Dewey U. Now on CD-ROM

Dewey Homes in Wayne, Pa., has taken its Dewey University home building seminar high-tech, making it available on CD-ROM.

The seminar took place every six weeks, but because many of Dewey's customers were relocating, they couldn't always be in town for the class, says Randy Krauss, vice president of sales and marketing. Customer satisfaction numbers have been higher from those who went through the university, so Dewey Homes created the free CD-ROM.

The CD-ROM takes users through the sales process in-depth, from the home deposit to agreement of sale to finalization and release to construction. It then explains, step by step, what the builder has to go through in terms of paperwork and obtaining permits to build, etc., so that home buyers know what goes on behind the scenes.

Dewey University also covers the steps of the actual house building, the materials used and the different orientations a home buyer goes through during the various stages of the build. The final lesson deals with quality assurance visits and warranty services.

The CD-ROM has been available since April. Krauss expects the response to be positive. "The response to Dewey University was pretty incredible," she says. "People really want information." Some people not necessarily building with Dewey want the CD-ROM for its walk-through of the building process in general, Krauss says.

"This is really going to stand us apart from the competition," she adds.