Jan 10 2008 6:38AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
Blog This! using: Blogger.com | LiveJournal |

This week I'm blogging about our Innovators. You can read Part One here, Part Two here and Part Three here.

Today I'm focusing on Bill Simone, president of Custom Design & Construction in Los Angeles. 

Our thinking here was pretty simple. The biggest topic in the housing industry this year has been the subprime mortgage crisis and what that's done to sales, prices and general homeowner confidence. Not surprisingly, those lending issues are trickling down to remodeling. We even listed financing as one of our Top 5 Challenges for 2008 in the January issue.

So Simone's model of financing projects solely through the company's own financial resources was particularly intriguing. Not surprisingly, Simone has seen an increase in clients looking to finance with the company over the last few months as banks have tightened their lending. 

Even if you don't have the financial resources to finance the projects yourself (Simone estimates you need to have three months worth of volume as cash on hand), working more closely with lenders to offer financing instead of relying on homeowners to find their own would be helpful in the current climate. And the reality is that lenders are looking for good leads these days as they try to right their financial ships.