Purchasing

Purchasing

• Millennials Want High-Tech Options and Multigen Spaces

  Millennials want high-tech options and multigenerational spaces in their new homes.

   

• Builders Assess Purchasing Needs as Potential Shortages Loom

  Earlier communication with trade partners is one key to controlling costs.

   

• Made in America: Builders Create Their Own Stimulus Plan

  The American Dream is to have both a home and a job. Builders across the country would like to help create both.

   

• As Second Recession Looms, Three Builders Look for More Savings From Construction

  Better coordination with trade partners is one answer.

   

• Shopping: What Can You Get for $100?

  With a little ingenuity, shopping on a shoestring can look like a million bucks.

   

• A New Profile of Retirement Home Buyers is Emerging

  They are fewer in number, and their expectations don’t always match conventional wisdom, say three experts.

   

• Editor's Notes: Big Builder Virtual 2010

  It lives where you can find it, on demand.

   

• Big Money: The Myth of Scale

  Volume adds clout, but vendor costs aren't ruled by size alone.

   

• Whirlpool Makes Inroads Among Big Builders

  General Electric remains the dominate appliance supplier to the high production home builder market, but in recent months Whirlpool Corp. has grabbed some high-profile market share. In the last six months Whirlpool Appliances has nabbed exclusive contracts to supply all the appliances to Toll...

   

• Wasted Trips to the Jobsite Equals Wasted Money

  Why is no one measuring the biggest robbers of profit?

   

• Lee Evans’ 10 Timeless Lessons for Home Builders

  Generations of builders say the advice of the legendary business consultant, now 92 years old, has proved invaluable over the years.

   

• Big Picture: It's the Supply Chain, Stupid!

  One of home building's own supply chain chiefs reacts to the industry's failure to adapt.

   

• Managing the Supply Chain Pays Off

  For years a great resource lay largely untapped within the purchasing departments of large production builders--the ability to buy cheaper and more efficiently nationally. Everybody knew the potential was there. It was often cited as a primary advantage of being a big national home builder. Yet...

   

• Analysts Surprised by Deal, but Say It Makes Sense

  After taking in the potential implications of the announcement, overall, analysts said they think Centex needs the deal.

   

• New Company Offers No-Cost Overhead Outsourcing

  Ex-Wilshire Homes purchasing exec finds a way to offer back-office services to builders at no charge by tapping into supply chain revenue.

   

• Feature: Purchasing Power

  Purchasing agents and suppliers put aside past differences to find a recipe for improvement in 2009.

   

• Lenders Are Dragging Their Feet Disposing of REO Properties

  Banks take their time reselling foreclosures, modifying mortgages, and approving short sales.

   

• market uncertainty combined with the credit crunch destabilizes lumber prices

  Fear of what the housing market will bring has combined with the credit crunch to throw off normal cycles for lumber purchasing.

   

• Rising commodities prices one more cross for besieged builders to bear.

  Building material prices have skyrocketed, and builders are bearing the brunt of the increases.

   

• Price vs. Cost

  Builders may be reducing square footage, skimming down home features, and reducing floor plan sets to bring the price per square foot of new homes down, but there is a lot of money being left on the table by failing to efficiently source materials and services.