Starting in high school as a carpenter for a small custom home builder, Brad Hibbs has navigated through a construction career that has spanned over two decades and a variety of positions in the construction industry, from foreman to estimator to property manager. Hibbs joined Summit Homes, a Kansas City, Mo. affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway, in 2015, serving first as a personal builder and then as an area manager overseeing field operations.
Last month, Summit Homes promoted Hibbs within the team as the new director of purchasing and estimating. “Brad is a bright and talented young man. He brings valuable experience to his new position of director of purchasing & estimating, and over his 3-plus years with Summit Homes he has been instrumental in positively impacting operations through his role as area manager. Moreover, Brad’s thorough and collaborative leadership style will further complement Summit’s culture of team work,” says Zalman Kohen, chief operating officer for Summit Homes.
We recently spoke with Brad Hibbs about his career and his formation as a leader, as well as his goals for the company’s future.
BUILDER: How did you get your start in home building, and what led you to join Summit Homes?
Hibbs: Home building has been my passion since I was a little kid, and it also ran in my family. I began my career [in high school] with a small custom home builder, where I was able to learn the ins-and-outs of home building with a hands-on approach. I worked for this builder until I graduated high school, and moved on to work for a few other companies over the years in various aspects of the construction industry.
By my mid 20s I had done everything from estimating the project to building it. At that time in my career I was traveling for work, and once my wife and I decided to start a family, I needed to get off the road and focus my career locally ,which is when I began my search. Summit Homes was one of my top choices, a company with a proven track record of growth, quality product, beautiful & amenitized communities, and great plans for the future. All of these aligned with where I wanted to be, so I applied for the personal builder role and got the position.
BUILDER: How has your previous experience prepared you for your current role? How have each of your roles built on your existing skills?
Hibbs: Beyond learning the construction trade skills in a hands-on environment, I worked to develop my leadership and operational skills throughout my career. I’ve led teams ranging from 8 to 16 members, actively managed subcontractors and trade-partners on various projects, all of which allowed me to grow as a leader, learning to motivate and develop my team.
The aggregate of my industry knowledge and experience, combined with deep understanding of the operational side of business, skills in job costing, relationship building with valued trade-partners, as well as gaining and increasing operational efficiencies, all have prepared me for my new role. I’m excited to make a positive impact and aim towards continuous improvement of the bottom line.
BUILDER: What are your goals for your new position? How do you plan to build your purchasing strategy?
Hibbs: As with any new position, I am striving to first identify issues and areas of opportunities, an collaboratively work with my new team on cost-effective solutions that ultimately impact the entire organization. Our goals as a department are to accurately estimate & budget every project with laser focus and efficiency, expand and improve communication between departments, as well as with our external vendor- & trade-partners.
One of the key components to our purchasing strategy is to leverage knowledge of the construction industry and local building practices to gain efficiencies in product use and installation, improve cost-control measures, and leverage our buying power while creating win-win collaborative partnerships. Our aim is to positively impact the bottom line by focusing on fostering our existing relationships, further onboarding top-quality vendor- & trade-partners, and securing the best products at a lower cost. The over-arching goal is of course our focus to always deliver a high-quality and affordable home for our valued customers.
BUILDER: How have you shaped Summit Homes’ most recent projects, and how do you hope to shape them in the future?
Hibbs: In my most recent role as an area manager I have focused on ensuring operational efficiencies in our field construction operations and delivery of a positive customer experience throughout the home building process. My objectives were and remain to be the leader for my team - to coach, mentor and motivate in order to achieve our set objectives. My passion is my drive to deliver quality built homes we can be proud of, and do so while delivering a memorable home building experience for our customers.
Summit Homes’ core values are in perfect alignment with my passion and I’m confident that as a leader of purchasing & estimating department, together with my team, we’ll be able to support our organizational objectives to help us build exceptional communities while delivering a positive customer experience, and do so profitably.
BUILDER: How will you support the Summit Homes team as a leader?
Hibbs: During my tenure with the company, I have moved from a field-based position managing the construction and delivery of high quality homes with a focus on customer service, to an area management role blended with supervising field personnel, to my new role in leading the purchasing and estimating Department. At each position, my approach has been fundamentally based on the same core values: work hard and efficiently, communicate consistently and effectively, measure and evaluate results, plan ahead and be willing to course adjust when needed to support organizational goals & objectives. Equally as important, my objective as a leader is to continue to develop and grow my team members, as together we would undoubtedly achieve higher results!
I am appreciative of the faith the organization has in me and I look forward to driving successful results in the very near future.
