There is no shortage of challenges facing the housing industry at the moment—from tariffs to immigration policy, from regulatory changes to climate risk—all these challenges are adding time and cost to projects. Yet, technology makes it possible to have better visibility and management of those challenges so your business and your profit can perform at an optimal level.
Here are some ways for you to start reimagining your approach.
Rethink your ordering process and centralize it. Work with your subcontractors to coordinate material purchasing and to give the necessary lead time to suppliers. Your suppliers need to be able to forecast properly and to make sure the inventory is on hand. If they have to rush product, there is extra time and resource involved for everyone, which adds costs that are passed on to you and then on to the homeowner.
Create a demand forecast. If you are using a project management system, do a report of your product from the current year and create an estimate of that to share with your suppliers for the next year so they can prepare and they can avoid overproduction or shortages. If you are using the same plumbing fixtures in dozens of projects, share that with the manufacturer or the supplier so that they can be prepared and limit both of your risk moving forward.
Start early. When you win a project, start coordinating immediately with the trades and manufacturers and other stakeholders during design and pre-construction to help avoid downstream conflicts and rework, and to improve overall cost-effectiveness. Also, the more you share, the better results you will get.
Be aware of new codes and evolving codes and educate yourself and your team. New codes may change your process or the product you use, which also may require training. Make sure to build that into your timeline proactively so that you aren’t eating into a project timeline later and losing time and money. Leverage new AI tools that can help with code review, such as startups FutureLot, Archistar, or the Buildxact Blu AI estimate reviewer.
Look at ways to simplify what you are offering your clients—trying to manage too many options will dilute purchasing power, generate waste, and undermine affordability. Have someone else audit your projects to identify complexity and to think about ways to remove it. Many times, that complexity adds cost without adding meaningful consumer value.
Simplifying plans and consolidating SKUs has other benefits. It reduces waste, speeds up construction, can strengthen supplier relationships, and makes it simpler for your clients to make selections when they have controlled choices. Simplifying or rethinking plans is so key when there are supply issues. Another way to approach this could be having transparent conversations with your dealer to identify bottlenecks in advance—where are they experiencing product issues and how might that impact your project?
Be an advocate for something innovative. It typically takes more than twelve years for new materials or technologies to be widely adopted in construction, which slows progress on sustainability, affordability, and performance. Pick something that you can adopt and help grow faster so that the industry at large can be more efficient, productive and sustainable. There are many groups and associations that offer a type of mentorship or formal accelerator program to support new ideas—find something to embrace.
Look at ways to vertically integrate your business – can you bring any part of the process in house? There are builders now that are creating internal capacity to build their own windows, trusses, and wall panels, allowing for better cost control, faster deployment, and tailored solutions for high-performance homes. But, maybe, think about adding design or another operational aspects to your business. Can you and would you perform better if you had design in house? Talk to other similar businesses to see what they do and learn from them.
Have you invested in offsite construction? Look for local companies building panels to reduce labor reliance and improve quality. As labor becomes more and more of a challenge, these solutions will be critical, even opening the door for less skilled labor. Your dealer might also be experimenting in this area, ask questions to see where they are leveraging componentization.
Adopt, embrace and learn from AI. Internally at Buildxact, we are encouraging staff to look at all operations with a new lens—how could they be better with automation? We also are providing cutting-edge AI solutions for our customers, like AI takeoff tools, AI estimate generators, and AI estimate reviewers, that are saving tons of time and money.
There is a lot here, but you don’t have to start with everything at once. Start small, measure results, and then tackle the next opportunity.
