Supply Chain Connections

Feb 8 2010 8:45AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

In my last article I talked about the importance of a manufacturer broadening its definition of “customer” to include the home builder. Well, for those manufacturers who have included the home builder in their customer definition or who are planning to do so, I have some additional advice for you. In order to be successful in selling and marketing to builders, a manufacturer must be prepared to make a long-term and consistent investment in time and resources to the builder and the homebuilding industry!

I have seen many companies announce that they have developed a marketing and sales strategy that is focused on the builder. They gear up, hire specialists and begin their journey. After a year or so they aren’t satisfied with the results. They feel that joining the local HBA or the National Council of the Housing Industry (NCHI) hasn’t paid...Read More

Feb 2 2010 12:50PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Last week I expressed concern that manufacturers would decrease their efforts when in came to marketing to builders in this new economy that we are all living in. So today I want to encourage all building material manufacturers to expand their definition of “customer” to include the home builder.
The benefits of including the home builder in your definition of “customer” are as follows: 

• A manufacturer can broaden its view of the market and gain insight that can increase profits and sales.
  If the only people that you gain market intelligence from are your first customers, your view of the market will be a narrow one. It will be a view comprised only of data points received from you and your customers and will not include the needs, issues and opportunities of the entire supply chain.

...Read More

Jan 25 2010 2:25PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

As we move into a new era in the homebuilding industry it will be interesting to observe how building material manufacturers respond after the disastrous past few years we have all experienced. It is safe to say that over the past two years all manufacturers have downsized and many have new senior managers in place and I will bet that many top managers have been heard saying “We have to return to the basics.” Based on the philosophy of former KPMG Peat Warwick CEO, Jon Madonna there is nothing wrong with “going back to the basics” as long as companies don’t believe that the way they worked yesterday is the best way to work for tomorrow. To succeed in 2010 and beyond not only do companies have to change the way they act, they have got to change the way they think about the past.

So where am I going with all of this? My concern centers around ...Read More

Jan 14 2010 7:40AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (2) |

By Glenn Singer

It has been my observation that there are two types of leaders in business, short-term strategists and long-term strategists. And this holds true regardless if they are leading large corporations, distributors or home builders.

Unfortunately over the past 10 to 15 years we have been stuck with the “short-term” business leaders. My definition of a short-term leader is one who only focuses on a three-year plan which, if achieved, means that he or she will get a big bonus and a bigger job. I have also observed that the long-term strategists are those who make decisions and develop strategies that have the long-term success of the company and themselves in mind.

It is my contention that short-term management is the key reason that we have all experienced the bursting of our economic bubble. In fact, these leaders have been so focused on th...Read More

Jan 7 2010 9:20AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Happy New Year everyone! I am back from a long vacation which started with Thanksgiving and ended on January 1, 2010. I had a lot of time to reflect on last year and all the events from the financial meltdown to the recent escalation of the war in Afghanistan and the current state of our industry.

I am happy to be starting a new year which is filled with cautious optimism and hope. I will start a new series of articles shortly on industry involvement; leadership and why it is important for manufacturers to gain a thorough understanding of the home builder’s business.

I look forward to communicating with you in 2010 and my best to each of you in this New Year.

Oct 28 2009 10:01AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (2) |

By Glenn Singer

Well, all of the industry pundits are telling us that the housing market has bottomed and in some areas, starting to turn up. All of this means that we will see some growth in new residential construction will take place in the 2010 – 2012 timeframe.

Hopefully each of us in the supply chain has learned some serious lessons during this recession and we will apply this learning as we move forward. Some building material manufacturers are doing exactly this as they are targeting those builders who not only survived the downturn but came out of it stronger. In addition, these manufacturers have also cleansed their distribution network and are working with only the best distributors.
 
And they are building relationships with key trade contractors and are tying them closer to their selected distributors.

...Read More

Oct 15 2009 9:27AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

By Glenn Singer

A few weeks ago I attended NAHB’s Fall Board of Directors’ meeting in Chicago. I was surprised in the number of attendees at this meeting because my observations of the Spring Board meeting were that it was not well attended.

Most of the builders with whom I talked with have cut back as much as they can and are holding on until the market turns. Most complained that it was extremely hard to get ADC loans. The other thing that most builders had in common was that they have down-sized their homes so they could provide a more affordable home.

When I talked with manufacturers I heard two basic themes, positive and negative. Let’s start with the negative camp first. These manufacturers said things like “We are holding on and weathering the storm”. Or, “I have never seen it so bad; we are in a survival mode.”
...Read More

Sep 21 2009 12:04PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (3) |

By Glenn Singer

Last week I was on a conference call with Chuck Shinn, the founder and owner of The Shinn Group of Companies and one of Builder Partnerships’ national suppliers and we were discussing the current state of the market and how the market will look in 2010. You will be happy to know that everyone on the call acknowledged that the new home market had bottomed out as the level of new home inventory has gone way down to a very normal level. All of us on the call felt as though the market in 2010 will show improvement. So this was good!

