How AI can power a leaner, meaner homebuilding land team

AI’s move beyond talk, hype and possibility, to where it’s powering business operations and results was a constant theme at HousingWire’s AI Summit, held on Tuesday, in Dallas. For homebuilders, the conversation is no longer about whether teams should adopt AI, but where it can make the biggest impact and how to best implement it.For Century Communities, ranked 13th in the HousingWire Homebuilder Rankings, putting AI to work is no longer an option. Rather, it’s a necessity, fused into the complex, paper-work and tedious-research-filled workflows that surface potential land acquisition targets for the company’s Century Complete entry-level communities. During a Tuesday morning session at the HousingWire AI Summit, Chris Coakley, the builder’s corporate director of land, affordable product division, argued that leveraging AI in land acquisition has become a crucial capability for his company. This is because Century Communities operates through a hub-and-spoke model with lean, lightly staffed local land acquisition teams working across its 45 markets in 16 states. This model, Coakley said, allows the builder to operate a leaner organization, but it also puts a greater workload on a r...