“When we first released IHMSWeb in 2010, we expected the typical client to be a lower volume, custom home builder” said Donald Scattergood, Vice President at Mark Systems. “Home builders of all sizes are embracing the ease of use, low startup costs, and pay-as-you-build simplicity of IHMSWeb. This volume gives us economies of scale that we could not have anticipated two years ago.”
Pricing changes announced today include a 273% increase in initial allocated storage for all IHMSWeb customers and a 99.73% reduction in fees for additional storage. “Home building is a document-heavy business, and IHMS Document Management allows instant access from anywhere for every document a builder receives or generates. Storing those documents in the cloud allows us to dynamically allocate space as needed at a fraction of our original projected costs. Those lower costs are now passed directly on to our customers,” Scattergood said.
“Our production volume is increasing steadily, and we could not handle it without IHMSWeb,” said Mike Seabrook, CEO of MI Construction in Flagstaff, AZ. “My experience with large builders underscored the power of a single integrated ERP system, and the ability to leverage personnel was crucial when we started MI Construction. IHMSWeb gives big-builder tools at minimal costs, and this price reduction illustrates Mark Systems’ commitment to its user community,” Seabrook said.

MARK SYSTEMS’ Integrated Homebuilder Management System is the industry’s only single database enterprise software package developed exclusively for residential builders and developers. With full support for back office and field operations, the software provides state-of-the art information processing tools for the homebuilder, including access via the Internet. For more information, contact John Rogovich at 800-972-7444, email us at info@marksystemsusa.com, or visit us online at http://www.marksystemsUSA.com.

So I thought about which reports I am most excited to demonstrate during training sessions, and came up with this list of the 5 most useful reports in IHMS. I tried to dodge the obvious reports, like a good old fashioned Income Statement, which you could very easily rank as the most important report for any company, or the reports that you can design for yourself using the Financial Statement Report Designer or through a third party report writer using ODBC.  So I understand that this list of reports certainly can be debated, and I welcome it, but here are my five best reports in IHMS.

1. The Material List Report inside the Material List Maintenance program

Why? I can’t tell you how many times I get the technical support question, “why didn’t my PO get created?”, “or why didn’t this material list update my budget?” It’s a natural question because the PO system is made up of several different programs (product codes, vendor prices, primary suppliers, materials), couple this with PO Inheritance and it becomes complex very quickly, especially when compared with the simplicity of the work order system a la vendor contracts. This report puts together the pieces of the purchase order puzzle, and immediately tells you if one of your pieces is hiding under the couch in the form of a missing primary vendor, missing vendor pricing, etc. It even tells you if you forgot to make a product taxable, because the tax percentage is listed next to each product that is taxable. The total tax is also located in the subtotal section for a given material list.



The Report inside Material List Maintenance

This is a great report that isn’t on the reports menu. It’s located inside the Material List Maintenance program, which is your key to realize that many great reports are directly inside the File Maintenance program and not on the reports menu! For instance, need to get a summary of a finished house’s schedule, complete with total number of days to complete and every task that was delayed with the reason for the delay? Check out the Print button inside House Schedule Maintenance.

2. The House Schedule Report inside the House Schedule Maintenance program

Another hidden gem. The House Schedule report is a great reflection tool to run after a house has completed construction. It provides the total slippage and total number of days it took to build one specific house. The best thing it does though is list out all of the delay reasons (exceptions and notes) next to each activity/vendor to explain exactly why certain tasks were delayed. This allows you to review where the roadblocks in your construction process are and empower yourself with the knowledge it takes to mitigate these delays in the future. If a material shipment was incomplete, or an inspection was called in before the job was ready for it, this report tells you that exact information. To make sure this report works: Train your superintendents on how they can better use the “notes” and “exceptions” feature on the ITK’s ‘Schedule WO/PO Completion” link every time there is a delay. Without their input, this report’s value diminishes significantly. So make sure your construction supers are entering the reasons for each delay from their iPad .



House Schedule from within House Schedule Maintenance

3. The Proforma Analysis

Why? Review it before you ratify a contract or an option addendum. In today’s homebuilding market, incentives, working with buyer’s on custom options, and just making a contract work for the buyer is what it takes sometimes to sell a house. However, when making concessions reviewing a proforma analysis report that provides a projected gross margin before you execute a contract is a necessity. The Proforma Analysis Report does exactly that.  It provides the estimated gross profit you will make on your base house and each option individually. If something looks totally fishy (like a 100% profit on an option, or a 0% profit on an option) you haven’t ratified your contract yet, so you have time to work out the fishiness.



