Find Them, Train Them, Pay Them
In the little towns where we grew up, homeowners, like our parents, knew the people to hire if their home needed repairs or modifications. There was Mr. Allen for sidewalks and other flat work. Mr. Teufel was the man to call if you were replacing wallpaper, especially if the work was needed in your foyer or living room. The Wilson brothers were best for roofs, and if a ball had been thrown through a window, they would hire Mr. White, if they could get him. Often the deciding factor on whether to retain any of these gentlemen was not dependent on price, but on how soon they could come and do the work. They were all in demand because they were known to be craftsmen whose work was usually worth the wait.
Another such craftsman we were lucky to know personally was the carpenter, Mr. Nonemaker, or as we knew him, our great uncle Bill. He was a master cabinet maker who could remodel kitchens and fix anything, but more impressively to us at the time, could convert any dark or creepy basement that did not have a dirt floor into a rec room where countless hours of pool or ping pong would be played. For livelier and more well-heeled customers, he would add a bar, and perhaps a powder room. He was careful and methodical in his work and liked to fish a lot (and drink a bit), so sometimes his projects would take a while to complete. But he was worth waiting for. He loved when customers would tell him that friends and neighbors who were invited for the first time to the rec room or remodeled kitchen would run their hands along cabinets, drawers and seams before asking, “This is Mr. Nonemaker’s work, isn’t it?”
Times have changed, of course, with the big box hardware stores dotting the landscape and DIY “experts” populating You Tube with How-To videos. And that’s a shame because, while people might be getting their home repairs done more quickly and on their own time and money terms, they do not get to appreciate the product that was delivered by the Mr. Whites, the Wilson brothers, or the Uncle Bills we remember from just a few decades ago. Richard Sennett, the renowned American sociologist who studies work in modern culture, distinguishes mere work from craftsmanship and describes craftsmanship as “the desire to do a job well for its own sake.” White, the Wilsons, and Uncle Bill were not mere workers. They were craftsmen who took pride in their work, as if it were an art form.
With building supply prices near all-time highs and with pressure from buyers pushing housing prices downward, builders face pressure to keep their costs down. But just as it was decades ago, people will pay for quality and for a home they can take pride in, and nothing makes a homeowner prouder of his home than when people notice the craftsmanship that went into building it. A good way to distinguish your company from your competitors is to insist that your employees and subcontractors who are in the trades not just build to code but build with a level of craftsmanship that gets noticed and is appreciated by your customers and prospective customers.
You may think this suggestion is crazy given the reported shortage of skilled home building labor. This shortage is well documented in a study released by the Home Builders Institute earlier this year. According to the HBI, the aggregate economic impact from longer construction times associated with the skilled labor shortage costs the industry an estimated $10.6 Billion each year. The shortage also results in a reduction of nearly 20,000 homes built per year and an average increase in construction time of about two months per home built. In light of these findings, the NAHB and the HBI are supporting hands-on training programs and industry-recognized certifications to help produce a new generation of skilled laborers.
Recognition of this problem and an industry-wide effort to address it could not come soon enough. Here at HOME, for the first time in forty years, we have noticed an uptick in workmanship claims dating back to the Covid pandemic. Some builders in some parts of the country seem to have trouble finding subcontractors and skilled laborers who have and demonstrate the pride of a craftsman in their work. We believe each of our members, following the lead of the NAHB, can either rid themselves of this problem or make sure they don’t experience the problem in the first place in the following ways.
First, find young people (male and female) who are looking for a rewarding career that gives them the opportunity to do something they can be proud of. Start with vocational schools or check your local high schools for career pathway programs that team with employers to give students shadowing and interning opportunities. Throughout the process of exposing students to your operations, plant the seed early that your company is a place for craftsmen, that working there will be different from working other places, and that you want your whole team to take pride in what they do. If the articles we read about the expected growth of Artificial Intelligence can be believed, there will be many fewer entry-level white-collar jobs available to young people over the next decade. Get your recruitment plan ready now and grow that next generation of craftsmen from what may be an expanded pool of candidates.
Second, train your new employees and subs not just to build to municipal code standards, but to build to your company’s standards. Set that bar high enough that people, after seeing the high level of craftmanship in any of your homes, will turn to the owner and ask, “This is (Your Company’s) work, isn’t it.”
Third, if all goes according to plan, your skilled workers will improve your company’s reputation, increase sales, and even allow you to charge more for your homes. Share your good fortune with them. Pay them what they deserve, like craftsmen, who “do a job well for its own sake,” and thus keep them building for you and not for your competitor.
We believe that if you follow this plan, you will become even prouder of the homes you build, and you’ll sell more of them. And when you do, make sure that each and every one of your homes are covered by a HOME of Texas new home warranty.
HOME of Texas has been directed by the same owner since 1992, and we and our affiliates have administered home warranties on over four million homes! We offer a wide variety of warranty options, from the standard ten-year warranty to our specialty warranties for remodeling projects, detached garages, and commercial construction. HOME’s warranty mirrors Texas’ ten-year statute of repose and transfers the major structural defect obligations from our builders to HOME’s insurer in the final eight years of the warranty. HOME’s warranty provides clear performance standards that help create realistic expectations in your homeowners and a road map to resolve even the stickiest customer complaints.
At HOME of Texas, every guarantee our warranties make is backed by Western Pacific Mutual Insurance Company, RRG. Western Pacific has an A- rating from A. M. Best and only insures home warranty and similar new home construction risks, like builders’ general liability, which can be offered through the RWC Insurance Advantage program to HOME of Texas members. No other warranty company has an insurer with this kind of strength solely dedicated to covering builders and their homes.
Like the skilled craftsmen you know, we at Home of Texas take pride in our work and try to do every job well, just for the sake of doing it well. Help us put that attitude to work for you by placing a HOME of Texas warranty on every home you build.
Have a great fall & winter!
