Interactive Floor Plans

Code Cracking: Unlocking the Power of Analytics in Interactive Floor Plans

Stuart Platt · 08/14/2023 · Leave a Comment

You implemented Interactive Floor Plans (IFPs) on your website months, if not years ago. Maybe you have seen a report that your IFPs are experiencing a lot of visits which is fantastic; but what else can you find out? You ask yourself, what other information can I gain from Google Analytics and how can I take advantage of this data?

With Google Analytics 4 or ‘GA4’ replacing the traditional and familiar Universal Analytics (UA) platform, your second question may be, what is different, and how will it affect me?

Information Gathering

First, to gather data from your IFP’s, you need to ensure your IFP provider allows access to this data. Some, but not all, IFP providers already allow builders access to reports showing data on basic information like demographics, time on site, which plans are getting the most views, number of views, etc. However, there is little to take advantage of with this data. It is critical to work with IFP providers like Outhouse, LLC, who allow access to deeper details that provide actionable value. These deeper details include, but are not limited to:

How users found your website (clicking an ad, social media, search engines, etc.)
Popularity of communities and plans.
Popularity of specific options selected.

With this information, your Online Sales Counselors can guide homebuyers to a home that best fits their needs. Your marketing department can better budget how and where ads are most effective in gaining new traffic. Your plan development team gets a better understanding of what options are most valued by homebuyers.

Google Analytics 4 – What’s New?

GA4 may improve reports for builders in a few areas. Events are a great way to track meaningful actions on your website. One difference between Google’s UA and GA4 is that UA would count the number of ‘hits’, times a specific option is clicked and viewed. We discovered almost every home builder will find their optional Enlarged Shower in Owner’s Bath is clicked and viewed more so than any other option. From that data you might think it is the most purchased option, but that isn’t always the case. It only means it is clicked more than any other option, but not always kept. With GA4 you can more easily drill down to find what options are clicked and KEPT, giving you more accurate data on the most popular options.

Another example is that Outhouse’s Save Plan feature asks for a person’s Name, Email, and Phone Number to save their plan. However, the phone number is made optional because GA4 shows by requiring buyers to enter a phone number, many would discard saving their plan altogether. With this information, Outhouse adjusted their Save Plan feature to make phone numbers optional. In doing so, this dramatically increases the number of saved plans, creating more hot leads for builders to pursue.

Interactive Floor Plans can be the most powerful tool on your website to engage homebuyers and generate leads. When builders utilize an IFP platform that provides access to deeper analytics, they are truly gaining a better understanding of their buyers to take meaningful actions in selling more homes.

About the Author: Stuart Platt is Managing Partner at Outhouse LLC, an industry leader dedicated to providing an extensive and integrated menu of products and services to production home builders across the world. These services include but are not limited to Architectural Drafting, 3D Renderings, Virtual Tours, Animations, Interactive Floor Plans, Interactive Site Plans, Interactive Sales Office Displays, Interior and Exterior Visualizers, Graphic Design, Commercial Printing, and more. Outhouse is the ONLY company in the nation providing all of these services in-house.

How Photoreal Renderings & Virtual Tours Sell Homes

Jim Sorgatz · 04/23/2023 · Leave a Comment

Marketing insights from photos of an expedition to Antarctica

Black and white photo of two sets of jagged rocks forming a saddle. Old fence posts in the foreground. Reminiscent of a moonscape. — *Deception Island – the caldera of an active volcano. Although taken in black and white, this photo accurately represents the starkness and other-worldly feel of the island.*

With even the smallest home builders moving heavily into 3-D photoreal renderings, virtual tours, and animations, I thought it might be interesting to revisit this post from a year ago. This update includes additional information on rendering and virtual reality (VR) tools, plus new images of the latest photoreal renderings, and links to virtual tours. This also is one of my favorite posts, combining my career with my favorite pastime – travel.

A bucket-list trip to Antarctica is one of the most incredible and inspirational journeys. Seeing thousands of penguins and other animals, yet not a single plant anywhere is mind-boggling. The football field-sized+ icebergs, especially the tabular varieties, are astounding. And the monochromatic landscape is other-worldly. I came away with a desire to take better care of our planet, a greater appreciation of finding peace in solitude (this place is desolate!), and the realization I can enjoy summer when the high is just above freezing.

Colorful kayaks and kayakers in water with floating bits of ice, and dark clouds overhead. — *Kayaking in Neko Harbor*.

Penguins surrounding bright orange duffel bags on a large rock, set on a rocky beach with snow in the background. — *The inquisitive penguins.*

I also gained some key marketing insights. A recent post, Rules of Engagement, discusses the powerful lesson we learn from penguins, who are the stars of the Antarctic show. They captivate visitors as they gather stones to build nests, guard their chicks, run en masse along the beach to dive for food, and shuffle around checking out us humans. Likewise, digital marketing tools, including Interactive Floor Plans, Interactive Site Plans, and Visualizers, play a starring role on builder websites and are integral to the new home journey. Captivating and engaging homebuyers, digital tools create strong emotional connections and lead to an increase in closing sales.

A lesson also came on the importance of color and texture and how it relates to visual marketing tools like renderings, virtual tours, and animations. Against a backdrop of grey and white, the most captivating photos include glimpses of vivid color, most often provided by humans. Pops of red, orange, and yellow on ships, clothing, and kayaks look stunning in the barren landscape.

Bow of a ship with red trim cracking a giant ice sheet. — *Cracking a massive ice sheet in Wilhelmina Bay. Note the power or red.*

An expedition team, wearing bright orange and yellow jackets, on an inflatable Zodiac boat cruising through water with chunks of ice — *Traveling by Zodiac in the Antarctic Sound.*

Colors from nature include teal from glacial ice; clear blue skies; orange, pink, red, and purple emanating from the stunning midnight sunsets; bits of orange and yellow on penguin beaks, necks, and feet; and an occasional rainbow. That’s about it! What really makes Antarctica so dramatic are the textures. Smooth snow, jagged rocks, fluffy clouds. Constantly changing due to weather, they overwhelm the senses.

A black ship with red and white trim next to a giant, triangular, blue-tinted iceberg. — *Our ship, anchored next to a massive, blue-tinged iceberg.*

Blue icebergs floating in front of a rocky mountain with snow. Clouds overhead, and reflecting in the water. — *Cool blue on an iceberg and purple-tinged skies add rare bits of natural color in Neko Harbor.*

Bright orange sunset over the ocean against a backdrop of grey clouds. — *The most color at any one time, a vibrant sunset, sometime around midnight.*

And that brings us to the importance of photoreal renderings, virtual tours, and animations in new home sales. Colors and textures appeal to everyone. They move and motivate us, playing an essential role in marketing strategies. Photoreal imagry brings colors and textures to your pre-built homes. It gives potential buyers a realistic view of your homes, often generating sales before a model is ever built. 3-D Renderings are the first place to start. We still see builder websites with flat, black/white stick drawings. Yuck! These in no way engage the senses like a proper photoreal rendering.

