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People now are not looking at technology and personalization as a, eh, I'm not sure I
really need that versus, okay, I know I need it, but now where do I place my bets?
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How do I get going?
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I think that's where, I think that's, once we cross that, that's gonna get us into the
four, five, six and beyond.
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Hey, everybody.
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Welcome back to the Builder 365 podcast.
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Jeff Shore here along with my co -host and very, very good friend, Ryan Taft.
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How you doing, Ryan?
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You know, live in the dream as they say, live in the dream.
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Indeed.
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We are right.
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We're recording this coming off of our sales and marketing leadership summit in Nashville.
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Great fun.
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Of course.
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What was the highlight for you?
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Or just give us one of the highlights from our time together in Nashville.
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One.
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Just one.
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I mean, because I want to say the Back to the Future skit, of course, but.
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Seeing Ryan Taft as Marty McFly.
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And I mean right down to, you know, the vest, puffy jacket, the white shirt with the black
stripes, the red tennis shoe, the whole nine yards.
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It was amazing.
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How long did it take to find that exact outfit?
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Actually, it came in a package all together, except the shoes.
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I had to go get the shoes separately.
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Yeah.
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for sure, but everything else really was packaged up.
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so that was fun.
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But, you know, really the big highlight to me, Jeff, is really the reunion of all of it,
right?
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Getting to see all of the people that we have known, you know, whether they're people
we've worked with for a decade or more, or even some of the new folks and getting to meet
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some of the folks who are just getting introduced to all things, sure consulting.
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overall, it's just a great time.
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It really was.
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And to compliment
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the Marty McFly there.
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had Brian Walter dressed as Doc Brown and our friends at CMG Home Loans brought in a
DeLorean replica from the actual movie.
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So it was really, really cool.
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We had such a great time at the summit.
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Lots and lots of fun.
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And one of the people that we love hanging out with the summit is our good friends at Open
Door.
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Special thanks to our partners in this podcast.
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Builder 365 is powered by Open Door for builders, easy sales,
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Smooth Moves.
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You can learn more about the work they do to support home builders at opendoor .com slash
builder 365.
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Ryan, let's talk a little bit.
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Here's a quick trivia, a little housing trivia for you.
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Research tells us that the most important room in the home for women is the kitchen.
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Here's a question.
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What's the most important room for men?
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Well, if they're smart, it's the kitchen.
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I'm tracking with you.
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Well, as it so turns out, they must be smart because it is actually the kitchen that
that's that came in at number one.
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Well done, gentlemen.
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Well done.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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Yeah.
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After you get past the kitchen, now everything changes.
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But the kitchen is the number one most important room for everybody.
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It's a really, really interesting as we look at that.
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Why do you?
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Do you think that the motivation is the same, Ryan, for men and women when it comes to
their affection for the kitchen?
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I don't think so.
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I think I think there's probably a little bit of a difference, you know, when I think of
like what for me, it's food, right?
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That's where the food is.
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So that's that's that's that's the attractor.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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But I feel like, you know, it's command central for for Melissa.
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Right.
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It's it's where all things are.
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Organized from all things are seen right with an open plan, etc.
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So I think there is little bit of a difference Yeah, yeah, there's one other side of it
too.
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And and that is that to me the kitchen is almost a medallion For the home.
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I want that kitchen to be kind of a showpiece For for our home.
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So yeah, I don't mind that it's a that it's that it's a beautiful kitchen, you know Here's
what's also this interesting
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as important as the kitchen is, it might be lessening out just a little bit.
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And Nolan, I'm going to have you put a chart up on the screen here and see we have an
ongoing, interesting, and potentially disturbing trend in America.
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We eat out a lot.
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And if you look at that graph, that is that's stunning.
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Does that does that surprise you here, Ryan?
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I'm sorry.
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For those of who can't see the graph, what it says is now we have gone from going back
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just really not that long ago, 25 years ago, 59 % of money we spent was food at home, 41 %
was out of the house.
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Now we're at 53 % of our food budget is spent outside the house, 47 % spent eating at
home.
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Does that surprise you, Ryan?
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It actually doesn't.
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You know, when you look at, especially now, right, if you look at the costs of
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groceries and inflation and things like that.
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You people are searching for cheaper alternatives than you add into it.
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The complexity of life.
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I was sold this lie and I don't know how you feel about this, but I was told technology
and everything was going to make everything easier.
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We're going to get more time and you know, that's just not true, man.
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I feel like I, someone said to the other, said to me the other day, said, man, I was so
bored last week.
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I'm like, bored?
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I haven't been bored since like the Reagan administration.
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I don't even know how that's possible.
