Best Practices
Best Practices
Floodproof on a Floodplain
An impressive addition to the IDEA Home series, the NEWLOOK Experience Home is a master class in engineering and creative design, with builder Michael Freiburger out-thinking an exceptionally tricky lot
Business
Defining Outdoor Living in 2024
Residential experts weigh in on outdoor living trends in new report
Construction
How to Air Seal the Garage
A poorly sealed wall or ceiling between the garage and the main house can let harmful fumes into the living space
Business
Taking Advantage of Incentives Through Weatherization
Industry insider Kristen Lewis walks us through the basics and benefits of weatherization
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Best Practices
The rule of 8, 9, 12 but never 16
Todd Hallett and I are running a LeanPlan Workout session this week in Tennessee with one of my favorite builders. In the years I have known them…
Best Practices
Watch out for this extreme common framing error that causes warranty nightmares
Whether you call them crickets or saddles, the little patch of roof that is bridging water past a chimney or other element obstructing water flow is…
Best Practices
5W2H A simple process improvement tool
5W2H stands for 5 Ws and 2Hs or Who, What, When, Where, Whey How and How much. When working on improving a process this is a very simple tool to help…
Leadership
10 steps to mastering field quality – A positive indicator for a recovering industry
The 5th article in my series on Quality Management was just published by Professional Builder Magazine and appears concurrently on www.HousingZone.…
Best Practices
Implementation: Making it happen
“It is leadership, that recognizes that structure and goals are not effective without the corresponding tactics and that neither will generate strong…
Best Practices
Team formation
Forming, storming, norming and performing are the four key stages in team formation. Forming: This is a short lived period when the team initially…
Best Practices
Short term thinking
One of Demings ‘Seven Deadly Diseases’ is ‘The Emphasis on Short-Term Profits’ and therefore on short term thinking. Despite the lessons of the…
Best Practices
Leadership Reflections
Here is a simple exercise to help you reflect on your leadership. Make two lists. One is headed, ‘leadership I respected and valued’, the other will…
Leadership
Using strategic relationships to grow your business
A key area of business that many builders fail to master is strategic relationships. Mark Richardson offers tips for leveraging those around you to improve your business.
Best Practices
The ACORN test
The ACORN test is an easy to remember way to evaluate the charter of an improvement project. A Accomplishment. Does the goal actually focus on…