Many custom home builders build a few homes per year on individual lots and often sell those homes through word-of-mouth. These builders may drive past a larger community of homes and wonder how they can grow their own business to make that happen. If you are a home builder looking to sell homes at scale without sacrificing quality, these four strategies can help you go from smaller volume to production home builder.
1 – Sales
The reality is that a strong sales process is at the core of growing an efficient business. Going from smaller volume to production home building is no easy task. Accomplished production builders know that a properly-trained sales team gives them an advantage over their competition and can be an incredible driving force in their business. Having an experienced sales management team to help you find, recruit and onboard your sales consultants can save months, or even years, of headache.
If you lack production home building experience or are unfamiliar with a given market segment, having access to others who have traveled that road before can make all the difference. You can not only learn from their first-hand experiences, but also avoid the mistakes they made along the journey. In addition to a sales partnership, it can be incredibly beneficial to have access to professionals in a variety of other disciplines when making the leap to production home building.
2 – Financing
Obtaining financing can be difficult for home building businesses that do not have a proven track record. Working with a seasoned business is attractive to both lenders and investors, who would otherwise be making a riskier investment on a brand-new venture.
Having a strong sales process, one that includes pre-sales, makes your business very attractive to banks and investors, as you will have contracts from qualified buyers to back up your projections. The credibility of a proven national builder by your side provides greater potential to a steady stream of financing for your home building projects.
3 – Land
A great location starts with a great piece of land — a land acquisition specialist can help you secure the best piece of land for production home building. It’s important to be selective and not settle for a “B” site. Available and desirable land may seem hard to come by, but “A+” sites are still out there.
Working with a land consultant will give you advice on what will work where, who you’re competing with and what it should cost based on historical data from markets all over the country. For a lot of custom builders, this offers a path to growing your home building business.
4 – Marketing
Even if you’re the top home builder in the area, it won’t mean much if potential buyers aren’t walking through your doors, whether in person or virtually. Marketing experts can help you build and expand your brand presence in the local market, driving leads straight to your sales office.
Marketing is nuanced, and therefore requires continuous evaluation and refinement. Working alongside an individual or team who understands your brand and product goes hand-in-hand with closing home sales.
Finding the Right Mentor
If you’re searching for an ideal partner to offer direct guidance for your home building business, make sure they align with your business goals and vision. Epcon Franchising works with over 80 home builders across the country, many of whom started out as smaller volume home builders. Epcon Franchise Builders are unique in that they can keep their own brand and the custom side of their business while learning the ropes of production home building.
We work with national trainers and provide direct guidance through our team of experts who have sold hundreds of Epcon homes over the past 35 years. Epcon Franchise Builders have access to the same business blueprint that our corporate team uses every day and they can tap into the mastermind nationwide network of builders in the same market. If you’re ready to take the next step in growing your home building business, get started here.