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But we're just so busy that it seems to me that eating out is sort of a, eating no longer
is this culinary experience that we have at the family table.
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And if you do kudos, keep that up.
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But most people is sort of a check the box I ate.
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Let me get back to it.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I think it also explains a lot of the, frankly, financial ruin and credit card debt that
we see for the people who eat out without really thinking about
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how that adds up over time.
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There's no question about it.
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Eating at home is substantially less expensive than eating on the road.
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I know, you know, right now, and I confess, Karen and I, this probably, you we don't, we
don't buy a new car every year.
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You know, we, haven't moved in 10 years.
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have no plans to, but when it comes to eating out, that's, I think that's where we blow
the budget.
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But having said that a long time ago, when we wanted to get our, our financial house in
order, when we were way in debt,
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This is the first thing we attacked was our eating out budget and it made a huge impact on
our financial lives.
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Absolutely.
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And this is where we do as well, you know, being on the road as much as I am and then
Melissa being home while I'm gone.
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The trade off then is well, when I come home, when there's one day at home, this is a
weekends, one day at home and then one day we go out.
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so our food is absolutely blown.
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because of that.
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again, I don't spend.
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We don't have debt.
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don't have...
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We're not out buying a whole lot of garbage.
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We like to invest and save our money, but food is where we do spend money.
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Yeah, right.
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You know, the one thing that we have to look at here as it relates to home buyers out
there is that these are busy people.
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They are out and around all the time.
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That might actually help us in one extent, because one of the objections that we tend to
get is the old lot size objection.
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This home site is too small.
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But if we stop and look and go, yeah, we're spending less and less time at home as it is.
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Maybe that's not a big addition as it might have been at some point in the future.
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It very interesting.
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We'll continue to spot trends that are going on around the industry and we'll bring them
to you here on Builder 365.
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But now we're going to bring you a great conversation with Alex Hunter.
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He is an accomplished
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storyteller.
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He's a distinguished marketing leader.
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He is the vice president of marketing at Hi Arc.
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Hi Arc is a cloud technology company for home builders and they sort of take all of the
complexities and they make them really, really easy.
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Alex held key roles at tech giants like Apple and Google.
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He is representing the millennials in a big way.
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worked on marketing campaigns for things like the Apple Watch SE and the Google Nest Smart
Displays.
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great guy, fascinating conversation.
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Please welcome Alex Hunter.
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Well, Alex, thanks for joining us.
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We appreciate it.
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Just for context, give our audience, if you would please, just an overview.
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Tell us about the service that HiArc provides to home builders so they have a sense of who
it is that you are and what it is that you do.
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For sure.
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Yeah.
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Thanks for having me, Jeff.
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Yeah.
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My name is Alex and HiArc is all about helping home builders design, sell and build
faster.
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And we do that with a single connected platform as a service.
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We've been around for about
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six, seven years now and just had some really exciting momentum with a number of
production builders across the country.
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And, you know, we had a great show a couple of weeks ago in Nashville and talked to a
number of sales and marketing leaders that are also loving what we do as that's an element
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of it.
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But yeah, it's a little bit about high arc and, kind of what we're up to.
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it.
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You know, it's interesting because the service that you provide app, there's no question
about it.
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I've talked to many of my clients who.
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have benefited in the way that it has made it easier for them to do business and keep
track of what is otherwise a very complicated business.
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But what I really want to focus on today, and this is why I wanted you on the podcast, was
the subject of personalized experiences that trickle down all the way to the home buyer.
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So when I think about what's going on in the United States right now and actually
globally,
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There's such a trend for personalization and a real attraction to personalized services.
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So I think about, you know, Indochino making men's custom -made suits for under $500 or
Disney Vacation Services building bespoke vacations for people.
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Talk a little about your approach to personalization and the trends that you're seeing in
the area of personalization.
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Yeah, it's a great call out, Jeff, because I think in your kind of some of those brands
you're bringing up kind of hit on that point of
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We've seen that right in our own lives from a consumer standpoint, and that's just working
its way across a variety of industries.
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And so, there's this really interesting McKinsey study from a couple of years ago about
what buyers expect on personalization.
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It's about 70%, almost three quarters of folks are looking for that.
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And millennials like myself, I'm at very tail end of that.
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expect it, right?
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And may choose not to go with someone if they don't offer a personalized experience.
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And so we're just, you know, with the builders that we're working with across the country,
we're seeing that request come up more and more as they, as folks are looking to adopt,
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like, hey, how can I make my product or this community stand out to the buyers with all
this increasing competition?
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And it's in part due to that just consumer trend of all those apps we've been using in our
life, Amazon and Best Buy.
