The face of new home building is rapidly changing. The days of the small builder are
numbered. If a builder only builds 2 or
3 average sized houses a year, why is this any better than the builder getting
a job for $20 an hour and having benefits?
There will always be the builder that likes to make sawdust
but there will not be enough skilled itinerant workers to fill the positions
needed for these builders. Australia is a
prime example of how the lack of skilled tradespeople is pushing their housing
economy back into recession.
Enter the logical solution…system built housing. By taking all the skilled jobs and putting
them under one factory roof, the small builder can actually be saved from
extinction. The problem with this is
that the system built industry doesn’t know how to get the message out to
either the builder or their customers.
Beautiful websites like Simplex’s is a great start. Nationwide’s homes at IBS every year is a
great start. But that’s all it is…a
great start. What is the next step?
Right now there is no next step. Modular home factories want builders to join
with them but have no dedicated marketing plan to attract them, builder
introduction programs or “new to modular” training available. The NAHB Building Systems Council does good
things within our industry but they have no teeth when it comes to promoting
our industry.
I hear everyone in the systems built industry say that this
is the way of the future. Only trouble
with that statement is that the only people that really know this to be true
are inside our industry.
Factories leave the whole process of finding and educating
small builders entirely up to the sales manager who sends out the sales rep on
foraging expeditions only when things get slow in the factory. Considering that it takes about a year to
bring in the first order from a “new to modular” builder, the sales manager’s
knee jerk reaction is almost always doomed to failure. Frustration sets in and everyone looks at
each other with fingers pointed.
Well, here I am pointing my finger. If modular homes are so much better than site
built homes, then who is out there telling this to the customer? The factory owner…no; the sales manager…no; the sales rep…no; the non-existent factory marketing
department…no; The Building Systems
Council…no; anyone besides Sheri Koones…no!
Honestly, when was the last time you saw an ad for modular
housing on national TV? Factories have
Facebook pages with upwards of 1,500 “likes” but these are mostly industry
people.
If our industry is ever going to move out of the shadow of
mobile homes and trailers, this is the time.
Today’s factory owners are the best that have ever been. They’ve survived a recession, trimmed their staffs,
become super efficient at buying and have learned production procedures that
will help them continue being successful as housing recovers.
What we need now is for these same people to begin an
organized approach to marketing their product to the general population and
design programs to help small builders become bigger builders. They need to step outside of their comfort
zones one more time and get this started.
It will benefit everyone.
