Yes, there's plenty of news right now to knock a smile off the sunniest face. But sometimes, when the world looks bleak, someone will put that smile right back where it belongs.
Today Joe Pusateri made me smile. Joe is a custom builder (and past Pacesetter winner) whose company, Elite Homes, builds in Louisville, Ky.—a market as hard hit as any. He sent me an e-mail about what he was doing in response to the recession. “Anybody can be the president of a home building company when the market is booming,” he writes. “But now is the time to see if you are any good [at it]. If you are competitive, if you think you are any good, then you need to rise up, meet this challenge, and prove it.”
These aren't empty words. Joe is backing up his positive attitude with a plan he believes will take his company safely through the current tempest. Here are a few of the steps he's taking:
His company has mined its data on every past customer and learned whose basement or bonus room was unfinished. Elite then pre-priced packages to remodel these spaces and pitched them on personal calls. This effort helped take Elite from no remodeling projects in 2007 to $3 million worth in 2008. Another phonathon reached every past prospect for the last five years. Many of these potential buyers had fallen off Elite's radar during the housing boom. It turns out that a number of them are still interested in building a new house and are now on Elite's new prospect list.
Although it has its own real estate company, Elite listed four spec houses with outside agents with the provision that it could present its new PowerPoint/video at each Realtor's sales meetings. “Every time we do this,” Joe says, “someone at the meeting has a current prospect we end up working with.”
Joe and his staff are paying just as much attention to costs. Every expense has been questioned, put out to bid, or renegotiated. They even monitor utilities in every model home. “By lowering expenses, we've reduced our break-even substantially, so we can thrive on less volume.”
As Joe says, “Tough times never last; tough people do.”
But, while tough times don't last, good things do come to an end. I've decided that after 15 wonderful years as editor of CUSTOM HOME, now is the time for me to retire. It's been a privilege to serve what I consider to be the best part of the housing industry, and I'll miss the many friends I've made in the industry and my wonderful staff.
I'm happy to report, however, that the magazine will be in very capable hands. Knowing that Claire Conroy will become editor of CUSTOM HOME also puts a smile on my face. I wish Claire and all of you the very brightest future.
