Two questions that prevent homebuilder growth mistakes

[Editor’s note: HousingWire The Builder’s Daily contributing author Scott Cox has just published Less Wrong, More Right: Judgment, Risk, and the Questions That Actually Matter in Homebuilding and Land Development, a new book exploring how the decisions that shape homebuilding businesses, land investments, and careers often hinge less on having the right answers than on asking the right questions. In the first of seven excerpts we’re pleased to share with TBD readers, Cox draws on a hard-earned personal lesson to illustrate a central argument of the book: Experience, expertise and abundant information are no substitute for identifying the question that matters most – before the consequences of missing it become clear.] I fired myself once. I had been the banker for a builder who was once among the larger operators in their market and had come out the other side of a rough stretch considerably smaller. The owner wanted to grow the company back to what it had been, and asked whether I would be interested in joining him. Of course I would. I went looking for deals. I found some. He said no. I found more. He said no to those. I asked what he was looking for and got an answer that amount...