Proforma Analysis Report

4. Projected Profitability Report

Why? This is a great way to view the projected gross margin for every house under construction. If the profit percentage is around 25-30% you are in the good zone. The projected profit and the profit % are derived from subtracting the REVISED BUDGET from the sales price. The revised budget column is different than your current budget column, because it factors in actual costs incurred vs. budgeted amounts. If the budget for rough plumbing was $2000 and the actual was $2100 it uses the actual $2100 towards the total revised budget amount for each house. I look at the revised budget as a worst case scenario, which means the gross profit is rarely over estimated on this report. However, if you’d like to see projected profit based on the current budget, simply switch the formula in column J to calculate off of the Current Budget column. This flexibility is what makes exporting this report out to Excel so powerful.



The Projected Profitability Report exported to Excel

5. Settled House Report

A miniature P & L for every single closed house, this report is probably the most influential report in IHMS. This Cash Receipts menu treasure is the final report to run after your house settles to determine the profitability on it. One of the best things I like about this report is a recent enhancement that splits the cost up in to two columns. There is a column for actual costs and costs relieved from work in process. This is helpful for a more accurate profit determination immediately after a house settles. If you are relieving WIP to COGS based on anticipated costs that haven’t come in yet (hint: use the Job Cost Budget Analysis with Committed Report to view committed costs that haven’t come in quite yet) then you can get a determination of profit before all costs arrive on your settled home. Tip: Use the Settled House Report Maintenance program (also on the Cash Receipts menu) to estimate the Marketing, Warranty, and G&A expense per house to estimate the net profit for each closed house.

The Settled House Report

Honorable Mentions:

• The Schedule Summary report for Superintendents on the ITK

Why? This report succinctly provides the days from start and the days ahead/behind schedule for every house in a community. Houses behind schedule show the number of days in red, while houses on or ahead of schedule show the number of days in green, easily providing superintendents with the information they need to focus on houses that are lagging behind schedule.

• The Options Tracking report located under Job Cost, Options, Reports submenu.

Do you want to know what your most popular option is? How about your most profitable option? This report will tell you your average selling prices, average costs, and total number of sales for each. Inform your sales people on which options are the most profitable, thus which options they should focus on selling via this report.

• The Elevation Price Update program

One of the most basic reports in the system couldn’t be more helpful. Hint: Check the box to Show Budget and Gross Margin % and while you’re checking boxes, also Calculate Package Included Options in to the mix. This will provide your selling price for all of your models/elevations next to the total budget and that is next to your gross margin. There is no other easier way to price your houses than by using this report since it exports to Excel you can plug in the prices directly into the spreadsheet before importing them back in to IHMS.

I understand that this list is very debatable, and I welcome it gladly. If you think there are reports that are more valuable than the ones listed below please comment and explain why they are so valuable to your homebuilding company!

MOUNT HOLLY, NJ, January 29, 2011 /24-7PressRelease/ — Mark Systems announced today that it’s Integrated Homebuilder Management System (IHMS) has garnered it’s fourth Top Products award, according to Constructech Magazine of Carol Stream, IL.

One of a series of high profile industry awards received by Mark Systems over the last 4 years, the Constructech top Products award honors technology solutions that have demonstrated the greatest innovations geared toward the homebuilding market.

“We’re extremely honored to be selected once again as a Top Product in residential software,” said Donald Scattergood, Mark Systems Vice President. “This is the latest in a string of industry awards for Mark Systems, including 2 previous Top Product awards and selection as one of the 50 top software companies in the construction market for 2 years in a row. Coming on the heels of the best sales year in our 30 year history, this award underscores what our customers already know; Mark Systems software let’s homebuilder build more houses. more profitably, with fewer people.”

Judging is conducted by the editorial team at Constructech magazine, and the products selected are based on various criteria, including the product’s overall usefulness and uniqueness to the construction industry. In addition, the editors judge on the customer growth rate for the particular product during the past few years.

“Technology solutions are becoming more efficient, as are the companies who are implementing them,” says Mike Carrozzo, chief editor, Constructech magazine. “We continue to see a demand for smarter, more efficient solutions, as homebuilders look for technology that will not only help them to serve their customers better, but also keep costs at a minimum. Constructech’s winning products of 2011 are serving this purpose, and the companies who bring each product to market are striving to meet that demand.”

“Constructech’s 2011 Top Products winners should be proud of their accomplishments” says Peggy Smedley, editorial director, Constructech magazine. “The construction industry has certainly had its ups and downs during the past several years, but this economic shift has forced builders to discover the need for efficient processes and technologies in the office and the field. And, in turn, technology providers are thinking out of the box, updating and retooling products to ensure they are providing essential technology.