*Photoreal rendering for Winslow Homes – daylight.*

*Same elevation for Winslow Homes – a dramatic dusk shot.*

Even more engaging are virtual tours and animations. What’s the difference? Virtual tours, like the ones for DeLuca Homes and KLMR Homes shown here, are user-controlled. Viewers click into a room and then turn the image for a 360° view. Animations, on the other hand, are video tours. Both bring your “model homes” to buyers around the world. Virtual Tours tend to be the most popular as they are more cost-effective, and most users enjoy the hands-on experience.

*Invite your buyers to discover your homes with virtual tours. Click the DeLuca Homes kitchen to explore their Mayfair plan*.

*A stunning home with spectacular views. KLMR Homes Bellos at the Summit.*

People love to explore and engage. These are the reasons many of us enjoy discovering the world. When it comes to purchasing a new home, your buyers also want to personalize. By implementing digital and visualization tools on your website, you invite homebuyers to do all three. Contact Outhouse today to learn more about our interactive floor plans, interactive site plans, virtual tours, animations, visualizers, and renderings, plus our interactive kiosks, which incorporate all.

Clouds and a rainbow between two jagged hills straddling a channel with water. — *A rainbow – the perfect ending to a storm in the Lemaire Channel.*

Print Marketing Sells New Homes

Jim Sorgatz · 03/08/2023 · Leave a Comment

People often ask us why a print company specializing in print for home builders is necessary. Heck, today, builders sometimes ask us if print marketing is still a valuable sales tool! The answer to both questions is a resounding “Yes!” We explain why in this post.

The Role of Print in New Home Sales

In a recent episode of the Digital Velocity P odcast, co-hosts Erik Martinez of Blue Tangerine and Tim Curtis of CohereOne talk with Alex Kupski and Jake Hoffman, co-hosts of the Millennials in Print Podcast, about the Power of Print in the Digital Age. They conclude, “The more channels you’re present on and the more channels you’re marketing to people on, ultimately, the more effective you’re going to be. Print, just like social, just like email, just like your website, just like a commercial on TV, is a channel for you to market on. It’s another arrow in the quiver. It’s another way to reach people you might not have before.”

Print marketing works best when paired with digital marketing. Digital marketing is often the most effective way to draw people in. With interactive site plans, interactive floor plans, renderings, virtual tours, visualizers, and Matterport tours, your website is arguably a home builder’s most potent marketing tool. But it is only effective for a home buyer’s few precious moments on your website. Print collateral, on the other hand, has a much longer life span. Brochures and floorplan/elevation minis often sit on a potential buyer’s countertop or table for weeks or months, a lasting reminder of your homes and communities. Not every prospect immediately purchases a home, so print is a great way to keep them focused on yours.

David Weekley Homes brochure with cactus front cover, and homes on the back

Data shows that print used in tandem with digital marketing is one of the most effective sales strategies as the two mediums strengthen and reinforce each other. A study by InfoTrends found that 66% of direct mail is opened, and 56% of consumers who respond to direct mail go online or visit a physical store. A recent article in SFGate offers some great tips to sync your print and digital marketing efforts:

Place QR codes on print materials.

Provide digital opt-ins for direct mail.

Include social media reviews and comments on print materials.

Include hashtags and calls to action on print materials.

Although digital and print marketing take different forms, They work together to engage customers and keep your brand at the top of their minds.

Why Use a Builder-Specific Printing Company?

The challenge builders face that is unique to our industry is the weekly sales cycle. From week to week, home prices may change, lot availability changes, and options may vary. The typical strip-mall printer is not equipped to automate this process. Outhouse built their business to serve a single industry – HOME BUILDING. We do all work in-house, from CAD for your construction documents to print materials for your sales centers. This allows all teams, including architectural, rendering, graphics, interactive, and print, to work in tandem. By doing so, we create accurate, up-to-date print materials that are consistent and coordinated with your digital marketing assets. Utilizing the latest technologies, we print and deliver materials on time every week, on the builder’s schedule. Challenge solved – you send us your edits, and we coordinate these changes across all platforms.

Professional Artwork Creation: Outhouse provides clients with the considerable advantage of having drafting and rendering services on-site, allowing coordination with the development of their artwork for all printed materials. This coordination offers clients superior accuracy, faster turnaround times, and lower overall costs.

Coordinated File Management: Another advantage is the ease of managing and coordinating all created artwork with professional digital file and asset management. All artwork is kept up-to-date, consistent, and coordinated between city design reviews, printed sales materials, large format displays, and interactive web products and services.

Superior Print Quality: Superior brand standard quality and consistency every time on every product is only possible with the coordination, color calibration, and production of all graphics, printing, and display under one roof. Unlike a mass-market printer like Vista Print, Outhouse is not a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) printer. We believe that good enough is never good enough, and we have the magnifying glasses to prove it! On rare occasions when colors are incorrect or print quality is not up to snuff the first time off the press, we recalibrate and rerun the job.

Builder-Specific Delivery: Unlike many industries, home building has a weekly sales cycle, and having your print delivered on time is critical. Outhouse understands this. We meet your deadlines your way on your weekly sales cycle.

Woodside Homes brochure with three homes

The bottom line is print marketing still plays an integral role in new home marketing and sales. There’s a reason the Outhouse Interactive Floor Plan has a save button. It allows prospective homebuyers to save their customized floor plans and print them out for further review.

What about younger generations? Retail Focus Magazine tells us that print is 30% more memorable than digital. This applies to all age groups. You need look no further than nightclubs which hand out leaflets advertising upcoming events, and university welcome packs to know that print still appeals to young people. The magazine also notes the best campaigns are when print and digital work alongside each other instead of trying to compete. A younger audience may be digitally savvy, but they still appreciate a well-thought-out hard copy campaign.

Although any printer can give you a halfway decent brochure, only a company like Outhouse coordinates your CAD, rendering, and interactive projects with your print materials and sales office displays. Even if our print pricing is a bit higher, you will save significantly more overall through efficiencies in coordination.

Woodside Homes floor plan — *When you update a plan, Outhouse coordinates the changes across CAD, print, and all digital marketing assets.*

New Home Sales Centers Take Center Stage

Jim Sorgatz · 01/09/2023 · Leave a Comment

Even Smaller Builders Can Have a Top-Notch Sales Office

With the slowdown in residential sales, home builders across the nation are investing in new home sales centers, or model home centers, to showcase their houses and communities. Sales centers are a great vehicle to draw homebuyers in and highlight all your homes offer. Large public builders may opt for elaborate buildouts with cabinets, multiple touch screens, and monitors, especially in larger communities. On the other hand, many small or mid-size builders may ask what it takes to install a sales center. With some creativity and an eye for design, even the smallest production builders can set up an effective sales center in the garage of a model home.

