From In-Home Features, to Back-End Software, Custom Builder Dave Brewer Knows the Key to Technology Success Is Keeping it Simple and Manageable.

Back in the mid 1980s, Dave Brewer, president and founder of Orlando, Fla.-based custom building company Dave Brewer Inc., had what he thought was a novel idea. One of the first builders to own a personal computer, he wondered what would happen if he used his PC to estimate the cost of the foundations of the homes he built.

"I was pretty comfortable using the PC for that and the results were good," Brewer says. "Once I did that, I decided it wouldn't be too hard to do the same thing for how much a slab would cost, or how much the walls would cost on each home. It was just a matter of creating the right formulas."

Credit goes to Brewer for recognizing early on that his business, like all homebuilders' businesses could be improved through the use of technology to help manage back-end functions. But he also deserves credit for understanding how his specific business operates and how much—or little—technology investment was needed to produce better results.

Many homebuilders can be charmed by the quest for the latest and greatest when it comes to the hardware and software used to run the back-end. But Dave Brewer knows that back-end software is only as good as the knowledge he and his staff have accumulated over the years. In his company he only needs folks with typical business computing skills to leverage the years of estimating knowledge he and his staff has accumulated. So he opts instead for simplicity: Microsoft Excel for job estimating and Microsoft Project to keep construction running on time.

"We created an Excel-based estimating program that is consistent with the way we build," that is, tailored to each project, says Brewer. "The neat thing is that we put it all together internally and we totally understand it and trust it. This is not something that has come out of a box and we have no idea what it is."

Today, Brewer's Excel master list includes pricing estimates for several hundred home features and options and will estimate the finished cost of one of his homes to within a variation of no more than one-half of one percent.

"If it takes us three weeks before we can get a client a price, we are going to lose them," Brewer says. "With our estimating program we can sit down with them for two hours. And we believe in it enough to go to contract-based on it. So we have gone to contract on homes while others are still sending them out for bids."

In a nutshell, using the in-house developed Excel estimating spreadsheet allows Brewer to get bids out and lock up new business quicker than those who need to wait weeks to complete their bidding process.

Lean Operation

With only nine employees, 25 homes completed last year and total sales of roughly $20 million, Dave Brewer runs a lean operation. "There are builders doing less volume than we are that have several times the amount of staff," says Gary Rauch, vice president. "It comes from Dave himself who is very organized and has put the systems in place to help us manage the volume."

So like the custom homes the company builds, the estimating, scheduling and buying systems at Dave Brewer are all custom-designed to serve the specific needs of his business. Combine this with employees who average more than 10 years of industry experience and the company has a powerful combination that leverages this expertise through the judicious use of technology. So something as basic as creating a company-wide computer network has greatly improved productivity.

"By having all the customer information available at any time in the office anyone can check the status of a job, the last contact we had with a customer and so on," says Brewer. "This allows us to keep up with a considerable amount of volume without considerable overhead for that amount of volume."

This approach, which doesn't rely on complete automation and integration of systems such as scheduling and buying, requires a commitment from everyone on the staff to constantly update client and construction information.

"We're all responsible for updating the information on the shared drive," says Jennifer Burnside, construction coordinator and 13-year Dave Brewer employee, "but the communication in the office is so consistent and strong right now, it doesn't warrant [getting] a program that ties it all together like that. The shared information is all we need."

In fact, two of the company's employees—both its field superintendents—don't use the system at all. "We needed to make a decision about what we wanted, field supervision that was highly computer literate but not experienced or experienced supervisors who weren't comfortable with computers but had lots of experience," says Brewer. "We chose to go with the experience."

That doesn't mean the field supervisors work in a vacuum. The feedback Burnside gets from the field by radio and at weekly meetings helps her set the construction timeline in Microsoft Project for each house. If one of the superintendents informs her of a delay in a particular phase, she can update the schedule, generate a new timeline and automatically faxes subs whose work schedule is affected.

"We have found them to be very efficient and accurate when they want to have us on the jobsite," says Bob Faust, co-owner of Orlando, Fla.-based Electronic Creations, a custom home theater and electronic integration company who works on many Brewer homes. "A lot of companies will have you show up too early or will call one day and expect you there the next. Having an accurate schedule from them helps us to run our business better."

While Brewer prefers to sell homes from it's collection of between 30 and 40 plans, he estimates that more than 30 percent of the people he works with prefer a plan that is drawn up especially for them. The company is still able to use its in-house Excel master to run an accurate estimate for these clients as well, using a digitizer—simply a stylus that helps them trace portions of the plan.

"By using this we can estimate the cost of the foundation or slab simply by tracing them on the completed plans," says Brewer. "Using the digitizer for only five minutes, one can figure out the square footage, the linear feet around the foundation and so on." Further, using site survey information and house elevations Brewer knows exactly how much fill will be needed for each home site allowing them to have exactly the right amount delivered, which saves time and money.

Technology for the Homeowner

Dave Brewer isn't the new guy on the block when it comes to putting technology into his homes for his clients either. In the early 1990s his company offered distributed audio as an option. "It wasn't long after that we began to offer structured wiring and distributed home audio as standard with all of our homes," Brewer says.

Today, the pre-wire as a standard feature includes, the master bedroom, living room and six other rooms pre-wired for sound, one room wired for surround sound and network drops in virtually every room in the house. After meeting with their clients, Brewer will also include a building allowance for other electronic goodies, "but typically [the client] will spend well over that figure," he notes.

The builder also relies on two primary vendors for its network and home entertainment installations: TLC Electronics (which is also the electrical subcontractor) and Electronic Creations. "We will use both companies but if the customer is looking for a media center or a really good home theater, then we suggest they use Electronic Creations," says Rauch. With a typical Dave Brewer home logging in at more than 5,000 square feet and an average selling price in the $1 million range, trimming out surround sound and installing high quality video is requested by virtually all the clients.

And unlike some builders, Brewer lets customers work directly and purchase these add-ons directly from the integrator. "I don't try to profit one bit from that sale," Brewer notes. Instead he prefers to know that he is turning over his clients to a trusted partner such as TLC or Electronic Creations. "I think it is an enlightened way to go about it," says Electronic Creation's Faust. "That's not because it would cost me or not cost me any money, but because they don't need to have their hand out to pump up the price to make their money."

Sales of upgrades are handled through Electronic Creations' showroom. "It just makes sense for us to do that since they are the experts and it is one less thing we have to worry about," says Brewer.

The wide desire of his clients to upgrade sound and media packages in the homes he builds make sense to Brewer, since he has seen a shift over the years in how people view their homes.

"A number of years ago people were looking more for a status home," Brewer says. "Today they are looking for a home they can be a family in and entertain in. It's a lot friendlier home and any technology that clients are interested in tends to follow that format."

Chris Anderson is a freelance writer based in Scarborough, Maine.