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NAHB Resources Help Members Weather the Slump
With the current housing downturn dragging on longer than expected, the NAHB Senior Officers, in their visits to home builders associations around the country, are reminding members of NAHB resources geared to helping small businesses.
“While we knock on doors and keep the phones ringing off the hook on Capitol Hill to get housing stimulus legislation passed, NAHB knows that our builder members need help weathering this economic downturn right now,” said NAHB President Sandy Dunn.
“We’ve developed a massive number of resources designed to help the small business owner,” Dunn said. “We’ve put these resources right at your fingertips — they’re accessible free of charge to NAHB members via our Web site. We know that information is key to the survival of your business, so information is what NAHB is providing.”
Among resources that can be found at www.nahb.org:
- Back to Basics Toolkit for a Challenging Business Environment. Resources in the toolkit are designed to help members fine-tune their business operations, apply sound business management strategies and boost their sales and marketing operations. Topics of special relevance to today’s marketplace include information on construction financing and mortgage options.
- Myth Buster. This section provides local HBAs assorted materials to counter negative reports in the news media, promote the local market and ensure that news reporting is accurate. The section includes fact sheets, talking points on specific media topics, a regularly updated chronology of the credit-crunch, op-eds, talking points, market forecasts, building permit data for states and metro areas, and press releases.
- Biz Tools. This section is an easily navigated library of articles, tip sheets and other resources designed to help builders manage their businesses more efficiently and increase their profits. Materials cover strategic planning, financial management, information technology, customer service, human resource management and more. Information has also been especially compiled for custom builders.
- E-newsletters. In addition to the weekly publication of Nation’s Building News, NAHB produces 38 more specialized newsletters on a regular basis in such areas as the remodeling market and multifamily trends.
The educational and networking opportunities that NAHB provides its members are also key tools for navigating today’s tough times. At the national level, most recently in conjunction with the International Builders’ Show, NAHB has put together panel discussions in which veteran builders share their insights on surviving a market downturn. Many local associations are holding similar sessions for their builder members.
The International Builders’ Show itself provides the greatest networking and educational opportunity offered by NAHB to its members. Adapting to the current downturn and preparing for the new marketplace that will emerge during the recovery were major topics of educational presentations at the show in February, and exhibitors emphasized products designed to give builders an edge with prospective buyers who are looking for value. The show gathered a wealth of resources on green building, one sector of the industry where builders are finding they are able to differentiate themselves from their competitors in the current industry slowdown. The 2009 IBS will be held in Las Vegas on Jan. 20-23.
NAHB’s Builder 20 Clubs are among the association’s most popular and effective networking forums. These bring together organized groups of builders from different parts of the country who have similar business interests and profiles. Members share with each other their observations on what’s working and not working in their individual markets — and they come away with ideas on how to boost their business through tried-and-true methods.
NAHB members have round-the-clock access to all of the association’s membership resources at www.nahb.org. Members need to be logged in with a member password to get all of the resources that are offered on the site, many of which are exclusively for members only.
NAHB devotes a great deal of its resources to dealing with the challenges that builders in the field are facing each and every day on the job site. These areas include:
- Environmental regulations and land development issues. NAHB works constantly with members of Congress and federal regulators to adopt a common-sense approach to reducing the cost of environmental regulations for endangered species, clean water, clean air and the like and to improve compliance with existing rules within the industry. To address the damaging impact of rising land and improvement costs on housing affordability, land availability for residential development is a top ongoing concern of NAHB.
- Building codes. NAHB is a major force in the building code development process. For example, over the last several years, the association has led a successful effort to educate building code officials of industry concerns over mandated fire sprinkler systems.
- Litigation, research and green building. NAHB fights for its members on important legal issues in the federal courts and assists its local affiliates in battles that are closer to home. Many of these legal efforts involve land use and property rights, and the association has scored impressive victories, including in the U.S. Supreme Court. The association excels in research through the NAHB Research Center, an independent entity that is a leader in improving the art and science of home building through new product testing and development and quality management. NAHB has taken the lead in the field of green building, with major technical support from the Research Center.
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