Selecting a homebuilder

Why do some homebuilders fail?

Failure to take Time:

Before starting recent construction on a large home in Greene County, we at Keith White Custom Homes spent the better part of two months getting to know the client, sharing thoughts and ideas and gathering data. Several meetings took place before we felt that our visions were in synch and our goals in harmony. This process consumed a lot of valuable time, but we at Keith White Custom Homes feel that time is an essential price to pay. Most homebuilders will just not make that sacrifice. They seem too focused on breaking records or meeting overly ambitious goals to take time getting to know their buyers. Besides, they know more about homebuilding than the customer and dwelling on details will slow down the process. One day the builder finds himself more than halfway through a project when he realizes he never understood the customer's desires to begin with, and then it is suddenly the customer's fault. The homebuilder grumbles: "I wish you had told me you wanted that from the beginning." Chances are he was told, but at the time he just wasn't listening. You can build a 2,000 square foot home for $120,000 or $200,000. Keith White Custom Homes has done them both; It depends on what that client wants. Well $80,000 is a big difference. You'd better take the time to know which one you're building before you ever get started.

Likewise, a good builder takes time to get to know his workers and subcontractors and to be sensitive to their needs, both personally and professionally.

A good builder must be willing to devote the necessary time to any and all aspects of the business, and that may well translate into a lot of 70 or 80 hour weeks. Every year we turn down about half of the custom built work that comes our way because we don't feel we can devote sufficient time. Some years the temptation is tough to resist, but If we can't do the job right then were not going to take it on.

Poor Communication:

Since building our first home in 1994, Keith White Custom Homes has taken a hands-on approach. This guarantees personal involvement in advanced design ideas, capable project management and the ability to guide homebuyers through the entire construction process. Keith White Custom Homes is an essential link between client and subcontractors, and without the benefit of this company's careful planning and communication, a lot of detail can become lost in the translation. This builder is on the job site daily overseeing every aspect of your home construction, from the initial design to the final walk-through. That goes back to getting to know your client, and in establishing a long time working relationship with workers and subcontractors.

Taking on too many projects at one time becomes a challenge. Concepts become diluted by the communications network by the time they travel from the home buyer to the homebuilder, who conveys the ideas to a department supervisor, who must then relay the information through a few other people until it finally filters down to the guy who does the work. A lot can be lost in the translation when an idea has to pass through such a lengthy chain.

The essence of the Keith White Custom Homes philosophy is: "Careful planning and good communication will practically guarantee the success of any project."

No Empathy for Customers:

From the owners and employees to the contractors and subcontractors associated with Keith White Custom Homes we all have similar characteristics: We are all hard-working people with families of our own. We know how tough it is to be able sustain our families in nice clothes, nutrition, transportation and a warm and cozy place to live. That's why we don't just build houses; from the foundation to the final coat of paint, we keep the thought in mind that someday this project will be someone's home. Imagine the pride we feel when we bump into a previous client in a supermarket or a mall and hear greetings like: "Hi! We think of you quite often. We still love our home more than you can imagine".

Word of mouth brings us many customers. As a family grows we often find ourselves building second or third homes for that family, and we thoroughly strive to be the builder of choice for future generations. We hear homebuilders grumble about a client's "interference" and "coming around the site sticking their nose where it's not needed". We guarantee you, that's a homebuilder on the downward spiral. Arrogance, intolerance and indifference toward clients are characteristics of a builder who has lost passion for his work and would rather be on the golf course, or fishing on some lake. Buyers are real people with thoughts and desires, hearts and spirits. Homebuilders need to digest this fact and start caring about the buyer and allowing him to blend into the process. A part of the homebuilder will be a part of that home for as long as it stands, and that spirit should always be consistent with that of the buyer.

No concern about his own reputation:

Buying a new home has been ranked as one of the most stressful events in a person's life. A wise homebuilder must consider and never become too busy breaking records and counting his profits to care about his reputation. It is a reckless attitude to think there is always another customer ready to take the place of the last one. During a thriving economy the average home builder may coast along with the notion that "two out of three satisfied customers ain't bad", but the wise homebuilder is aware that the that economy can come to a screeching halt overnight. That's when contracts can dry up and clients become rare, and only a homebuilder's reputation can sustain him during such times. If there is any one aspect of the Keith White Custom Homes philosophy that we might say carries the most weight, it would have to be our reputation. Within the precincts of common sense and fair reasoning, Keith White Custom Homes will go to almost any length to maintain the solid reputation we enjoy from our clients, suppliers, employees and associates. Our pledge is to cut no corners in insuring that each and every one of our clients will remember us with a smile and a favorable recommendation.

What should I know about my homebuilder?

What is his "Real World" Experience?

From the side of his truck you might conclude that this homebuilder is one to consider for your future dream home, but you might be wrong......

