Page 56 - Green Builder Magazine Sept-Oct 2021

The Secret

to Client

BY SAM RASHKIN
Loyalty? This is Sam Rashkin’s second in a series of articles based on his
second book, “Housing 2.0: A Disruption Survival Guide.” It is
intended as a roadmap for high-performance builders to become
the most successful in the industry.

T WAS 2008 AND THE INDUSTRY I LOVE, HOUSING,
Overdeliver. was confronted with another downturn. Yes, downturns
are inevitable, but this one was devastating. In fact, the
bottom had virtually fallen out, with an 85 percent reduc-
tion in housing starts in many of the nation’s largest
markets (e.g., Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada and
A product’s success depends Georgia). They call the 2007 to 2009 period “The Great
Recession” for good reason.
on meeting or exceeding I was national director for ENERGY STAR Certified
I Home during this period, and we were in the midst of
customer expectations through moving the housing industry from Version 1 to Version 2 specifi-
five critical user experiences. cations. This was the first significant program change in a decade.
The key new mandatory building science requirement was the
Thermal Bypass Checklist, which identifies comprehensive air
barriers throughout the home. I had just finished a series of
West Coast 1-day training courses on the new specifications and

54 GREEN BUILDER September/October 2021 www.greenbuildermedia.com