About Constructech Magazine

Constructech magazine is the technology advocate for the construction industry, helping builders, contractors, and corporate owners make educated decisions on software and systems, both in the office and in the field. With unbiased opinions and informative news on software, hardware, automation, and services, Constructech has been a highly respected and trusted resource in the industry for more than 10 years.

“2010 started off with our best 1^st quarter in history, and the sales volume never really slowed down,” Scattergood said.  “In fact, we closed the year with our best 4^th quarter ever, capped off by Rausch Coleman Homes, the largest builder in Arkansas and Oklahoma”.

“With the outlook for new home construction improving in 2011, builders who spent the last two years refining processes and streamlining staff are taking the time now to put the tools in place to manage increased production volumes without additional staff” said Mark Finelli, President of MARK SYSTEMS.  “Interestingly, we’ve seen increased activity in every sector of the market, from 20 unit semi-custom builders to 1,000 unit-plus regional builders.  It all comes down to the same goal: build more homes, more efficiently, with less people.”

Geographically, builders from all across the country chose MARK SYSTEMS software this year, many in areas not typically known for home building activity. While new customers included builders in traditionally strong areas like Atlanta and Houston, places like Albuquerque NM, Tulsa OK, New Hampshire, and Lubbock TX showed very strong market penetration.  Surprisingly, even builders in hard hit areas like Tampa, Orlando and Arizona selected MARK SYSTEMS software over the last 12 months.

The single-source, single-database nature of MARK SYSTEMS software was a significant factor in this year’s record sales results, according to new MARK SYSTEMS home builder clients.  “We reviewed many software products before selecting MARK SYSTEMS IHMS (Integrated Homebuilder Management System)” said Tom French, President of French Brothers Homes in Albuquerque, NM.  “The problem with most is that they require multiple products to do what MARK SYSTEMS software does with one, and the cost to keep them all talking together properly, both in terms of dollars and man power, was much more than we could justify in this economy.  Any small improvement in functionality with these systems is more than offset by the operational complexity” French said.

Technological advancement in the software has helped drive sales and market share gains, according to Scott Duman, Vice President and CTO of MARK SYSTEMS.  “Our conversion to a Java platform allows our customers to significantly reduce costs and take advantage of cloud-based computing,” Duman said.  “Along with our optimization for Apple products, particularly the iPad, MARK SYSTEMS software gives residential builders and developers more choices than ever before over how they meet their computing needs.”

MARK SYSTEMS expects to continue this momentum into 2011.  “We’ll of course be at the International Builders’ Show in Orlando (booth W4949) from January 12^th through the 15^th, and we’ve got some very aggressive discounts in place to help jump start sales in the new year,” Donald Scattergood said.    “Builders that visit us at IBS can see for themselves why so many home builders are selecting MARK SYSTEMS, and can save thousands of dollars at the same time,” Scattergood said.

After 32 years in the business, Tom French has a pretty clear vision of the future.  “The traditional builders just cannot compete with those that are harnessing technology to create efficiencies,” says the president of French Brothers Homes, a new home builder in Alamagorda, NM.   “The more efficient we become, the lower our costs are.  As costs go down, we can lower sales prices, gaining market share while maintaining our margins.  That’s an unbeatable combination” says French.

Tom speaks from experience.  Along with his brothers Jim and Bill French, Tom has built French Brothers into one of the most successful new builders in New Mexico.  Catering to a significantly military population (Holloman Air Force Base and the White Sands Missile Range are both in the area), French Brothers consistently garners rave reviews, with customer satisfaction levels of 96%, five times the national average.

A History of Innovation

“We are constantly looking for innovative ways to improve, streamline and become more efficient in our processes – ultimately passing the savings onto our customers,” said Corrine Bachman, Vice President at French Brothers Homes.  “One way in particular is by being the first and only homebuilder in our area to become energy star rated on all our homes – thus saving our customers money every month on their utility bills.  We believe in a team of professionals working together for a common goal.  Each one of our team members has a voice to express and contribute ideas – basically, more heads are better than one. If I had to sum up our company in one word it would be “service” – a commitment of service to our customers and to our employees,” Bachman said.

But French Brothers realized that the best team in the world can’t function without the proper tools.  After attending a Sales Seminar by SMA Consulting in Orlando, Tom and Corrine began working with Patrick Miller, a Partner at SMA, to review every aspect of the company’s operations.  Miller said “We started with helping French Brothers value engineer their products, and that led to a kind of ‘value engineering’ for the whole process, from market research to financing, variances, operations; the whole gamut.”  The improvements they made resulted in higher sales velocity, which developed into a production backlog.  “At that point, we all realized that the tools they had been using could not support the sales volume or reporting metrics that they needed,” according to Thom Miller, SMA Senior Consultant.

