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Challenging Times Put NAHB Membership on the Rise
At a time when home builders and professionals in the housing industry are having to become increasingly resourceful to maximize business opportunities in a cooling marketplace, NAHB is reporting that its official membership rolls have grown to a record 235,000.
“I quickly learned that the home builders association was a perfect place to meet new people and to get acquainted with the building community,” said Kimberly Wheeler, a new affiliate member with the HBA of Metropolitan Portland, Ore. and a banking officer in business development for MBank.
“Through my involvement in different events and my service on the retention committee, I saw a natural extension from my own experience to how membership in the HBA would benefit my clients, who are builders and others involved in residential construction,” Wheeler said. “I wanted to help my clients make a great connection and the HBA is the best place for them to do that.”
Wheeler recruited 11 new members in May, the month in which NAHB’s annual recruitment activities reach their culmination on National Membership Day (this link is for members only). The association added almost 10,600 members during the month, and there are currently about 19,600 Spikes who actively participate in recruiting members for the association.
At the end of August, there were almost 243,000 NAHB members. The actual membership number fluctuates monthly, and the official total is always less than the actual total, but representative of the number of members nationwide.
On the opposite side of the country, Ian Huckabee of New Day Builders in Chapel Hill, N.C. recently joined the HBA of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties, and reports that he is happy he did.
“We have good leaders, good thinkers — it’s an intelligent group,” said Huckabee. “They’re helping me find all the allied services and vendors and subs I need.”
Huckabee said his company is also pursuing green home building opportunities, and that is another reason he decided to join his local association, which has recently launched a green building program. Huckabee has volunteered to serve on the program’s marketing committee.
“I was not only excited, but also so very proud to announce the new official total to the NAHB Board of Directors” at its meeting earlier this month in Salt Lake City, said Larry Stege, NAHB membership chair. “It is representative of how each individual’s actions can make such a strong aggregate impact on our industry. This was certainly a group effort and the members and the local and state HBAs should be commended for their energetic membership efforts throughout the year.”
Stege announced to the board that the Membership Department has added a Membership Think Tank to NAHB’s Web site, a library of materials and tools that members can use to promote the most effective recruitment and retention practices.
Membership will be in the spotlight at NAHB’s National Conference on Membership in San Antonio on Oct. 20-22 at the Westin La Cantera Resort.
The conference is devoted to a wide range of membership topics and enables attendees to participate in interactive breakout sessions on issues related to recruitment and retention, marketing and program development.
For more information on NAHB’s membership activities, e-mail Emily Fitzsimmons, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8354.
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