When a person is in an industry long enough, they
often recognize trends and will adjust their business for these trends. Well,
at least that is how it is supposed to be. I have related business to perch
fishing in the Great Lakes on more than one occasion. In short, it is easy to
see where the perch are biting on a lake because that is where all the boats
are parked and the area becomes crowded and the perch either move on or are
fished out. Who found the fish first? The word must of gotten out that the
perch were in a certain location, otherwise no other boats would have been
parked in the location where the perch are. It’s important to keep ones lips
sealed when it comes to fishing but inevitably, people will find where the productive
areas are simply by watching. Business is no different.
Call it envy, call it drive, call it what you will
but the fact is, people want to be as successful as other people. In the
building business, the large suppliers take years to adjust to the trends and
that is currently happening with Andersen Windows Corporation. I have insisted
on using Andersen windows for many years and not just because they offer a great
product that compliments the types of homes that we build. For years, I and a
few others have tried to get Andersen to focus on sustainability and there
seemed to be a refusal to do that. Andersen Windows brought me and others up to
their Bayport Minnesota ‘hub of operations’ for meetings on sustainability and
also to have me tour their facilities to see how they could get the word out
about what makes them sustainable in their business practices.
I would get frustrated because Andersen would get
this information and never seem to do anything with it. There was a big
management change at Andersen and everyone I knew there moved on and my
involvement in their sustainability practices no longer mattered to the new
leadership. Andersen was very generous to me and my team and helped us spread
the word about sustainability as best as they could at the time. I remember
what my rep from Andersen would say, “..You have to understand that getting a
large company to change is like steering an aircraft carrier with a trolling
motor..” This is very true. Now, I see that Andersen is putting its full focus
on Net Zero and is very excited about sustainability, which is a great
thing….but several years behind, as the trend and economy has once again
started an inevitable change.
I am not trying to pick on Andersen Windows,
especially after what they have done for me personally and after the people
that were let go from the company did to spread the word about building earth
friendly homes. I am using my relationship with Andersen Windows as an example
of how the industry works. I used to get an email from time to time asking me
what I was doing next and what I thought that the industry was doing. I
remember taking a ride on the Andersen Corporate Yacht on the Saint Croix River
with Andersen executives and being shown the reports of what the building
industry was going to do in the future. I am amazed at how spot on those
reports were for looking five years into the future. I remember seeing a report
that Grand Rapids Michigan was going to be a top location in the country to
live and that report and the other information that I had access to is what
lead to us buying our farm just outside of Grand Rapids. Recognizing trends and
being fluid enough to make the changes in real time is one of the keys to
keeping the schedule book full.
It seems like there are plenty of builders who are
building energy efficient homes now, mostly because our building codes require
it. The question is, “what is trending now in the building industry and should
we forget everything we have learned along the way?” Great question, I am glad
you asked!
Sometimes it seems like humans forget about the
things that they experienced along the way and other times it seems like you
meet a person who uses everything they experienced, good or bad, and have found
a way to use those experiences to differentiate themselves from others. The
latter speaks to part of the question above, “Should we forget everything we
have learned along the way?” The answer is, “NO!” don’t ever forget what you
did or what you have learned. That is a very important part of the puzzle in
what is trending right now or will be trending in the near future. Before, a
different age group with different motivations was what was keeping the
building industry alive during the downturn. Now, those same motivators are a
‘given’ with the new group that is starting to be interested in building. There
are still plenty of people for everyone to build for, and the leaders of the
pack are still attracting the people who are not finding companies that fully
understand exactly what certain homeowners are looking for.
Where do I think things are going in the building
business? Well, to answer that, I will have to say this. I can think about what directions the industry is going and I can know which way we are going to go in
the industry. I am not much for sticking to any one thing, and I find
myself being like a glacier, where I keep moving and gathering things along the
way. That means that I am still taking the company that I am a part of and
building extremely energy efficient houses, but, that is the baseline. There
are many things that matter in a house that is friendly to all the stakeholders
with the inhabitants and The Earth being the biggest focus. These many things
change and evolve or devolve. The ‘Things’ that I am aware of are more than Geo
Thermal or insulated concrete forms.
I have seen a large number of people interested in
earth shelters and living off of the grid. Likewise, I have seen many people
interested in our way of life on our farm and all of these ‘Things’ are
becoming important to people that are hoping to build one day. The biggest
‘Thing’ that I have picked up on (ok, this is the tidbit that you have probably
been waiting for) is that the new generation of clients that we have, ninety
plus percent of them all mention having a parent(s) living with them at some
point during the ownership of their new or remodeled house. Another ‘Thing’
that I see is that multiple family members are buying larger pieces of land and
building multiple houses on that land so that everyone can live near each
other. I have not heard one mention of LEED for Homes or Net Zero, rather, the
conversations get filled with, “..I need extra counter space because I can a
lot of food each year..” and/or ..”I would like the kitchen windows to line up
on both houses, even though the houses are not very close to each other so that
we can make sure mom is doing ok.” Bringing
the family back together could be the theme, you heard it first here!
Remember though, that the energy efficient, earth friendly, inhabitant friendly
home is a given in this equation.
Thank you for reading my blogs and thank you to
those who email me, I enjoy the feedback.
AB
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