Software Supports Efficient Processes

Tom French began researching software that could support the efficiencies he was looking for. “When we were looking for an enterprise system there were a number of things that I felt were important.

1. I wanted a single database system.  I was very leery of systems that were a compilation of systems that had links and batches.  My experience was that these systems frequently left you scratching your head.
2. The system had to be an all-inclusive system, from CRM through warranty.
3. It had to be right-sized.  That is it had to be a system that would fit us now and that we could grow with.  Some other good systems out there were simply meant for much larger operations than ours.
4. The HMI (Human-Machine Interface) had to be simple and easy to use.  The ITK (the Internet ToolKit portion of MARK SYSTEMS’ Integrated Homebuilder Management System) is a great use of technology in the homebuilding industry.

Mark Systems fit all of these very well.”

In March, 2010, French Brothers made the commitment to use the Integrated Homebuilder Management System (IHMS) from MARK SYSTEMS.  According to Tom, “The single-database architecture offered us the greatest potential for efficiencies of all the products we reviewed.  The ability to instantly and transparently communicate critical information between every person and every process through IHMS was exactly the environment we were looking for.  We were particularly excited about MARK SYSTEMS’ ability to improve our field operations.”

To get the most out of this new tool, turned to Ron Olson of Robyx Management LLC, a Lean Building Management consultant with extensive experience in MARK SYSTEMS Integrated Homebuilder Management System implementations.  “French Brothers  had a very clear vision of where they  wanted to grow to.  They have a very strong profit orientation and a great corporate culture.  I was able to help them define the processes and structure their information so that it supported their growth plans, and complemented the culture and team members already in place,” Olson said.

iPads Are The Ideal Tool For Field Personnel

As part of the implementation, Tom began experimenting with hardware products for the field personnel.  “We originally anticipated using smart phones for our superintendents, but the form factor meant that we would be missing out on some crucial functions, like accessing plans and drawings.  We figured we’d have to go with laptops instead.”

But on a visit to an electronic retailer, Tom was intrigued by the iPads on display.  “The iPads were a little more expensive than the netbooks we were looking at, but they were so much easier to use it was amazing,” Tom said.  “MARK SYSTEMS was able to set up a test environment for us connecting to their servers in New Jersey, so we went back to the store and used their display models to test the application as we’d be using it.  Once we could see it in operation, the decision was easy.”

iPad Performance Exceeds Expectations

Fast forward to September, and the experience has been even better than they’d hoped.  French Brothers had always expected a quick acceptance of the iPad and MARK SYSTEMS’ Internet ToolKit technology by the younger, more technically savvy superintendents.  What surprised them was how quickly the more experienced builders took to the technology.  “It’s made a huge difference in my work day,” said Joel Armendariz, superintendent for French Brothers .  “When Tom and Bob (Cain, Product Director for MARK SYSTEMS) first explained the ITK (Internet ToolKit) to us, I was pretty sure there was no way I was going to be able to do it.  But these iPads are amazing.  I can see every job start, and right from that screen see every drawing and plan, right on the iPad.  I can see the work orders when they’re released, update my schedule, check my email, all while I’m in the field where I belong.  It’s really made my life easier” Armendariz said.

iPads Impact Sales

One unexpected side benefit has been the impact on home buyer’s perceptions.  “When a home buyer or home owner sees our field guys working with their iPads, they immediately get the impression that we’re a forward thinking, technologically astute builder.  It helps reinforce their decision to buy from us, and helps generate some great word-of-mouth,” Tom French said.

Production Efficiencies Reduce Costs

According to Joel, the efficiencies in MARK SYSTEMS software were felt from the very beginning.  “Now we don’t just have schedules, we have quality checklists for each item, and it still takes me less time to update my schedules than it used to in Excel.  Plus, the quality improvement has been noticeable.  I walk the house with each sub, checking off the quality items as we go.  When we’re done, I approve the work order and he gets paid.  Before, he’d give me his invoice that I had to approve and send to the office.  Sometimes it’d get lost, or not entered right away, and we had a problem.  Not anymore!”

IHMS instantly delivers purchase documents via email and web to trade partners as they’re needed, a significant costs savings.  The job budgets, PO’s and Work Orders are built automatically based on each individual sales agreement and option addendum, ensuring they exactly match both the buyer’s expectations and the trade partner’s contract. That means budgets are accurate, and variances are tracked in detail, reducing construction costs across the board,

Personnel costs are reduced as well.  In one instance, the accounting department was relieved of the burden of manually tracking lien waivers and insurance expirations; the system does it automatically, communicating with each trade partner before problems arise.   “Since all our information resides in one data base, we can leverage something from one area to affect performance in another,” according to Bob Cain of Mark Systems.  “For example, we can let our trade partners know that if they don’t complete their warranty service orders on time, it could hold up their check.  It’s easy for us because the system does it automatically, communicating with the subcontractors the whole time.”

