Karl E. Case’s recent OP-ED piece in the New York Times offers a contrarian view from today’s headlines about the value of home ownership. He makes several good points about why home ownership still makes sense. A good read for builders and manufacturer’s of building materials.
Lowering the noise level in homes has been a trend in both residential and commercial buildings for a number of years. Sometimes it’s to enable people to comfortably live close to noisy environments such as in inner cities, next to freeways or even airports. Other times it’s to lower the noise levels within structures by lowering the sound levels in appliances such as washers, dryers, dish washers and refrigerators. And then there is the quest to lower sound transmission between rooms so we don’t hear every bathroom flush, discussion or television program from other rooms in our quest for solitude.
As most noise levels are not as regulated in the US as they are in Europe, most of our sound control efforts have been driven by manufacturer’s and builders as a means to differentiate themselves and provide a unique benefit. Unfortunately most of these efforts have now become a confusing commodity much like the green and energy saving efforts that are now basically meaningless as everyone claims them with no way for consumers to evaluate their performance. This is also caused by manufacturers only thinking of their products when it takes a system approach to be successful. A well insulated house with poor windows won’t save much energy. A single quiet appliance won’t do much to reduce the sound levels within a structure.
The other factor driving the quest for better sound control is manufacturers who see this as an easy way to dramatically increase their sales. For years insulation manufacturers such as Owens Corning see this a way to literally double the amount the amount of insulation in every house, even though the addition of insulation to interior walls actually does very little to lower sound levels.
The fact that three new books have recently been written about noise in our lives shows that the interest is still there. Perhaps if everyone took a step back and read these enlightening books, they would better see what noise really represents to people which would give them a fresh perspective on the why of noise rather than just the what. It may be as simple as a new definition of the benefits of sound control instead of the features. Sounds like sales 101 to me..
Existing home sales showed a 7.6% increase to an annual rate of 5.77 million homes in April. Existing home sales are expected to continue to outpace new home sales growth until the employment level improves. Building material manufacturer’s should continue to focus on the remodel and repair market and pay special attention to those fixing up their homes for resale and that key period of the first six month’s after a new home owner moves in. Read the article in the WSJ.
Home prices are down 60% in Las Vegas. There are 9,517 brand new unsold homes. 5,600 homes were repossessed in the first quarter of 2010. And yet builders are working on 1,100 more new homes and looking for land to build more! It makes no sense yet it’s happening. What are you doing as a building material manufacturer to be part of this opportunity? What other unlikely markets are showing activity? Read the whole story in the New York Times.
Total construction spending is down 25% to around of 8.5 billion dollars from the 2006 high of over 1.2 trillion. Now more than ever marketers need to fight for every sale. It’s a great time to be aggressive and grab market share. As the market turns up, those who play to win will find themselves in a much better position. You can read more about the effects of this downturn in the Wall Street Journal.
While reading a review of Meghan Daum’s new book, “Life Would Be Perfect If I Lived In That House” in the New York Times Book Review, I came across an interesting fact. After married couples, single women are the nation’s largest group of first time home buyers.
How many builders and building material manufacturer’s are targeting this important market? Not many from what I can see.
While residential construction has stopped falling, commercial construction continues to fall creating more challenges for manufacturer’s of materials used in commercial new construction. You can read more from the New York Times. Even though residential new construction has stabilized, it’s at a very low number. The opportunity today for both residential and commercial is in retrofit and remodel.
In another positive sign for housing and the economy, home builders are once again buying up land at higher prices. It wasn’t too long ago that they were selling off land at fire sale prices to get it off their books. Now builders like Pulte are bidding against other builders for lots. You can read more in the article from the Wall Street Journal.
In case you haven’t heard of the famous jam experiment, it’s worth learning about it. A researcher set up a table of jams at a grocery store. Sometimes there were 6 flavors and sometimes there were 24 flavors. More people stopped at the table when it had 24 flavors for a taste. But those consumers who stopped by the table with only 6 flavors were 10 times more likely to make a purchase, 30 percent versus 3 percent. Having too many options may get in the way of making a sale. Are you offering too many options? Can you do anything to make shopping your entire category simpler? To learn more you can now read the book “The Art of Choosing” by Sheena Iyengar, the researcher of the jam experiment. You can read a review from the New York Times book review.
After a rise on construction for the third straight month, building permits have also risen showing a confidence by builders who also believe the government tax incentives will continue to lift sales. At the same time the University of Michigan’s consumer-sentiment index declined from 73.6 to 69.5 at the end of March. While many signs show that the recovery is under way, it’s not a good sign that consumer confidence is dropping, especially for major purchases such as a new home or remodeling project. Read more from this Wall Street Journal article.
