Jul 20 2007 7:39AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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Recently I had the opportunity to talk with several building material manufacturers about their knowledge of the home builder’s business.  I was surprised to observe that most of them didn’t really know of the integral workings of a home builder’s operation.  In today’s world most manufacturers spend their time and resources calling on the giant, public builders since they represent the largest sales volume opportunities and they rely on local distribution to serve the smaller, privately-held builders.  So the manufacturers’ understanding of the home builder is limited because they only have a view of the “builder’s world” through the eyes of the public builder.

You might say that “a builder is a builder” so if you know and understand how a public builder runs his business, than you know the builder.  This is not so since the decisions that a public builder makes are driven by a totally different set of business criteria than that of a private builder. The manufacturers I talked with acknowledged this fact.

So a knowledge gap exists between the smaller builder and the manufacturer and this is actually a great opportunity for manufacturers and builders.  My company, Builder Partnerships, plays a very important role in bringing builders and manufacturers together to discuss mutual issues and concerns and to gain a better understanding of each other’s business models.  It has been gratifying to watch manufacturers learning how builders make decisions regarding product selection and to be made aware of the tedious process a builder goes through to change product manufacturers.  This learning is making our manufacturer associates more effective when dealing with the privately-held builder which eventually will lead to increased sales and a strong, in-depth business relationship between the builder and manufacturer.