Come on in and explore. Simple furnishings, large framed panels, a touchscreen display, and an acrylic logo create an inviting, sophisticated room for the K. Hovnanian Looks sales center.

A great place to start is with signage experts like Outhouse. With experience in top-of-the-line installations for some of the most prominent builders and scaled-down designs for smaller companies, we can offer suggestions and advice on model home centers to fit any budget. Large framed panels that tell a story create emotional connections and are cost-effective. A large acrylic logo on the wall and smaller directional signs and nameplates give the room a polished look. A wrap covering an entire wall packs a punch and creates a memorable wow factor.

Large format print. A wrap with the image of motorcycle racers covering two walls in a garage. — *An inspirational wall wrap in a private garage. Imagine one like this in your sales center!*

The key to a thriving sales center is excellent storytelling and uniformity of the design elements. With this goal in mind, builders sometimes combine their sales center with a design center bringing in additional warmth and visual appeal.

A wall wrap with the image of a boy capturing a firefly in a jar. An acrylic panel with text overlays a portion of the wrap. — *Starlight Homes sales centers may have a new look these days, but this is still one of our favorite iterations. Storytelling at its finest.*

In today’s digital age, an interactive kiosk is a must. Essentially a mini-website, interactive kiosks integrate your digital marketing tools in a single app for easy use onsite at the sales center. Responsive, device-agnostic kiosks like those provided by Outhouse integrate point-of-interest maps, interactive site plans, interactive floor plans, interior and exterior visualizers, virtual tours, and animations for a seamless home-buying experience. They engage homebuyers and can be installed on any device. Even something as small as a tablet becomes a powerful sales tool. Imagine buyers customizing their home through an interactive floor plan while touring your models.

The home page of an interactive kiosk produced by Outhouse. Buttons along the side link to a Welcome page, Point of Interest map, interactive site plan, and interactive floor plans. — The Outhouse Interactive Kiosk with links to a welcome page, point of interest map, interactive site plan, and interactive floor plans. Buttons can be customized to include virtual tours, interior and exterior visualizers, or whatever else you’d like.

With a more significant budget, consider installing large touchscreen monitors to elevate the impact. Visitors to your sales center will feel like they are in a sci-fi movie as they whiz around maps, floor and site plans, house renderings, virtual tours, and more, all on a grand scale. Hang a monitor on the wall or install it in a custom cabinet or table for a more sophisticated look. Creative License International and the Temeka Group are a couple of companies that build custom furniture for sales and design centers.

Cachet Homes Arizona sales center. The complete package in a compact space. Wall mounted acrylic panels, touchscreen monitors featuring an interactive kiosk, and print collateral engage the senses.

The final element of a thriving sales center is print marketing. Although some digital marketing agencies may lead you to believe that print is no longer a viable marketing tool, statistics show otherwise:

Infographic with images representing print marketing statistics which are listed below the graphic.

95% of people under 25 years old read magazines (Top Media Advertising).
82% of consumers trust print ads the most when making a purchase decision (Burstein).
Combining print and digital ads makes online campaigns 400% more effective (Top Media Advertising).
Print drives higher levels of brand recall vs. digital (77% vs. 46%) (Newsworks).

Think about it. We go to trade shows and expos like the International Builders Show, Pacific Coast Builders Conference, Southwest Builders Show, Southeast Building Conference, and more for human connection. We meet with business associates, physically test new products, and pick up many samples, catalogs, and marketing brochures along the way. When we get home, we review those brochures in detail as part of our decision-making process. Print still plays an integral role in marketing.

A print brochure for Capital West Homes in Arizona featuring a cover with photos of a family, community landscape, and house renderings and floor plans inside. — *Print brochure with house renderings and floorplans for Capital West Homes in Arizona. The perfect takeaway for model home center visitors.*

Outhouse installs sales centers/model home centers and provides print marketing for home builders across the nation. If you’re ready to install your sales center and would like a quote on signage, interactive kiosks, touchscreen monitors, and print collateral, contact us at [email protected]. If you are unsure where to start, call the Outhouse experts at (602) 371-4394. We are here to help and can guide you in the right direction based on your design requirements and budget.

Why Is Experiential Marketing Essential for Home Builders?

Jim Sorgatz · 07/10/2022 · Leave a Comment

Children at a Hogwarts themed party — ^{A giant wall wrap printed by Outhouse, “floating” candles, and authentic table decorations create the perfect setting for a Hogwarts themed party.}

There is a much more businessy answer to this question, but I’m going to start by introducing Darin Keezer, our VP of Operations. Most people know Darin as a number cruncher, spreadsheet whiz, Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) specialist, and an all-around smart guy. Many people don’t realize he is also an expert on experiences and a brilliant party host (watch out, Martha!). Whether it be a Wizard of Oz Halloween or a Harry Potter Birthday bash, Darin and his wife Angie create the most amazing experiences for their two daughters and others. I am so jealous! With all the chatter about left brain vs. right brain – how is it possible that someone so technical can also be so immensely creative?

The bottom line is Darin and Angie know their audience and what kind of experiences they crave. With this knowledge, they put in the time, effort, and expense to create the best, most engaging experiences possible.

People crave personalized experiences. And after spending a significant amount of time sitting at home the past couple of years, we are seeking them out more than ever. In response, companies, and their marketing teams, are ramping up efforts to create unique, hands-on experiences for clients/customers. Salesforce tells us, “Brands who can facilitate outstanding customer experiences will be the ones that will differentiate themselves. And it’s not a secret to executives, as 68% of marketing leaders claim their company is increasingly competing on the basis of customer experience.”

_{Darin and his wife Angie turn their backyard into the road to the Emerald City.}

Outhouse and our digital marketing and web development partners like Blue Tangerine, Group Two Advertising, Meredith Communications, Adlanta Creative, Denim Marketing, A2 Digital Consulting, Boe Creative, Bokka Group, Evolution Marketing, Flying Orange, Kovach Marketing Pepper Glen Creative, Rhoads Creative, Wick Marketing, and 616 Marketing, and more understand the importance of experience when marketing for home builder clients. In today’s scroll through, swipe left, swipe right world, home builders need to stand out from the crowd if they want to be memorable. Experiential marketing gives a competitive edge to forward-thinking builders.

So what does experiential marketing encompass? A few general examples include:

Demos
Events and festivals
Activities and kiosks at trade shows
Unique brand experiences
Retreats

In other words, pretty much anything that actively engages clients/consumers.

_{Darin’s Halloween experience gives Tim Burton a run for his money.}

How does this relate to home building? The past couple of years have been huge for our industry. As the pace slows down, the top builders are elevating their homebuyer experience to grow sales. Static floorplans and stick renderings are out. Interactive Floor Plans, Interactive Site Plans, Visualizers, User-Controlled Virtual Tours, onsite Interactive Sales Kiosks, and community events/open houses are in. Today’s tech-savvy home buyers expect and respond most positively to experiential marketing online and in your sales centers. This interactive community map created for SoMi by Homes Built for America is a prime example.

