When is a production builder not a production builder? Never!

When is a production builder not a production builder?  Never!

I wish I was an expert in human nature.  I wish I knew how to read people, understand what makes them tick and what makes them think that a production builder can and should act like a custom builder.  People will sign a contract for a production home and then, all of a sudden, feel that the floor plan and options offered are nothing more than a starting point for whatever changes they feel should be made to the home.  Oh, these poor misguided individuals.  I wish I understood them better.

They see the word production builder, they hear the word production builder, but they do not understand the word production builder.  Yes, you have guessed it.  I am going to explain the word production in the definition of production builder.

For a production builder (PB for short) to obtain the best pricing from their subcontractors, they have to make it as simple for their trades as possible.  That means that the subs need to know in advance what plans they are building, what options are being offered,  approximately how many homes per year the builder plans to build and what is the approximate construction cycle time.  This way, they know how to properly price their work, they know what to look for on selection sheets and they can appropriately staff their job sites. 

PBs also strive to make the job site as manageable as possible for their field managers.  When managing between 15 and 20 homes at a time, the field managers want to know that they are working off of standard plans and option sheets so that they can direct their subcontractors appropriately to make sure that what has been bought is what is being built.

PBs further work to make sure that their Design and Purchasing Departments can be effective by controlling the structural and design options offered.  This allows Purchasing to appropriately price out options up front so that the Designers can effectively work with customers during their design selection meetings.

Let’s now evaluate what happens to this well-oiled machine when a customer requests special items and forgets that they are dealing with a Production versus a Custom Builder.  Purchasing will not have priced their requested custom options up front so that Design has no idea what these items will cost or whether or not they are even feasible from a construction standpoint.  Construction may not end up with the correct plans to work from, increasing the risk of field mistakes being made by the subcontractors and causing delays and errors in the delivery of the home to the customer.  And the fuming customer will not understand how the builder could have made such a mistake with their custom changes.  It is true.  No good deed goes unpunished.

So, the next time you don’t understand why your PB can’t move a window two feet, or change the shower head from one wall to the other, take a minute to reflect on the unseen machinations that make up the construction process.  The more pebbles you throw into the machinery, the greater the risk of that machinery grinding to a very messy and painful halt.  I won’t even begin to explain in this blog what this can do to the warranty process.

Until next time…

Keep kicking the dirt!