Sure Ways to Improve Your Profitability
Develop a culture of discipline, don’t treat profits as residual, if you want to see your bottom line grow

You’re feeling stressed, pressed, like you need an extra pair of hands. Hold it right there. Before you go seeking more staff to bail you out, look inward at your own management systems and develop a “culture of discipline,” says “Profit Dr.” Charles Shinn in this new Business Management Resource at www.nahb.org/biztools.

Drilling Down Into Integration: Part 2
By Mark Reich and Tom Gebes

You want to compress schedules, reduce errors, and eliminate unnecessary repetition and data re-entry.  Follow the nine steps in this second of two articles on Drilling Down Into Integration at www.nahb.org/biztools to find software that suits your company. [return to top]

Go to www.nahb.org/TSD for Technology Solutions
Go to a popular search engine like Google or Yahoo, type in “construction software,” and, guess what? You’ll get about 213 million results.

You could spend time wading through them or you could go to NAHB’s new Technology Solutions Directory and get a list and contact information for companies and consultants ready, willing, and able to help you now with estimating, scheduling, accounting, and other aspects of automating your business.

This new directory is searchable by keyword, or by software or solution type. 

Following are a few of the software and technology categories that you can search on:

• Accounting
• CAD
• Estimating
• Financial Control
• Project Management/Scheduling
• Sales Automation/Marketing
• IT Consultants
• IT Training
• Web Site Development

The Technology Solutions Directory, which is continuously updated, should be a frequent stop for any home builder seeking to modernize the way you do business. To access the directory, go to http://www.nahb.org/TSD.

More Help with Technology

For background, read the Tech Talk series of concise articles at http://www.nahb.org/TechTalk. Among the titles in this series, written by builders and consultants, are:

• What Do You Need from Estimating Software?
• A Guide to Preserving Company Data
• Getting the Most from Wireless Devices

New Tech Talk articles are frequently added, so bookmark this section along with the Technology Solutions Directory for easy access to this valuable Business Management content from www.nahb.org/biztools. [return to top]

Warranties Book Helps You Avoid Costly Mistakes

NAHB Launches Online Career Center to Help You Find Workers
NAHB has launched an online building industry-oriented career center that will provide members with a cost-effective recruiting solution that makes locating qualified candidates and advertising open positions faster and easier.

Created in collaboration with ConstructionJobs.com, a leading employment resource for the construction, design and building industries, the career center can be found at www.nahb.org/careers.

NAHB members will receive a 20% discount off of standard rates for job postings. The career center includes:

• More than 28,000 construction and engineering candidates
• More than 2,500 new resumes posted monthly
• More than 150,000 visitors to the center per month
• Dedicated customer service

Goal-Centered Management: One Employee at a Time
By Dennis DuRoff

Do you and your employees dread performance review time? Instead, see it as an opportunity to foster team building, focus on productivity instead of personalities, and position you--the business owner--as a coach instead of a therapist, using these guidelines at www.nahb.org/biztools. [return to top]

Production Builders Add Housing Affordability to Top 10 Concerns
At their most recent meeting prior to the International Builders’ Show in January, NAHB’s Single Family Production Builders Committee added housing affordability to its Top 10 List of concerns. In July 2005 and again in January 2006, NAHB’s Business Management Department polled the Single Family Production Builders Committee about the most challenging home building industry issues its members face. This revised and updated resource list at www.nahb.org/biztools identifies their most pressing concerns and NAHB resources members can use to address similar issues in their markets. [return to top]

Learn More About the Evolving Boomer Market
Do you want to know more about the evolving boomer market? You’ll find the answers at Building for Boomers & Beyond: 50+ Housing Symposium 2006, the nation’s premier educational and networking conference for builders, developers and other industry professionals who serve the 50+ market. Sign up for this year’s event, April 24-26 in Phoenix, and prepare for the fastest-growing segment of the housing industry.

Presented by the NAHB 50+ Housing Council, Building for Boomers & Beyond will feature more than 25 educational sessions on topics such as design and development, multifamily, operations, planning, and sales and marketing, not to mention case studies from industry professionals. Among the courses are:

• Boomers: Who They Are and How to Reach Them
• Launch Marketing
• Navigating the Fair Housing Minefield
• Option Programs That Work for the Active Adult Consumer

Well-known experts such as Neil Howe, author of best-selling books like Generations, 13^th Gen. and The Fourth Turning, and LeRoy C. Hanneman Jr., former CEO and president of Del Webb, will speak.