_{Click the image to engage with the multi-layered site map, interactive floor plans, and more for SoMi, the new community by Homes Built for America.}

Here are the most significant benefits you will see if you create a more engaging website and sales center:

Increased Brand Awareness
Emotional Connection: People purchase products based on emotions — positive, hands-on experiences move them closer to conversion.
Word of Mouth: Draw potential buyers by giving people something to talk about on social media with a fun activity and a hashtag.
Lead Generation: Outhouse has designed our Interactive Floor Plans and, Interactive Sales Kiosks to deliver leads directly to your inbox. Participatory social media campaigns can generate leads as well.

Humans crave experiences. Think about that when you open a new community or redesign your website. A day at Six Flags can be fun. But, like Darin with his Harry Potter-themed parties, the best theme parks (Disney, Universal) understand people want more than a simple roller coaster. They return again and again for the experience – the interaction and emotional connections.

Outhouse has dedicated significant time and resources to developing online experiential marketing tools housed on a single Virtual Interactive Platform. Compelling on their own, our Interactive Floor Plans, Interactive Site Plans, Animations, Virtual Tours, and Visualizers are even more engaging when builders roll them all into an Interactive Sales Kiosk.

The benefits of experiential marketing are numerous. Outhouse is here to help you explore, learn how to create emotional connections with homebuyers, and discover which online and onsite engagement tools will boost your sales. Contact us today to learn more.

Rules of Engagement

Jim Sorgatz · 03/07/2022 · Leave a Comment

Penguins surrounding expedition gear sitting on rocks.

In the military, rules of engagement are a directive specifying the circumstances and limitations under which forces will engage in combat with the enemy.

In Antarctica, the rule of engagement is – bring on the penguins!

Hundreds of penguins walking along a beach. Snow covered ice shelf and mountain in the background.

I recently had the good fortune of taking an expedition to the great white continent. Superlatives are not unwarranted. The icebergs are astounding. The clouds are incredible, unlike anywhere else I have ever been. They feel so close you can touch them. The landscape is otherworldly. And the penguins are utterly captivating and engaging. The Antarctic Treaty dictates that visitors maintain a distance of 15 metres from the penguins, but that doesn’t mean they won’t come to check you out! Penguins are as curious about us as we are about them.

Leopard seal lazily resting on black sand.

Not only are penguins the stars of the show for adventurers like me, they also draw crowds of other animals by sea to Antarctica. Technically, it all starts with the krill, but penguins are a favorite food of leopard seals, fur seals, sea lions, and sharks. And all are prey to killer whales. Watching the circle of life play out in real-time has its sad moments, but it is also one of the most fascinating spectacles on earth. With landings in both Antarctica and the Falkland Islands, I saw more penguins than I could count. Is it possible to get tired of them? For countless other explorers and me, the answer is an emphatic NO! They are SO engaging!

Rules of engagement apply to home builders as well. To sell homes, you need to engage home buyers. Traditionally, this has been accomplished with model home tours and glossy brochures. Although those still play an essential role in new home sales, today, home builder websites are the stars of the show. What used to be seen as a sales mechanism for younger buyers is now the primary marketing vehicle for home builders to reach all generations. This means engaging tools like interactive floor plans and site maps, visualizers, virtual tours, Matterport tours, and interactive sales kiosks are no longer options. In the home building industry, they are a necessity.

Penguin with baby chicks sitting in their pebble nest.

As potential home buyers become more web-savvy, they seek a more sophisticated online experience. This is where connected, interactive platforms, like the Virtual Interactive Platform (VIP) by Outhouse, come into play. Beginning with an interactive site map, potential buyers can click on lots to view interactive floor plans, renderings, animations, virtual tours, visualizers, and more. The beauty is entire platform is built upon a single site map.

Penguins relaxing on a white sand beach. Tall grass in the foreground.

Do not underestimate the power of virtual tours and visualizers. As builders begin moving towards a “buy now” option online, these interactive tools contribute significantly to your website’s ability to engage homebuyers and sell new homes. User-controlled virtual tours allow families to tour your homes from anywhere in the world. Interior and exterior visualizers encourage potential buyers to customize homes, increasing their vested interest.

In addition to incorporating interactive tools on your website, boosting engagement with these tools should also be part of the conversation. There are several best practices to accomplish this. The 2-3 click rule, for example, is the maximum number of clicks to get to your interactive floor plans. Other guidelines relate to how your interactive floor plans and site maps open (iFrames vs. responsive opens). Some of these apply specifically to one tool or another. The team here at Outhouse, or one of our website development partners like Blue Tangerine, Bokka Group, Adlanta Creative, Kovach Marketing, 616 Marketing, Power Marketing, Group Two, or Meredith Communications, are happy to review these with you.

A group of 9 King Penguins.You can see their orange necks.

The goal is to draw homebuyers in and keep them engaged on your website. Like the penguins in Antarctica, interactive tools are the star of the show on home builder websites. Implemented correctly, they keep buyers coming back and, ultimately, increase your conversion rate.

10 Lessons Ted Lasso Would Have for the Home Building Industry

Tabitha Warren · 01/17/2022 · Leave a Comment

Courtesy Apple+

This Fall, “Believe” wore me down. I had been hearing about Ted Lasso for two seasons. As a person that isn’t into watching sports, I wasn’t interested in a show about a football (soccer) team. But references were everywhere. Finally, on a walk with my husband, I (begrudgingly) looked at him and said, “I think we should watch Ted Lasso.” His eyes nearly fell out of his head.

This wasn’t because he had wanted to watch it. He didn’t even know what it was about. Recently, he had to return to the office. He had to host a temporary project for an executive team and teach them to use new tools. Early in the experience, they made him write “Believe” and hang it over the door to the conference room. He didn’t get the reference. We hadn’t watched Ted Lasso. His team was floored that he didn’t get it. He was happy to dive in with me and be in on the mantra.

Ted Lasso is a heart-warming show about an American football coach that is hired by an English football (soccer) club. They hire him for his uniquely up-beat and sometimes over the top coaching style. He’s charismatic. Ted arrives in England only to discover that the English don’t believe in hope and optimism. His own brand of hopeful leadership continuously hits brick walls of negativity. Ted finds that his first obstacle won’t be helping with soccer strategy, it will be battling prevailing negative, downtrodden attitudes. After his first day on the job, he posts a sign above the locker room doors that simply says, “Believe.” It’s his way of planting the seed of hope in the minds of his players.

It took three episodes for Ted’s charisma and off-beat leadership style to win my husband and I over. From there, like many people, I started writing down Ted quotes and applying them to my industry: home building. Here are ten key take-aways for anyone working in home building out there:

1. “Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn’t it? If you’re comfortable while you’re doing it, you’re probably doing it wrong.”

