Virginia, they shoot fax machines.  The younger generation is already learning to do without them.  Also diminishing will be file cabinets, pomp and circumstance, pretension and façade, heavy furniture, and even cords.  The elusive wireless world will be harnessed by more builders.  Today’s new installed networks are more likely to be wireless. More builders will accept their people working in multiple locations, including home, office and road. Software, as an outsourced service, will continue to expand. In 2008 outsourced software is expanding at the rate of 30% according to Gartner. 

The Internet will continue to evolve, but more specifically, builders will begin to adopt the Internet as more of a business tool, just as other industries already have.  The distributed workforce so prevalent in today’s society will become a more acceptable option for the workflow between the builder, trade partner and consumer. For example, option selection, mortgage qualification, and the entire “build it, buy it, sell it, service it” enterprise builders do today, will be more and more managed with technology, and the workflow for consumers and trade partners alike, will be distributed. 

There will be a widening between great new home sales professionals and the decreasing need for marginally effective ones. 

As consumers become even savvier, and competition sharpens, builders will focus more on elements such as price, value, quality and service, than ever before. Builders will have to choose 1, or 2, because they will not be able to compete on the idea they offer good, fast and inexpensive. 

New products will continue to be not only developed and deployed, but the request and demand generated more by consumers, than the builder.  This will include an expanding market segment and consumer demand for healthier, unique, and/or environmentally renewable, currently called “green” products.  By the way, they won’t always be called green. Managing data will be easier and quicker for Superintendents.  The plethora of web enabled PDAs (portable data appliances) will increase, as will their functionality. Those same Superintendents will be able to manage more lots/units than there predecessors. Fully functional laptops are already down to a 5x7 size. 

Images, documents, and other data will continue to flow more quickly between the consumer and the builder, enabling the sales and construction cycle to continue to shorten. 

Unfortunately, some builders will not see this coming; will not make the necessary adjustments which are in part, emotional, as much as operational. 

Builders of all sizes will be more efficient, more profitable and ultimately, have a better business practice as they embrace change.  That is, after all, the American way.  

Knowing all this, and seeing it come to fruition year by year, will hopefully motivate you to do what all Americans do so well; not just embrace change, but profit from it.