For instance, JoJo might have been a hired hand for 20 years on a Turkey farm while he worked weekends and holidays single handedly building his own home, a commendable task for sure.

BUT

One reason it took him 20 years because some of his trial and error techniques caused him to abandon and restart several phases of the project. Then, there were factors he hadn't foreseen that caused the home to come in at 5 times his original estimate. And the day he moved in many of the features of the home were so outdated that he had to start a whole new project of upgrading, Even So, JoJo's Great Aunt left him a little inheritance which bankrolled his venture into homebuilding. It took five years to complete a home for his best friend, Fred, who is no longer his best friend because that home, too, cost half again as much as the original estimates. But for last 5 years of his "experience", JoJo has managed to build a half-dozen fairly respectable homes.

A wise home buyer will peer beyond the exaggerated claims on a truck or a sign or a business card. Keith White Custom Homes built their first home to sell in 1994, but the experience goes back as far even as Keith White's childhood when he used to roam the construction sites with his homebuilder grandfather. Keith watched with keen interest, learning younger than most that building a home is more than sawing boards and hammering nails. He was fascinated with things like cost analysis and time management. He observed first hand the benefits derived from comprehensive scheduling. Keith White Custom Homes brings experience to the industry that is unparalleled by many and unequalled by most.

What is the degree of his commitment?

At Keith White Custom Homes a buzz word is "Commitment". A homebuilder who takes on too many custom jobs at once cannot possibly devote sufficient time to each one of them. So he hires several project foremen and sites supervisors, each with his or her own ideas about where the project is headed, and quite often the link between the customer and the actual workers becomes diluted by too many middle men. That's why Keith White Custom Homes makes no commitments that Keith White himself cannot plan, direct and oversee. Your project will always be the most important project that Keith White Custom Homes is involved with at any given time.

Does he give proper attention to Preparation? Another thing you often hear from homebuilders is: "We'll play it by ear" or "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." At Keith White Custom Homes planning and looking ahead are essential processes. We'll never have to "cross a bridge" that we haven't planned at the outset. Keith White has been preparing himself to build your home for most of his life. From those experiences shared with him by his homebuilder grandfather, to the position he held with Barton's Lumber and Building Materials guiding and instructing builders in the techniques of cost estimating. Accompanied by many hours in classes studying this craft, he worked for several years at Barton's honing his skills until he became widely respected and sought after by builders to do their estimating. Since building their first home in 1994, Keith White Custom Homes has taken this same hands-on approach. This guarantees personal involvement in advanced design ideas, capable project management and the ability to guide homebuyers through the entire construction process. Keith White Custom Homes is your direct link with workers and subcontractors so there's no loss in communication. Keith White is on each job site daily to oversee every aspect of your home construction, from the initial design to the final walk-through.

You hear many homebuilders grumbling about a shortage of labor. Construction is hard work and it sometimes attracts workers who jump aboard just long enough to snag a big check and then suddenly go missing in action. The key to success in homebuilding is to attract dependable, long term employees. But to attract them, the builder also has to be dependable. Can he keep them working year 'round? To keep Keith White Custom Homes going and our employees and subcontractors busy all year around, we fill in between custom homes with spec homes. The combination is great because we can suspend work on spec homes at any time to devote more time to custom jobs. By doing both types of building we have year round work and can keep crews busy, and that makes the steady, family man type worker loyal to us. When the economy slows down we take on more custom work . When the market is hot we build more spec homes. Once again, it boils down to caring about your reputation and taking care of the people who work for you. For example, we have an master cabinet maker on staff year round. He even works with us in the planning stages which is wonderful. He works exclusively for us and we give him all our cabinet work. This is another way we assure that a client will never feel short changed.

Does he Short Change his Client?

We doubt that there are many homebuilders who deliberately set out to short change a client. But bad planning and inexperience can produce the same results. As we previously stated, Keith White Custom Homes has built 2,000 square foot homes for $120,000, and 2,000 square foot homes for $200,000. The difference is understanding exactly what the customer wants before making a bid. Some homebuilders are so anxious to snag a job that they come in with a very narrow margin bid. Then the first problem that comes along, additional labor and unexpected expenses start eating up the project.

Most all short changes come toward the end. Everyone has money on the front end but start running short toward the end and that's where it is really going to show. So time and detail must be focused from the beginning on things like cabinets, floor covering, appliances, paint, and trim work. You can put $5000 in cabinets or you can spend $25,000. If the homeowner has been thinking $25,000 and she gets stuck with $5,000 she won't be happy.

We can put all the quality under the slab and inside the walls that we want, but what the customer has to see every day are the finishing details. If we run out of money before the walls get painted, that customer is going to be outraged. And that's another reason it pays to have full time people in various departments, so that you can rotate them where needed and ultimately nobody gets short-changed.