If the pandemic has taught us anything, things in the home building industry need to change. This varies from updating our websites, to having new virtual tools, to designing houses to have better flex space for families that are working and schooling from home.

2. “As the man once said, the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

There is no doubt that home building and sales are hard work! The market might make it seem like hard work isn’t necessary now. However, home site availability, or lack thereof, has presented new challenges. How are competitors retaining customers with wait lists that can seem unmanageable? Are they just lucky? Or maybe they are creating luck by working hard and listening to customers? Have a plan that keeps customers interested. When products aren’t ready and available, get good at customer nurturing. Wait list management can be one of the more difficult aspects of our industry. It is hard work, but there are several different strategies to take this on when experiencing “gapping.” Solutions include setting a priority list without target dates, a priority list with target dates, reservations with or without base pricing, price increases every x sales, lottery releases, eBay style auctions, sell with escalation clauses on costs, or pause sales entirely for a set amount of time. For more information on these strategies check out this article from our friends at Do You Convert: The Definitive Guide To Priority Lists In 2021

3. “You know what the happiest animal on Earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why? It’s got a 10-second memory.”

There is a rule out there called “the 15 second rule”. This is how long your website has to catch your prospective customer’s attention! Are you running SEO to see how long customers are staying on your website? This will tell you if you need to consider updating your website, adding new interactive tools, or scraping it and starting over from scratch.¹

Customers need that 10 second hit of endorphins. Does your website delight? We want those happy goldfish. Don’t let them forget you. Well-designed websites, like those made by Blue Tangerine, with great interactive tools, like Interactive Floor Plans by Outhouse are great ways to keep customers on your website and interested in your homes. For more information on how to build an award winning website and win your customers over, check out this blog by Blue Tangerine: 10 Tips for Home Builder Websites.

4. “If the Internet has taught us anything, it’s that sometimes it’s easier to speak our minds anonymously.”

This one is an internal suggestion. In an early episode, Ted implements a suggestion box for the team. Things are brought to his attention by a few players that he may not have known on his own. Not all decisions can be made in a vacuum. Not all information can be caught by one or two people. Here at Outhouse, the management does an anonymous annual survey asking what our team would like to see change at the company. It, also, asks what they like and would like to see stay the same. It has helped us change and evolve. There is an open-ended question asking for any other input we think they should know. The anonymity really opens people up. They feel freer to say what they feel and think. Maybe your company would benefit from doing things like this a few times a year. Maybe your sales agents and marketing team has caught trends or gaps in your system that you’re missing.

Courtesy Apple+

5. “I think that you might be so sure that you’re one in a million, that sometimes you forget that out there you’re just one in 11.”

Demand was at an all-time high in 2021. It’s forecast to continue this way into 2022. There are stories out there about customers feeling like they weren’t treated as having been valued. Home builders knew that another customer would come along and buy the home if the last prospect was unhappy. This is a terrible way to build a brand reputation and repeat buyers! Don’t be so sure that your company is the end-all-be-all. Even in a high demand market, customers need to be treated with value.

6. “I feel like we fell out of the lucky tree and hit every branch on the way down, ended up in a pool of cash and Sour Patch Kids.”

Remember that markets change! What are you doing to market to the future that slows down? Are you planning ahead? Our friend Meredith Oliver at Meredith Communications hosts a live stream event the first Friday of every month to discuss sales and marketing. It’s a great place to get ideas, keep on top of market changes, and connect with other people in the industry. She also has guests that are worth following. One of her guests may become a valuable resource! Bottom line: find resources that work. Luck won’t last forever.

7. “There’s two buttons I never like to hit: that’s panic and snooze.”

I just wanted to drive the point home here. We are at an unprecedented time in the housing market. But it is not time to panic. Maybe it was a few months back for those of us who weren’t prepared for the sudden and massive shift to online home sales, but that ship has sailed my friends! Hopefully, by now everyone has made the necessary changes, and customers can explore homes online. It is, however, time to put a plan in place on how to continue that progress. Know customer expectations. Have a budget for those things. Even if those things are in place, it is not time to get complacent. It is, also, not time to snooze because the market is booming! It’s time to be preparing for when the market slows. Know how to make it through lean times, and how to drive sales during those times.

8. “I believe in Communism. Rom-communism, that is. If Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we.”

This is an industry with extreme highs and extreme lows. We struggle together, and luckily, we are not in it alone! What can we do to prepare for those heartfelt times of struggle? First, consider working with industry experts to grow your home sales. Many larger builders already do this as regular practice. Experts help incorporate web tools like interactive floor plans and virtual tours that buyers expect and that top builders are already using. They also help maintain unique brand identities. Those items are our second point. Even without expert help, it may be an important strategy to incorporate web tools and present a strong brand identity. We want customers to recognize us in the din of online marketing vying for their attention. This is how we all end up happy, builders and buyers, no matter the market position.

9. “We all know speed is important. But being able to stop and change directions quickly? Well, that’s like Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak. It don’t get nearly enough credit.”

During 2021, we witnessed the beginning of the “Great Reshuffling.”² People began to move from where they had to live for work to where and how they wanted to live for work from home. This shifted market demands to different areas as well as the type of housing that customers were demanding. Amidst a housing shortage, it was now the mark of a great home builder to be able to shift their offerings. We’ve seen a high demand for things like flex spaces, green spaces, and so many other trends. Ted’s lesson here: be able to build a quality product quickly but be able to evaluate market demands and change quickly when the market calls for it.

10. “Here’s an idea that’s gonna help a little or hurt a whole lot. Who needs a drink?”

Like Ted, making real changes and progress in home building starts with belief. From there, it takes a whole lot of hard work. For many, it may take changing decades long attitudes, traditions, and processes. It may take going against the grain, investing in new technology and new talent. What can’t happen is continuing to do things the same way that we always have. Like my TV mentor Ted, I’m going into 2022 with a little belief, a whole lotta optimism, and an open mind. I can’t wait to see how all of our friends out there progress as they adapt to this ever growing industry! We’ll be here to help.

Courtesy Apple+

Tabitha Warren was an Income Tax Accountant for 15+ years. In the first months of the pandemic, she took a chance and re-careered to freelance in Marketing. She currently, and very happily, works with video and photo editing, social media marketing, and now blog writing.

Zheng, D. (2020, May 14). The 15 Second Rule: 3 Reasons Why Users Leave a Website. Retrieved January 7, 2022 from https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/why-users-leave-a-website/
Zillow NewConstruction (n.d.), New Construction Conversion Playbook. Retrieved January 7, 2022 from https://wp-tid.zillowstatic.com/bedrock/app/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Zillow_NewConstruction_ConversionPlaybook_2021.pdf

Capturing the Picture-Perfect Moment

Jim Sorgatz · 11/01/2021 · Leave a Comment

Photos of picture-perfect moments, often referred to as Kodak moments, generate an emotional response, inspiring us, amazing us, and even moving us to buy a new home.