The bottom line is, of course, the bottom line, and Tom French is confident that his investment in efficiency will continue to pay dividends to the company for a long time to come.

Well those days are gone, my friend, probably forever.  This is your father’s home building market, and if we’re going to make it, we’ve got to face facts:

• Fact:  The pool of potential new home buyers is smaller than at any time in the last 5 years.
• Fact:  Despite the shrinking number of new home builders, the competition for new home buyers has never been greater.
• Fact:  Sales quality, as measured by the number of cancellations, is at an all time low in many areas of the country.

• Fact:  Sales cycle times remain near historically high levels in most markets.

So what’s the secret to capturing our share of this difficult, shrinking market?  In a word, engagement.

Like most industries, the current hot trend in prospect management is electronic communication through email and social networking.  Coordinated email and social media campaigns are now as much parts of the new home sales experience as lawn signs, and frankly they have similar return rates.  Take a look at your inbox, or your facebook news feed.  Are you reading every email and every post?  I’m not, you’re not, and neither are your customers.  Even targeted, personalized email campaigns return less than 2% of prospects.

The critical, often missing piece of this process is the experience your prospects get when they DO follow up.  This is particularly crucial for younger prospects, those 25 to 35 year old first time home buyers who have represented a large portion of new home sales this year.  Raised on the internet, these buyers expect an on-line experience that’s not just pictures and words; they expect engagement.  The most successful home builders give these buyers a way to interact that holds their attention and keeps them on the website.

You can easily measure the effectiveness of your website’s engagement by looking at two internet analytics: Bounce Rate  and Average Time on Site.  Bounce Rate is the percentage of single-page visits; that is, when a prospects looks at the first page they see and then moves on.   The lower the bounce rate, the more engaged your customers are, because they are viewing multiple pages during their visit.  This then relates to Average Time On Site, which is just what it says.

Obviously, your goal is to provide an online experience that keeps a buyer on your website long enough for your message to come across; that is, a low Bounce Rate and a high Time On Site.  And frankly, that fancy flash video with the beautiful music that you paid thousands of dollars for doesn’t do it.  Almost invariably, if the landing page for a prospect starts with a page that says “loading”, you’ve already lost them.  This is not to say that the video is without merit; you’ve just got to let the prospect watch it when she wants to watch it, by making it an interactive feature of the site.

While we’re on the subject, you don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to create an engaging video; in fact, just the opposite is true.  Spend some time on YouTube, and you’ll see what I mean.  Younger home buyers tend to react better to the veracity of hand held, “unstaged” videos.  The secret here is short and sweet – 15 to 30 seconds.  Talk to your superintendent, point out construction detail or unique features, talk to current (happy) home owners; basically give visitors a choice of engagement paths.

Of course, one of the best ways of engaging prospects is to let them “build” a house.   Selecting a model and elevation, then customizing it with options, both engages the prospect and gives them a substantial investment into the sale.

The key to successfully allowing prospects and buyers to make selections and build a wish list is accurate, timely, up-to-date information.  Accuracy is key here.  Once a buyer’s expectations are set, you never want to have to tell them “Sorry, that’s not available” or, even worse, “The price went up”.   One of the most effective ways of ensuring accurate selections is to link the selections process on your web site directly to the product information in your back-office software.

Although there are a number of dedicated portal products that allow you to upload product information to customer-facing website, at MARK SYSTEMS we took a very different approach.  By using a single database across every function and process, and by linking our web portal directly into that database, customers can view products, options, pictures, specifications and selection data in real time, using live information.  Selection lists made through MARK SYSTEMS’ IHMS Internet ToolKit are completely accurate, because the software that manages the information also manages the selection process.  Using MARK SYSTEMS integrated home builder software, customers can review options, pricing, availability by stage, images, drawings and plans, creating a personalized selection experience that translates into more sales dollars and higher margins.

“Compatibility with the full suite of Apple products was one of our goals during the development of IHMS³,” said Scott Duman, MARK SYSTEMS’ Vice President and CTO.  “The platform independence of Java means that our customers can choose the hardware and operating environment that works for them.  iPad integration for the IHMS Internet ToolKit gives home builder superintendents, customer service personnel, subcontractors and suppliers full graphical access to all pertinent IHMS information without the need for a laptop or desktop computer.”

