Sideways demand exposes which homebuilding teams can improve

Focus on the things you can control.At a time when $20 million, $50 million, $100 million, $500 million, up to $33 billion homebuilding firms need to discern and act decisively to ride out a 2027 [and possibly 2028] market rife with challenges, with no outside help, the nicest, common turn of phrase is to focus on what you can control.Entirely too abstract, however, especially in a market headed sideways or down.What’s not abstract is job sites with a dumpster here and a dumpster there, full of construction materials not used on the job. What’s not abstract are scheduling mix-ups or a construction document error that adds five days to the start-to-completion cycle. What’s not abstract is a chief accounting officer giving notice of departure two weeks into a fourth quarter that’s a knife’s edge, with homes near completion but not yet sold and a pile of invoices still to be paid. What’s not abstract is the patience it takes to say no to a land deal whose price has dropped, knowing you’ll need it in 18 to 24 months, even though it may sell for an even lower price six to nine months from now.Controlling what you can in the blue-collar-white-collar business of running a homebuilding com...