How do you create a homebuilding company from scratch, and grow it to 30 employees and 230 closings in 3 years? For Wayne Laska at Storybook Homes Inc. of Las Vegas, Nevada, the answer was by defining and documenting processes, applying them throughout the company, and centralizing all critical data in a database where all information is updated and reported in “real time.” A veteran of the residential construction industry, Laska spent 14 years managing sales and marketing for Lewis Homes in Las Vegas. At the time one of the largest family-owned homebuilders in the country, Lewis retained a family business culture: decisions were made quickly, and the ability to be nimble and flexible in the market gave the company a distinct competitive advantage. Most importantly, the company had a strong feeling of ‘family’ – everyone always realized they were playing on one team for a common goal. In 1999, Lewis Homes was purchased by Kaufman and Broad (today’s KB Homes), and Laska became Vice President of Sales for KB’s largest single market entity, selling over 3,000 units per year. While lacking the family spirit and flexibility that the private company maintained, Laska was able to develop and expand upon process management ideas and tools that helped the housing giant leverage it’s capital, size and buying power. His experience with both companies helped him design a framework for success when, in 2002, Laska started Storybook Homes, Inc. “Although I had a great deal of experience in sales, marketing, land acquisition and development, I lacked some of the technical experience. I knew that I would need a set of clearly defined processes to stay on top of what’s happening,” Laska said. He was able to define some basic concepts that helped structure the ways that Storybook Homes would function: • Define specific procedures for each step along the way • WRITE THEM DOWN • Follow the procedures the same way, every time • Manage changes – every process change costs money • Cut out red tape • Share information constantly and consistently • Ensure that everyone knows not just their own job, but how their job affects everyone else

As procedures were developed, Laska used technology to leverage them across his company. “For example, homebuilding is very ‘form’ intensive” Laska said. “How do you keep track of them? How do you know that you’re always using the most recent form?” To address these concerns, Laska hired Karen Sturgeon to function as the Procedures Coordinator for Storybook. Sturgeon and Laska created a sophisticated form numbering system and stored the forms on a central computer. Each form or report had it’s own ‘folder’ on the computer, and the origin, revision history and backup were all stored in that folder along with the most current version. Since all forms were electronic, printed at the time they were to be used, there was little chance of using an old or outdated copy. Still, problems existed. Even with all forms and reports stored and maintained in a central location, inconsistencies developed. “Because we were using Excel and Word to maintain our reports, we were entering the same information multiple times. When a closing date changed, for example, we needed to make that change across a number of spreadsheets. It just wasn’t efficient,” Sturgeon said. “We needed to be able to centralize not just the forms, but the knowledge that built the forms.”

To accomplish their goals Karen and Wayne sought out one solution that would have five characteristics. The solution they sought must: 1. Maintain all data for all forms and reports from departments in a single database. 2. Enable all forms and reports to be available both in paper and online formats. 3. Provide all information, forms, and reports with data updated in “real time.” 4. Not only provide a comprehensive library of “standard” reports, but enable external reports in Crystal Reports and Excel to be developed at any time that can be updated with information from the real-time data base. 5. Enable back-office, sales, design center, purchasing, scheduling, construction superintendents, vendors, homebuyers, and customer service to work together using the same current data at all times. They found their solution in the Integrated Homebuilder Management Systems (IHMS) from Mark Systems. IHMS is a single database, enterprise wide software package. Sturgeon then used a reporting tool called Crystal Reports to link all their custom forms and reports to the new software. “Because all of our information now resides within a single system on a single database, our reports and forms are always up to date without any manual intervention,” Sturgeon said. While housed on a computer server located at Storybook Homes, Mark Systems’ software is accessible both locally and over the Internet, allowing all pertinent information to be shared with superintendents, subcontractors, lenders and home buyers.

According to Sturgeon, a number of benefits were immediately apparent: • Since everyone uses the system for their day-to-day jobs, the information they generate is instantly shared with all parties • Information is never out of date. Reports and forms are up to the minute • Manually creating reports is eliminated, both improving accuracy and freeing up time • Everyone has access to the information they need, when they need it: o Superintendents update schedules, approve work orders and purchase orders online o Schedules, payables and reports are updated instantly o Lenders view escrow reports and images of signed contracts o Subcontractors can access schedules, work orders, purchase orders, VPO’s and job starts whenever it’s convenient o Sequence sheets are available to both supers and subs o Subs can print out house drawings, check on the processing of invoices, review payments, virtually eliminating phone calls. Mark Systems’ IHMS addresses every aspect of the building process. Sales personnel, design consultants, superintendents, accountants – everyone that is involved with building a house has instantaneous access to all the information they need, wherever they are. And since the release of the Document Management features, even outside documents can be included in the data base. Well developed processes and supporting tools are a circular system, according to Laska. “If you don’t have good processes defined organizationally, technology can’t really help. Once you have those processes in place, however, a good technology tool can help enforce the processes, and keep overhead down by leveraging the work that everyone is doing,” he said. He uses the same concept of leverage in his products. His experience in the Las Vegas market helped him decide to focus on the first time homebuyer, affordable market segment. “Anyone can sell houses. It’s making money at it that counts,” Laska says. “The affordable market lets us leverage our efforts. By staying with the same basic plan set, our subcontractors can help us understand and control costs while still being profitable themselves.” Including subcontractors as integral components in the development of processes, procedures and product is an important point for Laska. “A homebuilder that does not assist in making trade partners money will go out of business,” he said. By including trade partners in developing procedures; by giving them easy access to the information they need to do their jobs effectively; and by maintaining a consistency in the products he builds, Laska has been able to develop a very loyal subcontractor base.

Today, the combination of expert business practices and use of IHMS has positioned Storybook Homes to continue to grow in a less than favorable market. Laska said “When we started this company, I thought like a big builder, with support staff and administration and managers. Our challenge was to tweak the processes to be successful as a small builder. We now have, I think, the best of both worlds – a well developed process structure like the big builders, and a small volume culture that keeps us nimble and working as a team. The systems we put in place have become the backbone of our success.” Information about Integrated Homebuilder Management Systems (IHMS) from Mark Systems can be found at www.marksystemsUSA.com, or call or email MARK SYSTEMS’ team members Don Scattergood, Vice President, (dons@marksystemsUSA.com, x108), John Rogovich, Senior Account Manager, (johnr@marksystemsUSA.com x107), or Leon Roomberg, Director of Implementation Services (leonr@marksystemsUSA.com x108). MARK SYSTEMS telephone number is 1.800.927.7444.