Prior to the IPad release, field personnel had to contend with the limited graphical capabilities of mobile phones.  “Our Blackberry and smart phone integration is still available for those builders that require it,” according to Donald Scattergood, MARK SYSTEMS Vice President for Sales and Marketing.  “The great strength of the IPad, though, is it’s ability to deliver a full desktop experience regardless of location.  That means that superintendents in the field now have instant access to every schedule, job start, change order, purchase document, plan and drawing for every home in their communities”, Scattergood said.

The single-source, single-database nature of MARK SYSTEMS software lets home builders leverage the iPad feature set to deliver an incredibly robust experience to stake holders across the enterprise.  Using any of the available connectivity options, the iPad provides dynamic, real-time access to information that was previously only available via laptop or desktop.  For example, superintendents can now review job starts, work orders and plan markups as they walk each house, updating schedules and approving payments all in one step.

“We expect to see this new capability really helping to drive new home sales for our home builder customers,” Scattergood said.  “The coming generation of home buyers expects a superior online experience.  Using an iPad, home buyers can view available option selections dynamically, including full images and specifications, and can select options and configurations anytime, from anywhere.  Just as importantly, builders can be secure in the knowledge that MARK SYSTEMS residential construction software completely controls the selection process by model, elevation and stage of construction.”

About MARK SYSTEMS

MARK SYSTEMS’ Integrated Homebuilder Management System is the industry’s only single database enterprise software package developed exclusively for residential builders and developers.  With full support for back office and field operations, the software provides state-of-the art information processing tools for the homebuilder, including access via the Internet.  For more information, contact John Rogovich at 800-972-7444, email us at info@marksystemsusa.com, or visit us online at http://www.marksystemsUSA.com

“For the editorial team here at Constructech magazine, the Constructech 50 serves as guide for anyone looking for innovative, proven technology within the construction marketplace,” says Mike Carrozzo, chief editor, Constructech. “The members of the list for 2010 definitely embody those criteria, and will be essential solutions for companies looking to improve their business practices.”

“It’s very rewarding to have our products and performance recognized outside of our custom base,” said Mark Finelli, MARK SYSTEMS President.  “As one of the few independent ERP software providers for American home builders, this award confirms what our customers have always known – that MARK SYSTEMS’ ability to understand the market and deliver innovative technology tools is unmatched in the industry.”

Announced on July 7^th, 2010, the Constructech 50 is published in Constructech’s IT Playbook, a one-of-a-kind reference guide to the technology landscape in residential construction.  “We believe these 50 companies are bringing consistent and important solutions to those in the construction industry.  And for their accomplishments, they should be commended” says Peggy Smedley, editorial director, Constructech magazine.

Some of the criteria used in determining the list include having a strong product/service aimed at the construction industry, ongoing customer satisfaction and growth, as well as outreach and educational efforts for the construction industry, among other considerations.

About MARK SYSTEMS

MARK SYSTEMS’ Integrated Homebuilder Management System is the industry’s only single database enterprise software package developed exclusively for residential builders and developers.  With full support for back office and field operations, the software provides state-of-the art information processing tools for the homebuilder, including access via the Internet.  For more information, contact John Rogovich at 800-972-7444, email us at info@marksystemsusa.com, or visit us online at http://www.marksystemsUSA.com.

About Constructech Magazine

From the perspective of the construction professional, Constructech magazine uncovers the necessary tools to increase productivity and profitability and reveals the value of information technology tools and building control automation.

“We’re seeing indications that the residential construction industry is preparing to turn the corner”, said Mark Finelli, President of MARK SYSTEMS. “Savvy, professional builders are evaluating their current processes and taking steps now to make sure they’re positioned for maximum productivity as the market recovers” Finelli said. “These new clients represent a broad spectrum of the industry, from startups projecting 30 annual units to established regional builders with volumes above 400 units per year”

“Our 1st quarter sales clearly reflect an increase in expectations on the part of top tier builders across the country”, according to Donald Scattergood, MARK SYSTEMS Vice President for Sales and Marketing. “We signed new customers throughout the country, including many areas not traditionally considered active homebuilding markets. In the past three months we’ve partnered with multiple builders in Seattle WA, Albuquerque NM, Montana and Aspen CO along with Atlanta GA, Phoenix AZ and Huntsville, AL. We’re extremely pleased that the power of MARK SYSTEMS single-database ERP software has proven so successful with some of the top builders in the country”.

The single-source, single-database nature of MARK SYSTEMS software was a significant factor in the first quarter results, according to new MARK SYSTEMS home builder clients. During the last 90 days alone, MARK SYSTEMS replaced software provided by Builder 1440, Builder360, BuilderMT, BuildSoft, Master Builder, Punch List Manager, Quickbooks, Sales Closer and Timberline. “In our previous company, we used seven different products at a cost of over $8,000 per month, and continuously struggled with integration. MARK SYSTEMS’ Integrated Homebuilder Management System provides much more functionality and seamless, transparent integration at a fraction of the cost” said Mark Hammond, IT Director of KM Homes in Atlanta, GA.