Industry professionals can earn continuing education credit toward their NAHB designations by enrolling in several preconference courses. Among these are “Business Management for Building Professionals,” “Designing for the Active Adult,” “Home Modifications,” and “Working With and Marketing to Older Adults.”

Other highlights include a tour of active adult communities in the Phoenix market, a golf tournament and Build-PAC fund-raiser, and networking.

Register online. E-mail NAHB University of Housing, Office of the Registrar, or call 800-368-5242 x8338 for more details, or visit www.nahb.org/build4boomers. [return to top]

Free Materials Available to Promote ‘New Homes Month’
April is “New Homes Month” and NAHB has developed a free online promotional kit packed with resources and materials to help member builders and local associations promote homeownership and building and buying new homes.

The New Homes Month kit includes consumer articles, print advertisements, a New Homes Month Proclamation and other resources that can be used in promoting home shows, parades of homes, and other special events.

For more information, e-mail Niki Clark or call her at 800-368-5242 x8061. [return to top]

Looking for the Best in American Living 2006
Builders, interior designers, architects, developers, marketing and real estate professionals in the housing industry are eligible to enter the national Best in American Living Award competition. The deadline for entries is July 1.

Sponsored by Professional Builder magazine and the National Association of Home Builders, the BALA program showcases homes that illustrate design quality, success in the marketplace, and exemplify the “Best in American Living.” The country’s foremost design competition for residential housing judges entries on curb appeal, floor plans, how a product relates to its local market, and construction techniques and materials.

The competition includes 41 categories. Homes completed or for which the first model opened between May 1, 2005, and July 15, 2006, are eligible.

Winners will be honored during the International Builders’ Show, Feb. 7-10, 2007, in Orlando, Fla. BALA winning entries are posted on Professional Builder’s Web site, http://www.housingzone.com/, for up to one year after the ceremony.

For more information and to download an entry form, visit http://www.housingzone.com/info/CA497788.html. You may also contact Judy Brociek at Professional Builder, 630-288-8184, or Michelle Persinger Matuga at NAHB, 800-368-5242, x8343, for information. [return to top]

Building With Trees Awards Deadline is March 31
The National Arbor Day Foundation invites builders and developers of residential, commercial, retail, industrial, public and mixed-use projects to apply for a 2006 Building With Trees Award.

The program recognizes builders and developers who save trees during land development and construction. It recognizes creativity, commitment, creating an inventory of existing trees, and protecting trees throughout construction.

For more information, go online to www.arborday.org/programs/buildingwithtrees, or e-mail or call Jeff Bargar at the National Arbor Day Foundation, 402-474-5655. [return to top]

NAHB Seeks Member Participants for New 18-month Code Cycle
You may have thought that NAHB’s recent victory on energy codes in the new International Code Council’s model code meant that wrangling over codes was over for the next three years. Not so. While the ICC publishes new codes every three years, they are amended on an 18-month cycle, so NAHB’s Construction Codes and Standards Committee is actively working on behalf of member and home buyer interests in this ongoing ICC process.

“You can really make a difference” by getting involved in the review process, says Frank Thompson, Sweetwater Builders in Pittsburgh. “I often think we are the only ones out there considering affordability,” says Thompson, who has been a member of NAHB’s codes committee since 1997.

Other NAHB members who would like to help in the review process may e-mail Larry Brown or call him at 800-368-5242 x8565. [return to top]

NAHB Members to Carry Concerns to Lawmakers on May 10
Builders seeking the rare opportunity to walk the halls of Congress with their colleagues and to meet with their lawmakers to discuss issues of concern for the housing industry won't want to miss the association's most important grassroots activity of the year — the NAHB Legislative Conference on May 10, a day-long event coinciding with NAHB's spring board meeting.

“For any builder who is concerned about their bottom line, attending the Legislative Conference could be the best decision that they make this year,” said NAHB President David Pressly, who has set a goal of expanding builder participation by at least 10% this year. “This is your chance to speak directly to your federal representatives on Capitol Hill, and communicate the challenges that you and your business face every day. Don't miss this once-a-year opportunity to really make a difference.”

Decisions that affect a builder’s business are being made every day in the halls of Congress. Environmental regulations, tax policy, soaring health care costs and many other issues can add thousands of dollars to a firm’s annual operating budget, and Congress weighs in on each and every one of them.

The NAHB Legislative Conference provides a unique opportunity for builders to speak directly with their members of Congress and to take a stand on the issues that affect their businesses and bottom line.

For more information and to register for NAHB’s 2006 Legislative Conference, e-mail Jessica Boyce, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8334. [return to top]