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The 2006 National Sales and Marketing Awards: Other Winners and Judges.
Builders know that even the greatest plan can flop if buyers can't imagine themselves living in the house. That's where model merchandising becomes critical. These projects highlight the difference that details can make.
Before buyers spend years in a home, they'll spend critical hours in a welcome center, a sales center, or a design center. A disconnect at any one of these points can be the difference between a customer who is happy to refer friends and family and one who just wants to get the whole thing over with...
While an ad has a couple of seconds to get prospects' attention before they turn away, a brochure can establish a relationship: People can carry it around with them and pore over it when the day gets quiet and they can concentrate on it. This year's gold award winners for best brochures gave their c...
For many buyers, advertising is their first introduction to a community. What makes them stop flipping pages in a newspaper real estate section or a magazine and take a second look at one community over another? It's all about breaking out of the pack and running in a space all your own. These three...
How do you move a lot of excess inventory and save thousands of dollars in advertising at the same time? Forrest Homes in Atlanta did it with bugs—big red ones on wheels.
Sometimes the best things happen when there is nothing to lose. Such was the case when Naples, Fla.–based B-Squared Advertising was invited to pitch Jack Parker Homes in Fort Myers, Fla., for the Lighthouse Beach account. It was up against the existing ad agency and figured the only way to have a sh...
When the Irvine Co., based in Irvine, Calif., debuted its latest master planned community, Woodbury, more than 20 new product types from 20 builders were scheduled to roll out at the same time. There was so much to see that prospective buyers were bused from one sales center to another.
This year's entries in The Nationals showcase the best—and often, very expensive (one brochure costs $45 each to produce)—that builders have to offer prospective home buyers.
Follow the brick-paved walkway past the columns of Tennessee fieldstone, the wrought-iron fence wrapped in climbing jasmine, and the blooming crape myrtles. You'd almost swear the Craftsman-style door you're about to knock on is the entrance to a refurbished house in a historic part of town. And Ed ...
Fieldstone Homes Utah slashes weeks from its cycle time through strict quality control.
A common-sense construction philosophy combined with back-office software keeps cycle time down for this Texas home builder.
Consider the irony that contractors like to bring up when they talk about the current state of production home building: Builders, they say, are pressuring them to compress their stages of construction. But cycle times keep stretching out, partly because builders' scheduling is unrealistic, given to...
The building process is inherently slow, but here are some products and systems that can help you shave days off your schedule.
Measure twice, cut once. The carpenter's adage has become so clichéd that it's lost much of its resonance. But it's still sound advice where productivity and efficiency are concerned. Building snafus that require mid-course remediation before the house is even finished can add weeks or months to cyc...
It takes Olthof Homes six fewer days to close a house now than it did last June. But the St. John, Ind.–based builder didn't find that time in the sticks and bricks of its homes. It shaved the days from its “soft cycle,” the time between when the buyer signs the contract and the builder breaks groun...
It's “hurry up and wait” at most jobsites, as cycle times stretch out.But many builders see this as a systemic problem that needs fixing fast, especially if your market starts turning downward.
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Top housing experts to focus on housing for working families.
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As part of its long-term strategy to earn Latino home buyers' trust, the Ryland Group recently signed Julie Stav (pictured)—a financial expert featured on Univision and host of the national radio show “Tu Dinero con Julie Stav”—to be its spokesperson to the Latino community. In addition to participa...
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Want a sustainable community? Create sustainable jobs.
California builders face air-pollution impact fee.
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Boston-based Fidelity Capital acquired Lanoga Corp., a Redmond, Wash.–based pro dealer with more than 320 distribution, manufacturing, and assembly facilities in 24 Western and Midwestern states.
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A new international study, “Green Value,” reveals a direct link between the market value of real estate and its environmental friendliness.
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A $550,000 donation has been made to build a 500-acre Future Builders of America Training Center in Jefferson County, Fla.
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Think old-house aficionados spend more on remodeling than new-construction buyers? Think again. A 2004 study by the Home Improvement Research Institute found that 52 percent of all home buyers completed one or more home improvements within the first year of purchase. Of those, buyers of older homes ...
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Acquisition activity sped up after the first of the year. Reston, Va.–based Comstock Homes expanded its reach into the South with its purchase of Parker Chandler Homes, based in Atlanta and with additional operations in Charlotte, N.C., and Myrtle Beach, S.C. Comstock estimates the buy will add $75 ...
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A joint venture with Toll Brothers as the managing partner acquired a 5,485-acre land parcel in northwest Phoenix from DaimlerChrysler for $312 million.
The Nevada Supreme Court knocks down a multimillion-dollar verdict against Beazer Homes.
Well-designed housing deserves recognition and for 25 years BUILDER has honored the leaders in residential design. Enter BUILDER's most prestigious design competition. Categories include custom homes, production homes, design details, community design, remodeling and rehabilitation, and more.
Delray Beach began as a small agricultural community settled by black families coming from the Panhandle of Florida in the early 1890s. A few years later, William Linton, the postmaster of Saginaw, Mich., visited the area in response to an ad for acreage for sale and wound up purchasing 160 acres fo...
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SUBSCRIBERS TO OUR GROWING FAMILY of free e-mail newsletters know that they can find links to recent news articles of interest to home builders. But readers have requested a way to be alerted quickly when important events take place that can affect builders' operations. A brand-new e-mail newsletter...
SRG made its name in Atlanta with infill construction. It's continuing that work with 150 vacant lots in Jacksonville's Historic Springfield neighborhood.
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WHY IT WORKED: Naperville, Ill., a popular Chicago suburb, has plenty of housing stock, but not a lot that's within walking distance of commuter trains. NeuDearborn Station offers residents a choice of 60 trains to and from Chicago every weekday, plus easy access to I-88, the main thoroughfare to th...
Location, value pricing, and top-notch amenities combined to make Somerset Landing, in the far suburbs of Washington, a success.
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Seattle builder takes jobsite safety to the next level.
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If you aren't actively selling digital technology, you're leaving some serious money on the table.