One by-product of the economic impact over the last two years is an increased analysis by home builders during the software selection process. “During our record breaking 1st quarter, MARK SYSEMS IHMS was came out on top in comparisons with products from Kova, Constellation, Timberline, BuilderMT and BuildTopia . In each instance, MARK SYSTEMS’ combination of functionality, integration and value made the Integrated Homebuilder Management System the clear choice” said John Rogovich, Senior Account Manager. “Our conversion to a pure Java platform with enhanced reporting, implementation and access capabilities let’s builders of every size take advantage of the industry’s most powerful home builder software”, Rogovich said.

About MARK SYSTEMS
MARK SYSTEMS’ Integrated Homebuilder Management System is the industry’s only single database enterprise software package developed exclusively for residential builders and developers. With full support for back office and field operations, the software provides state-of-the art information processing tools for the homebuilder, including access via the Internet. For more information, contact John Rogovich at 800-972-7444, email us at info@marksystemsusa.com, or visit us online at http://www.marksystemsUSA.com.

1~ Make sure your traffic questions get answered

Take time to think about what you want to ask your potential home buyers.  This allows you to better help your prospects purchase a home from you.  Your sales staff is Sherlock Holmes and traffic answers are the clues you need to solve a potential buyer’s home shopping mystery.   This means you’ll need to enforce your sales people to ask the questions and make sure the prospects answer them too.  Easier said than done?  Not really.  Having prospects register on your website is a great place to fill out the traffic card because it’s a fast and easy way that also specifies the mandatory fields.  But make sure this information doesn’t just get emailed somewhere and forgotten about, never to be used again.  Make sure this information gets stored in your database where you can run a report to see a list of your highly qualified, potential buyers and act on them.  This is where IHMS comes in to play. 

IHMS has a feature that lets any prospect cruising your website enter their name and contact information.

It also allows them to answer your traffic questions from your Web site.  Best of all, it deposits the prospect’s information right in to the IHMS piggy bank to be cashed in on later.  Each prospective buyer’s name appears right on a contact report and is instantly available in the IHMS sales database and emailed to the community representative.   On the spot database collection of leads ensures that an email doesn’t get spam blocked, junk mailed, or discarded accidentally.  It also eliminates reentry while transferring from one data base to IHMS.  There couldn’t be a better way to funnel your leads in to your sales people’s waiting hands than making sure they go directly from your website to the IHMS database with no additional work.  Click here to download the ITK Prospect Registration Setup guide.  

2~ Continued follow up with EVERY lead

On my 30 minute drive to work I listen to 20 radio commercials, see 10 billboards, and see 20 cars and trucks with their companies’ name and phone number plastered all over them.   During lunch I see 20 adds in the newspaper and notice 50 advertisements on the way to checking my personal email.  I get home from work and get 10 pieces of junk mail.  After dinner I order tickets to a baseball game on the internet and am bombarded with at least 50 ads.  I watch my favorite TV shows before bed and channel surf during the barrage of commercials I’ve seen countless times.  The point is that every person must see over 1000 advertisements a day.  Easily.  99% of those ads don’t stick and that’s why advertising alone isn’t enough to get the job done. 

You have to attack any form of interest you get.  I registered with a national homebuilder (I won’t say which one) and expressed interest in one of their many communities by registering on their website.  I received one email from the community sales representative and after they found out this community wasn’t perfect for me, I haven’t heard back from this sales team at all.  Okay, maybe I’m not the perfect lead, but beggars can’t be choosers. They should be hounding me at least once a week via email with news about the attractiveness of their communities.  I am buying a house this year, and it’s going to be from the homebuilder that doesn’t give up on me. 

IHMS has the ability to define a set of follow up activities for every prospect (i.e. phone calls, emails, and brochures).  IHMS Follow Up Groups are dependent on traffic responses, and can be tailored to specific demographics.  The key thing is they determine the attention that each prospect will get from your sales people.  These scheduled phone calls and emails are displayed on an open contact report for each sales person so they can target their contacts towards interested onlookers.   This ensures that no prospect gets overlooked and continued contact with prospective buyers is demanded from your sales staff.

3~ Email Correspondence

This is very, very important.  Everyone needs to get emailed.   This includes your “A” prospects and your bottom of the barrel “C” prospects.  Your prospects that purchased from another builder and those that purchased one of your beautiful homes last year all need to be kept in the loop with newsletters, announcements, and especially advertising!  Don’t think you can’t advertise to someone who bought one of your homes and even someone who bought a home from one of your competitors, because every person has a friend or co-worker who’s looking for a home! 

