Customer involvement key to builder's success

Brian Hill/bhill@dailyherald.com

Brian Murphy is vice president of operations for Town & Country Homes, the Lombard-based division of K. Hovnanian Builders.

Years ago when you contracted to purchase a new home in a large tract community, the builder expected you to stay away until the house was complete. They kept buyers at arm's length during the construction process, discouraging them from visiting their under-construction home.

Today that scenario has changed -- at least at Town & Country Homes communities, according to Brian Murphy, vice president of operations for the Lombard-based division of K. Hovnanian Builders.

"We are now allowing buyers to become much more involved in the overall home-building experience," Murphy explained.

"Now they are included in every step of the process from playing with the option picker on our Web site to help them with the selection process to walking the construction site when their new home is under construction," he continued.

"We are encouraging open communication between our buyers and the construction team, which includes scheduling times when they can walk through their homes," Murphy said.

"The buyers are out there on site anyway so we decided that we may as well allow them supervised access to increase their sense of involvement and well-being," he added.

"Today's customer is much more involved in the home-building process because they are much more educated than buyers were years ago, thanks to the Internet. They know what they want and builders have learned that if they don't provide what the buyer wants, someone else will," Murphy admitted.

His dream home: "I am a Midwestern guy so my dream home would be a 3,000- to 4000-square-foot, two-story traditional brick house with a wrap-around porch. It would be situated on several acres of land with lots of trees so I couldn't see my neighbors, but it would be located somewhat close to Chicago."

Favorite amenity: Home theaters with top-of-the-line audio equipment and no windows.

His background: A native of the Chicago area, Murphy received a degree in industrial technology and construction management from Illinois State University. After graduation he spent 11 years with Cincinnati-based Drees Homes, working in both Dallas and Cleveland as a construction manager and eventually, head of construction. Four years ago, he and his wife decided it was time to return to Chicago and he took the position with Town & Country Homes.

Buyer profile: Town & Country primarily caters to two markets -- the move-up family buyer who is moving out of a townhouse or a small single-family home into a larger home and the active adult empty-nester.

Details: In a normal year, Murphy said Town & Country builds approximately 750 homes in the Chicago market. In 2008 they expect to build 300 homes, ranging in price from the mid $200,000s to $400,000.

They are currently building in nine locations, but some communities feature multiple product lines, according to Murphy. Their active communities in the Northwest suburbs are Liberty Lakes in Wauconda selling single-family homes from the mid $250,000s to the low $300,000s; Remington Pointe in Volo which is selling townhouses in the low $160,000s; The Oaks at Irish Prairie in McHenry with single-family homes from the low $250,000s; Cider Grove in Huntley with single-family homes from the upper $290,000s; and Providence in Elgin which is selling townhouses from the upper $170,000s and single-family homes from the low $300,000s to the mid $470,000s.

In the West and Southwest suburbs they are currently building Prairie Knoll in Plainfield with single-family homes from the upper $280,000s; and three communities in Oswego -- Steeplechase with townhouses from the low $190,000s and single-family homes from the upper $230,000s; Churchill Club with single-family homes from the low $300,000s; and Hunt Club selling single-family homes from the upper $220,000s to the upper $260,000s.

Best part about being a builder: "This is a business that is in a constant state of change. You are either adapting or you are falling behind and I like that," Murphy, 36, said.

"Town & Country allows us the opportunity to get involved in everything from market research to land planning to sales to marketing and construction. The collective executive team makes decisions on things like the best product to put on each particular site," he explained.

Biggest changes he has seen: "The municipalities are becoming more and more involved in the products we put in their communities so it is becoming more of a challenge to put an affordable product out there," he said.

The other change, according to Murphy, is that people now understand that real estate has good investment appreciation so people in the 25 to 30 age range who previously would have been renters are now investing in a home sooner.

Future plans: Murphy says that Town & Country will continue to concentrate on the active adult segment of the market but that they will be building smaller, 200-home communities with amenities now instead of the huge 800 to 1,000-unit master planned communities they have built in the past.

"Even the smaller communities will have some sort of amenity like a clubhouse because that is what that buyer wants to achieve a community feel. But everything will be done on a smaller, more intimate scale."

Town & Country will also continue to focus on the first-time, move-up buyer market but instead of building further and further from Chicago, they plan to look back toward the older suburbs and city for larger, infill and redevelopment pieces of property on which to build.