Of interest to me was the comment that Chuck made about the existing inventory and that was that the majority of it was in the high end market, homes priced over $500,000. Chuck felt that this level of inventory will take many years for it to work down. In addition, most builders have down sized their new offerings in terms of square foota...Read More

Sep 8 2009 7:57AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (2) |

By Glenn Singer

Here is another true-life story in the never ending saga of Glenn Singer's life. Last March we bought a new garbage disposal from a national retailer. It was installed by the same retailer and in three weeks it was working sporadically so I called the retailer’s repair service and made an appointment. The guy never showed up so I made another appointment and this time the guy showed up and told me that there was nothing wrong with my disposal and that I had faulty wiring. So I had my electrician out and 3 hours and $196 later I learned that my wiring was fine.

Here is where the fun starts!! The same repair guy comes out and tells me that he is ordering me a replacement and I should pick it up at the store in two days. So I go to the store and they have never heard of me and they tell me that the repairman had no authority to order a new one. They gave me a number t...Read More

Aug 17 2009 12:30PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (5) |

By Glenn Singer

My wife accuses me of constantly being a cynic, and I guess she may be right, particularly when it comes to the homebuilding industry. You see I have been in this industry for 45 years and have seen my share of cycles and one thing always remains constant – builders and manufacturers have short memories.

Recently there has been a lot talk about the recession and how it may be coming to a close. The stock market has been slowly moving upward. The existing housing inventory is shrinking and new home sales moved up in June. However, there are still those who say that we have a long way to go before the economy turns around. One thing is for sure, the market will come back so I will let the experts argue exactly when it will rebound.

I just hope that builders, developers, distributors, trade contractors and building material manufacturers can just jog t...Read More

Jul 23 2009 9:25AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

The long downturn in the housing industry has definitely been bad. We have seen many builders declare bankruptcy; most have downsized thus adding to the unemployment roles. In addition, most manufacturers and distributors have also downsized and the picture has looked bleak for a long time.

But some good things have been happening as well. Builders and manufacturers have learned how to run more efficiently with fewer employees. Builders have taken unwanted cost out of their homes in an effort to compete in this market. Manufacturers and builders are engaging in meaningful dialogue on how to reduce costs, etc.

One of the best things that have happened during this down market is that builders have the time to get educated by participating in industry and company educational webinars. My company, Builder Partnerships puts on at least one educational webinar p...Read More

Jun 29 2009 1:18PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

There is no doubt that the current downturn in the home building industry has changed quite a few things such as lending practices, the price of new homes, the size of new homes, what is considered standard items and what is considered upgrades, etc. But one of the biggest changes is that many of the people in the industry have changed. As you know, many of the builders, manufacturers, trade contractors and suppliers have been forced to lay off people to survive in this economy.

As the market turns around many of the old relationships that we all had will not exist anymore and we will have to forge new relationships based on honest and open communications and trust. It won’t be business as usual! We will have to work hard to build these relationships and this is a good thing as there will be no room for complacency in this new market.

So go forth and but your best foot forward.

Jun 2 2009 10:12AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Last week I attended the National Association of Home Builders' spring board of directors' meeting in Washington, DC. What I heard and experienced left me with mixed emotions in that I heard "the good, the bad and the ugly."

Let’s get "the bad and the ugly" out of the way because there is some "good" to talk about. So here is the bad news. 

• Housing starts at an all-time low with less than 400,000 single family homes being constructed this year. 
• Commercial construction is declining. 
• Booth space rentals for the 2010 IBS are way, way down. 
• NAHB staff has taken a 5 percent salary reduction and will take a 10-day furlough later this year. 
• Membership levels are dropping as well. 
• Attendance at the meeting was

...Read More

May 11 2009 8:32AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Recently we have seen some positive signs in the economy, the stock market and in the home building industry; however, I am not saying that the recession is over and that the home building industry has recovered. We still have a long way to go before that can be declared. One thing is for certain and that is that there will be a recovery and we need to prepare for it.

Now is the time to reflect on the past few years to identify the mistakes that we made as well as the things we did right. We also need to face the fact that it will be a long, long time before we will see 2,000,000 housing starts. In talking with many of our manufacturer associates, I have learned that they have been working hard to balance their builder-customer portfolios. They don’t want to be dependent on the top public builders and they want to sell privately-held local and regional builders as w...Read More

Apr 27 2009 11:51AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Now I realize that we are a long way from an economic recovery and new home inventories still need to get smaller, but I have been hearing and seeing some good news which we all need.

The stock market has performed better over the past month with some steady but small growth. I am reading that sales traffic has increased in both the new and existing home market. Even at last week’s NAHB’s semi-annual Construction Forecast Conference we were told that the industry has bottomed out and will lead the economy out of the recession. Even my local newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer has published some encouraging news about the new and existing home markets in the Philadelphia region.

When I go into a store or a shop I conduct my own “survey” as I ask the clerk or owner “How is business?” and, recently, I ha...Read More