Rafters Trying to save Overboard Friend.

I have friend a who is a professional photographer. He will sit for hours waiting to take the perfect picture capturing a bird or other critter in all its glory. It takes a lot of patience, but his efforts pay off as his photos are both moving and award-winning. Sometimes capturing the moment doesn’t take much patience at all. Yes, those are my legs floating down the river! This picture was taken on a recent rafting trip. In this case, the perfect photo came down to being in the right place at the right time for the photographer who took it. I now have the “harrowing” experience captured on film for posterity!

*It’s Only Love! Rod and Tina. Photo courtesy of Outhouse Print Manager Dory Boese*

Outhouse Print Manager, Dory Boese is a huge music fan. He has attended hundreds of concerts, and has taken thousands of photos of rock and pop icons over the past five decades. His knack for capturing perfect moments on stage is uncanny. You can literally feel the love and the energy in this picture of Rod Stewart and Tina Turner? There’s a reason she’s called “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll! The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, Heart, Diana Ross, Barbara Streisand, Bob Seger – Dory has snapped photos of them all. They are so captivating some are even featured on the Smithsonian website. If you are ever in the I-17 and Peoria area in Phoenix, stop on by the Outhouse office to check them out.

*Can you feel the power of the universe? Photo courtesy of Outhouse friend, Vim Vimmerstedt*

Nature frequently provides a visual feast. The clouds above were photographed during the Phoenix monsoons this summer. The beam of light shining through is so awe-inspiring, you can feel the power and wonder of nature. It also reminds me of a laser beam at a rock concert!

*Photo by “Single Rainbow Guy” Doug Ills, Outhouse Digital Print and Color Specialist*

And who can forget YouTube sensation Paul Vasquez, “Double Rainbow Guy,” whose video has garnered more than 49 million views. We think the photo above by our own “Single Rainbow Guy,” Outhouse Digital Print & Color Specialist Doug Ills, is equally spectacular.

Kodak moments play a huge role in new home sales as well.

Capturing the perfect moment also comes into play with new home sales. You want to captivate home buyers when they see your homes online, and a great first impression is critical. This is where sophisticated renderings, virtual tours, and animations are worth their weight in gold. They deliver a wow factor that home buyers will remember, and allow them to tour a home not yet built.

Not only does the rendering above show me what a room looks like. It also invites me to curl up on the sofa in front of the fireplace. The lighting, shadows, and textures you can almost feel, all play a role in creating this picture-perfect, cozy, warm room.

*Photoreal exterior rendering for Ivory Homes*

Quality exterior renderings are designed to inspire as well. Handsome, photoreal renderings place the home in a natural setting with real landscaping. You will notice though that setting is a few years down the road. Those trees and shrubs will be sticks for the first few years, but who wants THAT realistic?!

Engaging home buyers with interactive tools that entice them to create their own picture-perfect home also plays a role in new home sales. This is where Interactive Floor Plans shine, allowing buyers to select structural options, add electrical components, and arrange their furniture. Once they have completed space planning and furniture layouts, they then capture their perfect floor plan with a click-to-save button, preserving it for future review.

In the home building industry, the ultimate Kodak moment, comparable to photos on a wedding day, is the hand-off of keys to the new homeowners. Many builders love capturing this moment on film. There isn’t much that compares to the excitement of a family walking through their new front door. We’ve seen it on the reality shows, and it works the same in real life. That happiness is contagious, and is one of the best marketing tools.

Creating Great Plans

Bill Gelbaugh · 02/21/2021 · Leave a Comment

Front view of Two story grey brick house . — *Beautiful dusk rendering of the top selling Values That Matter 50-2695 Floor Plan.*

Offering outstanding home plans is one of the most fundamental requirements of a successful home building business. Business writers and academics alike constantly refer to price and product as two of the cornerstones for success in any business. In this section, I will discuss the individual components that determine whether a plan is perceived as outstanding or just another “nice house.”

Essentially, the factors that determine the market success of a home design can be broken down into three broad categories: (1) functionality, (2) aesthetics, and (3) perceived value. To a certain degree, these categories are in conflict, with the most successful plans finding the correct balance between them. Trying to sell a home that is very livable but ugly is difficult. Attempting to sell one that is beautiful but totally non-functional is almost impossible. Creating a home that is both beautiful and functional but beyond the financial reach of your customers is nothing more than an exercise in irrelevance.

Creating a home that is both beautiful and functional but beyond the financial reach of your customers is nothing more than an exercise in irrelevance. “

Because it is the most complex, and I believe the most important, of the three categories, I will focus on functionality, specifically the following eight aspects of design that are at the very heart of creating a plan that provides customers with the home they truly want and need:

Square footage:
In many markets, square footage assumes even greater importance than it should, due to the market (and its realtors) focusing on dollars per square foot as a key indicator of value. Astute buyers understand that discussing price per square foot without a detailed discussion of what is included in those square feet is meaningless at best and misleading at worst. However, not all buyers are sophisticated, so by increasing the size with minimally expensive footage (i.e., pumping air into a plan for the sole purpose of making it bigger), we can drive down the selling price per square foot. I am not a proponent of this technique but I am pragmatic enough to utilize this methodology in those markets that require or, at least, reward it. My fundamental advice about square footage when creating great plans is this: Design houses that feel bigger than they are by using diagonal-view corridors, opening up public spaces to each other, and, in narrow plans, trying as hard as you can to have a section of the house that is open across its entire width. Try to hit the targeted price point with a design that appears bigger than it is. For most buyers, how a plan feels is as important as the advertised size. On that subject, we shouldn’t automatically believe the size claims of our competitors. I have seen numerous house measurements that were grossly inaccurate – from builders who measure to the outside of brick instead of framing (common in some markets) to those who count a 2-story great room at 1.5 or 2 times its area. We should always check the square footage claims of our competitors.

Room count:
As size goes up, well-designed houses typically add rooms. The most common is bedrooms, but once we get to four, master bedroom sitting rooms often enter the picture as a substitute for a fifth bedroom. In public rooms, studies and formal dining rooms are the most common add-ons as size increases. The point I want to make here is simply this: While it is nice to enhance the size of marginal rooms as our plans get bigger, once we have achieved room sizes that are acceptable, the best thing to do with additional square footage is to create more rooms, specifically rooms that give targeted buyers what they want and need.

Room size:
When discussing design, it is always difficult for me to decide whether to talk about room count first and room size second, or vice versa. They are, basically, two competing uses for the space we add to a home, so which is more important? I think the paradigm goes like this. First, for the targeted footage of the plan, we should decide which rooms are absolutely required. Then, based on accurate information for our marketplace, we should determine the minimal acceptable dimensions for those rooms. After doing the preliminary design, if we have what we need and are under the targeted square footage, we need to decide whether to add the excess footage to existing rooms or add an additional room (or possibly a mini-room). If we decide to add the square footage to existing rooms, we must determine where the increased dimensions will have the most impact. For example, taking a 10’9” bedroom to 11 feet can be a significant marketing benefit. Adding 8 inches to the width of a single loaded (L-shaped) 5’6” walk-in closet allows it to become a 6’2”-wide double loaded closet, with 50 to 60% more hanging rod. If we decide instead to add a room, we need to think carefully about what room to add for maximum perceived value.