Take the following example. I joined a gym nearby work, and I get an email once a week that explains the sales promotions currently taking place.  I asked the owner during conversation, why she sends me promotional emails when I’m already a member.  She said, “Because you’re one of my best salesmen.”  I came to realize that I usually forward those emails to my co-workers and talk about the deals my gym has going on during lunch.  Not even thinking about it, I was the catalyst that got three of my co-workers to join her gym.  

I want to stress that everyone you enter in your IHMS prospect database should get some type of regular, tactful email correspondence from your sales team.  I understand you are reluctant to do so in order to not be discourteous or an annoyance to your buyers.  But email marketing is something that is now expected from any professional company.  If your company is not leveraging email marketing you’ll actually look less professional. 

You should also try and target your specific marketing emails to the appropriate demographics.  For instance, send a lovely email about the great school district to current homeowners, and a different email to first time buyers explaining how they can take advantage of the First Time Home Buyer $8,000 Tax Credit.  Can this be easily accomplished?  Yes.  The IHMS Traffic Statistic Detail Report allows you to export the prospects from your database out to Excel with the name, address, and email address of your targeted demographic.  Best of all, it allows you to isolate prospects that answered ‘yes’ to the question of whether or not they had kids, or target prospects that answered ‘no’ to the traffic question of whether they currently own a home.  This allows you to send the “tax credit promo email” to first time home buyers, and the “what a fantastic school district letter” to the buyers with children.  Click Here to see a demo of how you can use the IHMS Traffic Statistic Report to key in on a specific buyer demographic and do an email blast.

 4~ Start a Facebook Group! 

Yes, it started as a college thing.  And yes, the average age might not be anywhere close to what’s necessary for your active adult communities, but this is a FREE marketing presence.  Moreover, the number of adults that are subscribing to this social networking forum is increasing profoundly. 

On the Centex Homes group it says:

This group is all about inter-company networking, right?  Wrong!  It’s another way to build a presence on the web and easily branch out to a lot of people very quickly.  The same thing goes for Twitter and LinkedIn – this is something that you can take advantage of easily.  Start a competition in your sales department to see who can get the most friends to join the group.  Plus, this is a great area to announce you’ve won an award, opened a new community, and link to your website!  What does this have to do with IHMS?  Not much.  But, all of us here at Mark Systems will gladly be your first friend on your Facebook group! 

5~ $8,000 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit!

This tax rebate is quickly coming to an end, but it is still strong motivation for buyers to move in to your standing inventory up until November 30.  It should be plastered all over your website, sales offices, and marketing materials. The national builders, like Centex and Lennar, are doing a great job at putting big motivational banners on their website advertising the tax credit, and so should you!  $8,000 is available to every first time home buyer that will never have to be paid back!   This is a big deal considering 35-40% of the current market share consists of first time homebuyers and other buyers who haven’t owned a home in the last 3 years.  Right now this is one of the single biggest motivating factors to push my wife and me to purchase our first home.  It also will be a big help because we can use that money to pay a year’s worth of property taxes (around $8,000 in my area of NJ), or we could easily use this free cash to furnish our new home.  

 Get on the NAHB’s website and get the information you need.

 Here’s the bottom line:

• The tax credit is worth 10% of the home purchase price, and caps out at $8,000, which means almost any home purchase will qualify for full tax credit. 
• If you are buying a house alone, your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) can be up to $75,000 a year and if you’re married you’re AGI can be up to $150,000 to qualify for the full tax credit. 
• The tax credit can be claimed when filing your 2008 tax return if you haven’t filed yet, or when filing your 2009 tax return.
• The tax credit is only available from January 1, 2009 to November 30, 2009 for buyers that “settle” in their home within this date range.  If you buy a home on November 10^th but don’t settle on the home until 2010 you don’t qualify for the $8,000.
• A “first-time home buyer” is someone who has not owned a principal residence during the three-year period prior to the purchase of their home.

Use the NAHB website as a resource.  Click here to get a printable color brochure provided by the NAHB that can be handed out at your sales offices and linked to on your website.

The Integrated Homebuilder Management System can help you accomplish all of these tasks (aside from starting a Facebook group) and is an essential tool to manage and follow up with leads.  Mark Systems conducts creative web classes on sales and marketing every month.  For more information, visit: http://www.marksystemsusa.com/home_builder_webclasses.php

-Richard Finelli is an IHMS Technical Consultant and Project Manager at MARK SYSTEMS