Expanded Membership

For the first time since its founding in 2000, Builder Homesite Inc. (BHI), the Web marketing consortium of 32 founding builder members has opened its doors to new members. "Together, these builders build one quarter of a million homes a year," notes CEO Tim Costello, whose mission remains: "How can we leverage that combined mass and power to get more people to the builders' Web sites, and lower the costs of sales?"

One way is to broaden the group of member builders; another is to involve suppliers. Austin-based BHI took an important step with suppliers with the launch of a new strategic venture called New Home Technologies (see main story, "Digital Evolution").

Thomas Krobot, president of Roswell, Ga.'s Ashton Woods Homes' U.S. operations, meanwhile, has been one of a number of builders that watched BHI evolve. His company, which generated $565 million in gross revenues on 1,246 homes in 2002, joined BHI in late June, investing $50,000 to become an equity partner. This was a savings of 30 percent to 40 percent per subdivision, compared to the fee a commercial site such as Homestore.com would charge, he says. Krobot says he was impressed that the consortium members saw sales improve through BHI and was pleased with the cooperation among builders, who set high standards for Web site performance, and insist on equal treatment between the large and smaller builders. "We think our sales will improve," Krobot says.

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