For most Americans, every day is a day when we have more possessions than the day before. “

Storage:
For most Americans, every day is a day when we have more possessions than the day before. Without realizing it, we are constantly acquiring clothes, electronics, tools, furniture, and countless other items at a much greater rate than we are discarding these items. This is why storage space is such a crucial consideration when creating home designs. Let me sum this up succinctly: It is virtually impossible to include too much closet space. No one will say they can’t buy the house because there are too many closets. Almost everyone would prefer a 3-car garage to a 2-car garage if they could afford it. So what does this mean at the micro level?

Have a great master bedroom closet or closets – this room still belongs to the people who are paying the freight.
Learn how to be a great closet designer overall – truly understand what works and what doesn’t – and don’t skimp or cheat on closet layouts.
Have as good a pantry as you can fit – people love to have food in the house, and the rise of Walmart and Costco has them buying in greater quantities than ever before.
For many people, the garage is a place to store more than cars – go for oversized garages whenever possible.

Circulation space:
Minimizing circulation square footage is important because it utilizes space that would have a higher perceived value if its functionality were better defined; that is, bigger rooms or more rooms. Aside from this general comment, the most important thing to remember is that the halls, stairways, and foyers that comprise circulation space need to be sized correctly for the specific product we are designing. Just as a 4-foot-wide hallway is a waste of space in a 1400 square foot home, so too is a 3-foot-wide hallway inappropriate for a 2800 square foot home. Circulation spaces, such as the rooms we discussed previously, must be sized proportionately to the product we are building.

*A great plan, the 50-2695 features big, open rooms and minimal circulation space. Take our Interactive Floor Plans, with Furniture Planner, for a spin today!*

Special spaces and memory points:
In the competitive new homes marketplace, it is more important than ever to create plans that buyers remember. Good design requires memorable spaces and features that inspire buyers and put the greatest degree of difference possible between the home they currently occupy and the one we want them to buy. We need not only an island in the kitchen but one with a different and notable shape. We want built-ins, details, work spaces, and time-saving features that convince the buyer that there is more going on than a simple change of address. We need to convince them that their lifestyle in the new house will be better – more interesting, more exciting, more productive, and more fulfilling. We need to make the move a requirement in their minds, not just a desire.

Good design requires memorable spaces and features that inspire buyers and put the greatest degree of difference possible between the home they currently occupy and the one we want them to buy. “

Features and spaces for today’s lifestyle:
I’ve discussed many specific features up to this point that are related to today’s lifestyle, but let me be even more specific. Today’s buyers want more time to do what they want to do. They want lower maintenance, lower utility bills, and a home that supports their increasingly technologically dependent life. They work at home. They surf the Web. They need to charge phones, iPads, computers, and battery-powered tools. If they have children, these children require power and bandwidth just as their parents do. They want to eat breakfast in a hurry, but they also want to have the entire family over for Thanksgiving. They want a place for the 60” TV, as well as the microwave oven. Most of all, “they” is really not one demographic group but many. Non-traditional families make up a huge proportion of new homebuyers, and the specific needs of diverse ethnic buyers are a factor that must be recognized. The builder who designs his or her product without understanding the lifestyle and needs of the targeted buyers is doomed to mediocrity at best, but more likely to failure.

Flexibility:
It is fitting that the last of the functional design aspects we will discuss is flexibility, because I believe that it summarizes a necessary attribute not only of a winning plan but also of a winning builder. Never before has the marketplace changed as rapidly as it is changing today, and never before has it been as diverse as it is today. This requires plans with rooms that can serve multiple functions, plans created with additions, modifications, and personalization in mind. We live in an age of specialization, but the smart builder creates home plans that allow that specialization from a well-created portfolio of great, flexible plans.

Submitted by
Alan Trellis, Author, NAHB Speaker, and co-founder of Home Builders Network.

With 40 years of experience as a custom home builder and consultant for the home building industry, Al is co-founder of Home Builders Network, which provides management consulting, marketing, residential design, and land planning for home builders throughout North America. Collectively, their clients build 3,000 homes per year, for a sales value of $1.2 billion. Al is the author of many books on residential construction; has served as chairman of the NAHB Custom Builder, Education, and Business Management committees; and is a leading speaker at the NAHB International Builders Show (IBS).

New Year – New Front Door!

Jim Sorgatz · 01/24/2021 · Leave a Comment

“There’s a new front door, and it’s online.” This quote from new home sales expert Kerry Mulcrone of Kerry and Co., on changes in the buying process, sums up how much the world has evolved in less than a year. The significant shift to online new home sales was the main topic of discussion at home builder marketer Meredith Oliver’s January Builder Town Hall. For a growing number of buyers, the journey to a new home doesn’t even include a sales center trip. And that is why having a well-designed website with engaging, interactive platforms is critical. As noted by Meredith, Interactive Floor Plans, quality renderings, and virtual tours are no longer luxuries; they are cost-of-entry items for home builder websites.

Door set on computer keyboard, opening, with Interactive Floor Plan in background — *Open your front door to online new home sales*.

With the housing market booming across the U.S., now is the time to review your online marketing strategy and website and make the changes needed to swing your front door wide open. A recent audit of the Outhouse website by digital marketing firm Blue Tangerine is leading us to invest in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We are also revamping our home page to showcase our products better “above the fold.” Updates of demos and product samples are on the agenda as well. Styles change and technology changes, so it is critical for us to spotlight our newest and most innovative virtual tours, visualizers, interactive platforms, and print materials.

Many builders rebuild their website every two years! That’s how rapidly styles and technologies change.

A builder panel featuring Ashley DeYoung from DeYoung Properties, Michelle Smallwood from Holiday Builders, and Chris Hartley from K. Hovnanian Homes at our November Home Builder Digital Marketing Summit discussed the importance of fresh website content and staying relevant with the latest technology. One surprising fact that came up is many builders rebuild their website EVERY TWO YEARS! Wow! That is how rapidly styles and technologies change.

Colored Interactive Site Plan with pop up showing home renderings — *Click on the Site Plan to see how engaging it is, integrating with Interactive Floor Plans, Renderings and Hotspots.*

Where will you start with online marketing and website upgrades to open your front door to homebuyers? Perhaps hiring an experienced Online Sales Counselor if you don’t already have one is at the top of the list. Then consider something as simple as a home page refresh to increase functionality and showcase your homes to their fullest. Adding Interactive Floor Plans to engage homebuyers and capture leads from their saved plans is a must. How about taking it to the next level and creating WOW with Visualizers and Virtual Tours? Invest the time today reviewing and considering all the options. Then implement those that make sense. By doing so, you will stay ahead of the competition and lead buyers through the front door to your new homes.

