Page 27 - Green Builder May-June 2020 Issue

“The Buyer is Still Out There”

Dennis Webb, Vice President
of Operations
Fulton Homes, Tempe, AZ
GB: Is the coronavirus changing your
business? CREDIT: COURTESY OF FULTON HOMES
DW: Of course. Traffic and sales have dropped in
half since the third week of March. But the buyer
is still out there. Builders tend to take their eye
off the ball and shut down mentally, but that’s go into the virtual showroom any time before GB: What, if anything, are you doing
a mistake. the appointment, and spend a lot of time to differently on your jobsites?
GB: So are you changing your offerings/ look at everything. We had one customer on DW: Like everyone, we’re practicing social
services to manage existing customers? there for 36 hours before the actual selection. distancing, limiting the number of trades in a
DW: We have about 550 homes under Another spent 15 hours. home.
construction, and about 100 people we need GB: How will you make up the dip in sales? GB: Some builders report material
to get through our design center—but they’re DW: We’ve got great salespeople who sell on shortages. Have you encountered those?
not wild about coming in, so we’re doing online 100 percent commission, so their livelihood DW: No.
appointments. This is all new for us, but it’s depends on selling houses. They’re extremely GB: Do you think that the coronavirus will
getting great traction. They can select all finishes motivated and good at what they do. create any lasting change in the industry?
and interior options from another state or another GB: So you’re still having a lot of DW: It will force builders to be able to offer
city. It’s something we will use in the future. conversations? services that don’t require people to physically
GB: So can final product selections be made DW: Yes, but you have to reach [clients] be in certain places.
virtually? differently, so we’re connecting with them via
DW: Yes. And another benefit is that buyers can our website, email, phone calls, Zoom meetings.

According to a Green Builder Media survey,

the most impacted sectors will be:

Design
Solar/energy storage

Building performance/energy efficiency
Security

Home fitness
Connected living/smart home

Home healthcare/tele-medicine
Resiliency & Self-Sufficiency

Health & Wellness/IAQ

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

www.greenbuildermedia.com May/June 2020 GREEN BUILDER 21

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