Investment propertyBuilding A Home From The Palm Of Your Hand?
The salesperson may be an absolute gem. The model homes may look flawless.
The builder may have a stellar reputation for quality and customer service.
But in all the years I was involved in the sales and marketing of new homes,
there is no single person my hat would come off for quicker than the guy who
oversees building the house itself - the building superintendent.
No matter how glitzy and fluffy the business of new home sales can sometimes
be, none of it would mean much unless the product itself lived up to the
standards the home builder set forth for himself, delivering it on time, with
every pre-ordained stick, option, and upgrade in place. The details involved
in building one single family home would make those of us who have never
nailed a board in the air absolutely dizzy with awe. These individuals
manage the coordination of every product, trade, and person who touches a new
home, and they do it like the conductor of a huge orchestra. Ask any
superintendent what drives him craziest about his job, however, and the
answer most would make was "paper work and phone calls."
No single end-of-the-century innovation may be more cutting-edge for builders
than the hand-held computer/organizer. This palm-sized device is finding its
way into builders" budgets in greater and greater numbers, saving precious
time, money, and headaches, helping to eliminate the need for voluminous
paper trails. It can enable the superintendent to keep the details of every
home under construction, helping to him to manage his crews, communicate with
his trades, suppliers, and corporate offices using his fingertips.
Founded in 1992 by Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky, Palm Computing, Inc. led
the resurgence of hand-held computing in 1996 with introduction of its Pilot
1000 and Pilot 5000 products. The Palm Computing subsidiary of 3Com
Corporation recognized the increasing need for mobility in information
management, revolutionizing individual productivity. Integrating this device
into new home construction was not only a natural process, but also a sorely
needed one in the industry. Because of the nature of geographically diverse
workforces coming together to build a single home over a period of months,
the Palm computers were found to provide fast, easy, remote access to
networked resources, using electronic communication instead of the
increasingly antiquated hard-copy variety.
With a hand held computer, builders can now keep track of meetings, send work
orders to suppliers, keeping a consistent flow of information and detail
running smoothly and on time and on budget. As the front line of contact
between their corporate offices, their homebuyers, subcontractors and
inspectors, they no longer need to spend entire mornings bogged down in phone
calls for assigning and scheduling work using these high-tech devices. Missed
deadlines result in higher costs, complex schedules and ultimately in unhappy
homebuyers. With faster, more accurate methods of tracking projects and
communicating instructions to crews, contractors and suppliers, the
hand-held computers can facilitate field personnel by collecting and
reviewing issues, and then transferring them to the desktop, faxing task
lists to project participants.
At the work site or on the road, builders can now keep "to do" lists, monitor
work in progress, update project timelines, and even collect notes and
sketches of work to be performed. With shirt-pocket portability, the Palm
computers enable builders to move between construction sites, supplier
locations and offices with ease. Back at their desks, superintendents can
now use the specially designed programs, designed by Punch List software, to
synchronize the mountain of data and attach it to WinFax, then sending it to
dozens of individuals involved in a project at any given time.
Builder Software Tools, Inc. is the exclusive outlet for Punchlist software,
and will be on hand at the National Builders Show in Dallas, TX January
14-17, to demonstrate their products. For more information on Palm Computing
products and Punch List software, visit www.Palm.com and www.PunchList.com.
As one of the last truly hand-built products, new homebuilders are under
greater and greater scrutiny to deliver well-built homes on time and on
budget, complying with increasingly stringent code regulations and
inspections. With the help of state-of-the-art components such as these
handy little devices, building superintendents can exert greater control over
their handiwork and free up valuable time to devote themselves to the quality
we, as consumers, deserve when making such a huge investment.
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