Mentoring & Nurturing

Jim Sorgatz · 12/07/2020 · Leave a Comment

How mentoring kids enhances a career in nurturing client success

My "Little" and I on top of South Mountain at cancer hike in 2014 — On cancer hike with my Little in 2014

One of the accomplishments I am most proud of in life is mentoring two boys through the Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) program. With no kids of my own, I felt a calling to volunteer with this tremendous organization as I realized how growing up in a relatively stable family helped prepare my brothers and me for adulthood. There are so many kids whose lives are in constant flux or would simply benefit from a little extra adult encouragement and support. BBBS is comprised of Bigs (adult volunteers) and Littles (the kids) who are matched one on one, based on common interests. Although most activities are on your own, each match is supervised by a BBBS specialist. The minimum time commitment for a Big is 2-4 outings a month for one year, but there are many matches that evolve into lifelong friendships.

My "Little", who is no as tall as me, and I on top of South Mountain at cancer hike in 2018. — My “Little” (2nd from right) and I on cancer hike in 2018

The need for volunteers is great, especially for men as the organization seems to have an easier time recruiting Big Sisters. If you are looking to help others in a role that is both challenging and rewarding, this is the perfect opportunity. Does everything go smoothly – NO! Things can and do go wrong. My current Little is now 19 and comes with all the drama and emotions most 19-year-olds experience. Although no longer in the program we still see each other regularly. As I write this, he is staying at my home due to challenges getting along with his roommate and his mom at the same time. So, lucky me, I get the brooding young man! The bottom line is, we have grown very close during our 10+ years together and I want to do everything I can to help him find his way in the world as an adult. Bigs are also not immune to the challenges parents face. Like the title of that famous song “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” (or in today’s world – Rap!), Bigs often have to address these issues as Littles navigate their teenage years. There was a point earlier this year where things had gone so awry, I was questioning whether my efforts made a difference at all.

And that is when, out of the blue, my first Little (now 26) sent me a chat via Messenger. Together in the program for 5 or 6 years, our match was terminated by BBBS due to a change in circumstances at his home; and this meant no further contact. Remembering a painfully shy and quiet teenager, I was not prepared for the chatterbox I encountered when we met for dinner. Confident, self-sufficient, incredibly happy, and overly-talkative, he was working as an assistant manager at Fry’s but decided to take a detour as an Uber/Lyft driver as he wanted more freedom. That evening made me realize, without a doubt, the time and energy dedicated to mentoring these young men was worth it.

What I learned while volunteering with BBBS is I am passionate about mentoring, nurturing, and helping people solve problems and overcome challenges. These interests have played an integral role in my career as well.

As former VP of member services at the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, I helped builders and trades connect with one another through business development events and programming.

Here at Outhouse, rolling out new products (did someone say Visualizer?!) and educating clients on the full range of benefits offered by our interactive tools are two key roles. There is often much more than meets the eye. While builders actively use front-facing tools like the furniture planner, structural options selector, and pricing calculator on our Interactive Floor Plans, they sometimes forget about the lead generation, and analytics available through the back end. Outhouse may not be the largest provider of online marketing tools, but we have always taken pride in being the best. Working with clients to be sure they effectively use these tools to guide successful marketing strategies and close sales is part of that mission.

Nurturing and mentoring play an integral role in both business and our personal lives. There is so much we can learn from one another, and a great deal we can share to help others realize dreams and achieve goals. To learn more about Outhouse, or being a Big, give me a jingle at [email protected]. There is a great need for volunteers to help guide kids and teens in the right direction. It’s not easy, but I believe you will find the experience rewarding.

Insights From Our Online Marketing and Product Expert

Jim Sorgatz · 10/12/2020 · Leave a Comment

The career path taken by my co-worker and friend Kevin Weitzel is more interesting than most. Starting as a professional cyclist, he was an Olympic Alternate in 1988. This was followed by service as a highly-decorated United States Marine for eight years. Returning to his cyclist roots, his many productive years in the industry landed him a very successful career in the motorcycle/automobile world. A strong belief in and practice of relationship selling catapulted him from floor sales to GM of the largest Motorcycle Dealer network in the United States in less than 5 years. He also has owned his own bicycle shop. Five years ago, Kevin was introduced to the home building industry through a friend who owned Outhouse where, as Vice President of Business Development, he has led the team to the largest sales growth in company history since the housing downturn. An expert in Interactive Builder Web and Marketing Content, 3D Rendering, Animation, Drafting, Virtual Reality, Matterport, and Print Marketing, Kevin is also a top-ranked International Builders Show speaker, and co-host of the weekly Builders Digital Marketing Podcast.

The podcast tables recently turned, with Kevin bringing his industry knowledge to the studio for an episode of Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio. Joined by co-hosts Carol Morgan of Denim Marketing and Todd Schnick, the trio discuss Outhouse’s outsourcing services, as well as the effects COVID-19 has had on the way home builders design product, market online to buyers, and conduct sales onsite.

Click Here for Podcast

An early adopter of working remote, Outhouse has been riding the wave alongside the pandemic by helping home builders come up to speed with new technology. While builders have always used services like interactive floor plans and marketing features, the ongoing pandemic has accelerated reliance on these tools, plus more sophisticated virtual tours, animations, and visualizers in order to stay ahead of the competition in our new virtual world.

Enjoy the podcast!

Interactive Floor Plans

Information Gathering

Google Analytics 4 – What’s New?

Marketing insights from photos of an expedition to Antarctica

The Role of Print in New Home Sales

Why Use a Builder-Specific Printing Company?

Even Smaller Builders Can Have a Top-Notch Sales Office

1. “Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn’t it? If you’re comfortable while you’re doing it, you’re probably doing it wrong.”

2. “As the man once said, the harder you work, the luckier you get.”

3. “You know what the happiest animal on Earth is? It’s a goldfish. You know why? It’s got a 10-second memory.”

4. “If the Internet has taught us anything, it’s that sometimes it’s easier to speak our minds anonymously.”

5. “I think that you might be so sure that you’re one in a million, that sometimes you forget that out there you’re just one in 11.”

6. “I feel like we fell out of the lucky tree and hit every branch on the way down, ended up in a pool of cash and Sour Patch Kids.”

7. “There’s two buttons I never like to hit: that’s panic and snooze.”

8. “I believe in Communism. Rom-communism, that is. If Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan can go through some heartfelt struggles and still end up happy, then so can we.”

9. “We all know speed is important. But being able to stop and change directions quickly? Well, that’s like Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak. It don’t get nearly enough credit.”

10. “Here’s an idea that’s gonna help a little or hurt a whole lot. Who needs a drink?”

Ready to get started, want more info?