Blogs

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Quality Management

Like changing a wheel while the car is still moving

Process improvement can often be received with impatience and inflated expectations of its impact. One of the regular problems is that a...

Customer Satisfaction

Net Promoting Index = No Pertinent Information!

Let me be straight - I am anti-Net Promoting Index (NPI) in the home building industry and this is why... When I was a manager/leader/owner...

Lean Design

Lean Design Blog: Custom home squeezes in just a bit more garage space

Everybody loves a little extra Garage space. Custom home clients are requesting anywhere from three to six car Garages on a fairly regular...

Quality Management

Don’t paint yourself into a corner and create a negative work environment

Often managers set goals for employees such as a minimum number of units to be produced each week and once this is achieved on a regular...

Lean Design

Lean Design Blog: A skinny plan based on outdoor living

For the second week in a row I am featuring a skinny plan. What gives? Well I suppose as spring is approaching I am thinking of my own...

Structural

Lean and Green Builder: Stick vs. panels - a greener way to frame

Looking at this topic, I am reminded of my days as a security system salesperson. The sales pitch for a door-to-door salesperson is safety...

Quality Management

Back to Basics: Checklists and clearly documenting errors to reduce costs

Checklists and audits may be one of the most basic approaches to quality but they frequently lead to problems of accurate data collection. A...

Customer Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction Blog - Vampires!

I often wondered why a consulting friend of mine wrote of his miserable air travel experiences, and now I get it. The airline industry,...

Quality Management

Step by step process diagrams for performance excellence: NHQA

NHQ Award winning builder, NHQA Judge and consultant Tom Gillespie has developed a set of process diagrams that provide an overview of the...

The Lean Builder

Lean Building Blog: There is no future in pessimism

Our business picked up in late 2011, started the New Year off well, and we were deluged at the IBS show, beginning with a standing-room-only...

Green Design

Lean and Green Blog: Finding waste in a barrel

Each week as I think about this weekly blog, I try to find a topic that is not only green, but a universal opportunity. What I mean is no...

Quality Management

Sometimes risk management is as simple as listening to your customers

Recently I’ve seen a financial company misplace $30k, a health care organization twice have a patient end up back in ER and a manufacturer...

Lean Design

Lean Design Blog: Get the skinny on this 3,400-sf narrow-lot plan

Recently while out to dinner my wife Katie talked me into ordering a skinny long island iced tea. It was actually pretty good. Nice taste,...

blog_entry

Lean Builder Blog: IBS and The Learning Organizations

Peter Senge wrote one of the best business books of the 1990’s, The Learning Organization. It is one of those on my list to pull off the...

Green Design

The Lean and Green Blog: Avenues to green

Since the beginning of the Builders' Show in Orlando this month, I have learned more in two weeks than most will learn in a year. From the...

Lean Design

Lean Design Blog: Feeling a bit schizo on Fat Tuesday

I am of two minds today. I have two entirely unrelated topics to discuss: A. Show Village at IBS B. Windows Show Village at IBS...

Customer Satisfaction

IBS 2012 – What you may have missed

The bottom of the market is clearly in and most builders know it, especially those that attended the International Builder Show (IBS) in...

Quality Management

Impact your bottom-line: Apply for the 2013 National Housing Quality Award

The NHQA is open to home builders, trade contractors and remodelers. Whether you are building production or custom homes, within communities...

Flooring

Lean and Green Blog: Sustainable products highlights from IBS 2012

As the building world concludes another International Builders’ Show, the sentiment shared by many of the attendees was one of hope for a...

Lean Design

Lean Design Blog: Check out this 2,800-square-foot Lean design

Typically I like to save my drama for my mama – not this time. This time I packed it all into this 2,800-square-foot Lean-designed home....

Quality Management

‘They’ are sure sign of improvement opportunities

We have all heard of ‘they’ or ‘them’! You know, ‘they’ never give us enough material to do the job. ‘They’ didn’t leave it ready for us...

The Sweet Spot

Is this the year employees walk?

Employers have had it pretty good the last few years when it comes to managing employee turnover and keeping workers happy. The state of...

Quality Management

20/20 Insights on Performance Excellence (Free downloadable book)

In this free book, leaders of Baldrige Award winning, World Class, organizations from all sectors share their success stories and eye...

The Sweet Spot

IBS Pre-Show Thoughts and Observations

Having arrived in Orlando for the International Builders Show and NAHB Winter Boards, a few quick updates and observations: Still no...

The Lean Builder

The Lean Building Blog: Buying by the square foot — an anti-Lean practice

There is nothing in homebuilding that makes less sense than purchasing by the square foot and it is a big obstacle in Lean implementation....

Home Builders Institute's Schools to Skills Grant Application Open Through December

As Mortgage Rates Rise, Buyers Lose Purchasing Power

Renters Are Choosing Single-Family Homes for These Features