More than 300 custom home builders and professionals are close to their industry gathered in Naples, Fla. for the 19th annual Custom Home Builder Symposium held Oct. 26 - 28. Attendees heard speakers and attended educational courses designed to aid them in a challenging market.
“The Custom Builder Symposium is an event for builders by builders,” said Mary Schroeder, Custom Builder Symposium Chair. “That’s really important. They get together to help their peers through education."
"The entire Symposium is designed to be a resource that our builders can take home with them and use yearlong — found it just as useful,” she said.
The symposium officially started on Oct. 26, but several educational courses covering an array of subjects including marketing, estimating and communication strategies were offered earlier in the week for those who wanted to work toward their NAHB designations.
“The Symposium is one of the most comprehensive educational tools any business could attend,” said Alex Hannigan, Custom Home Builders Committee Chair. “It is tailored made or specifically designed for the custom builder community."
"The event has been produced by the NAHB's Custom Home Builders Committee for the last 19 years and has been refined and sharpened through the years to focus on relevant concerns by Custom Builders," Hannigan said. "The symposium blends a great golf outing, a wonderful home tour showing a variety of homes at various stages of construction, outstanding educational courses, a cutting edge keynote speaker, a Builder of the Year Award and more. We had great national sponsors to help defray some of the cost, so I believe you would be hard pressed to find the quality of the Symposium education anywhere for the value of the ticket price.”
The education, networking, and accessibility to the latest wares from sponsors and vendors were what most attendees said they enjoyed most about the symposium.
“An event like this is very important in a challenging market,” said Laura Michaud, family business coach and speaker at the symposium. “Here is where you need to be to keep charged up for when the market changes. The people who have attended and learned how to cope with this kind of market will be in a better position to excel and hit the ground running when things pick up and do better than their competition.”
One of the highlights and, as of last year, new additions was the NAHB Custom Home Builder of the Year Award dinner and presentation. The NAHB Custom Home Builder of the Year is given by the NAHB Custom Home Builders Committee to the builder they identify that exhibits excellence in customer satisfaction, quality and consistent service, as well as being involved in their community and industry.
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This year, Stephen K. Hann owner of Hann Builders in Houston, Texas was honored with the award. Hann not only exemplifies customer service, dedication and excellent craftsmanship, he is an active participant in the Boy Scouts of America and a member of the board of directors for the Child Advocates of Fort Bend County. Add to that a slew of local HBA and NAHB leadership roles, and Hann is surely the Custom Home Builder of the Year.
The educational sessions ran the gamut of topics that included, marketing, developing relationships with customers, understanding home technology, contracts, and controlling expenses.
“I think this is a great event,” said Margaret Rast, of Rast Architectural Studio. “I like to see what the builders are saying and the educational sessions are full of useful information.”
The sponsors were pleased with the event as well.
“For us, this is a double win,” said Andy Elsbury of SelectionWare for Homes. “We get to sell our software to custom builders and we get to learn how we can continue to help builders become more efficient through the educational sessions.”
“We wanted to learn more about the Custom Home Builders and how we can provide better customer service for them,” said Tina Mealer of ThermaTru Doors. “These educational settings combined with the one-on-one discussions we have with the builders make this a unique event.”
But, it was the destination and the location that stunned the crowd.
“From a venue perspective, the Naples Grande Resort & Club, and Naples itself, was one of the best locations we’ve been in, short of Las Vegas,” said Schroeder. “The facilities at the hotel and the service were impeccable. And the dining was exquisite.”
The 2008 Custom Builder Symposium will be held Oct. 24-26, 2008 in Austin, Texas. Be sure to mark your calendars.
Industry veterans who have been through market shifts in their careers will discuss during an upcoming audio seminar what changes you should make to your sales and marketing efforts to thrive in today’s market.
It’s time to start thinking about recognizing those extra special designees.