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and even Panera and so and so forth, right?
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Those are all working its way into the home building industry, which I think is a really
exciting opportunity, you know?
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Do you think that, especially millennials, you speak on behalf of the millennials, if you
will please, are they being literally trained by other organizations to look at it and
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say, well, know, the service department and my car dealership can do this and even
Starbucks knows my order.
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How you should be able to figure this out.
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Do you, that transfer from one industry into the next as, as, as far as what the
expectations are for, for our customers?
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Yeah, I think so.
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We've seen, I think you've seen that on both the retail side, working its way into things
like you mentioned automotive, right.
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And the whole car buying experience.
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mean, Carvana and, and, you know, room and services like that came well after we were able
to, you know,
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buy online, pick up store or customize our computer and so on and so forth.
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And it really comes down to these consumers, our frame of reference, Is what, is how they
view any new brands or new experiences they encounter.
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And so one thing I like to say, it's a little mantra we have internally is, to builders
that we talked to is like, you are a tech company, whether you realize it or not to
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millennials.
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That's just the expectation.
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And that of course, as the overarching umbrella brings that, okay, you know, I'm engaging
with this company, this brand, they should be tech forward.
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How are they going to personalize the experience and really make my journey a delightful
one?
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And, you know, some, some people are taking advantage of that.
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Others aren't quite yet, but I think, I think we're heading in that direction for sure.
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How great the industry, the home building industry, as you've had the chance to be able to
see what builders are doing, you provide.
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solutions to them.
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How are we doing when it comes to adopting new and very innovative tech solutions?
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Are we still in the archaic mode or are we about where you would expect us to be?
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How are we doing on the rate of adoption?
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Yeah, it's a loaded question.
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So if you see a drop off in your listenership right after my answer, we'll know why.
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Okay, there you go.
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Fair enough.
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Fair enough.
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You know, I think on a scale of one to 10, I'd say we're in that
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We're kind of in the third inning, right?
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Is what I would say.
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construction, home construction as a whole, historical, and there's plenty of studies that
back this up about it lags when it comes to that technology adoption.
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I think that's a relatively well -known thing and stated fact.
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And so taking on something like personalization is difficult, right?
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For builders and so.
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I'd say in that third, fourth inning, we're starting to see, you know, turn a corner.
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People now are not looking at technology and personalization as a, eh, I'm not sure I
really need that versus, okay, I know I need it, but now where do I place my bets?
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How do I get going?
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I think that's where, I think that's, once we cross that, that's gonna get us into the
four, five, six and beyond.
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But it does seem to me that,
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the demand is going to lead the way rather than the availability.
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It is what customers are going to need to see.
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So, you know, I, I, I, we work with builders that they still think having a, you know, a
USB port in an outlet is cutting edge technology out there.
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You can't even tell them that USB -C exists though.
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It'll just blow their mind.
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But, but when you look at a home automation,
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It seems to me this should be a playground for builders because there are so many
opportunities out there.
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And I wonder if it's the complexity more than anything else of introducing these things
that makes builders resistant.
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What is your experience there?
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Yeah.
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I mean, on, on the, are you talking smart home side specifically?
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Yeah, sure.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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Anything having to do with, home tech and smart homes.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Smart home tech.
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You know, it's, it's a really interesting one.
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because it's definitely a category.
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And we had a conference a couple of months ago, the Housing Transformation Summit, where
one of our folks, Connor, talked about this and the challenges that smart tech adoption
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really presents to builders.
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it's, you because you've got these multiple ecosystems.
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You've got Alexa, you've got Apple and HomeKit, you've got Google, and you've got all
these different manufacturers.
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And it makes, it's like,
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You know, what money can I actually make there?
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I think is a question that builders often kind of face, right?
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But yes, you know, when you offer an option like like a smart home or a home automation
tech where, where a buyer could truly personalize the home that they walk into on day one,
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it's, you know, it's a bit of a complicated mess.
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And I think part of it, it's because it's an afterthought.
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They don't start at the plan level, right?
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When, when, when it comes to designing the community or the home plan.
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And you know, you've got third party integrators that you have to work with all the time.
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but there's a, there's a few builders that I think, a brazo homes and, land sea are really
embracing that personalization of smart home tech for their builders upfront.
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And they're really making it a part of their experience versus, if I can't make enough
margin on it, I'm not really going to offer it.
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but it really could be.
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a differentiating factor there.
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But I think to your point, like I would love to do more improvements in my own home.
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The problem is the platforms that, know, I'm an Apple guy.
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I know how my iPad works, but not everything sinks, right?
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So, so, you know, when you look at your different, your different systems, they don't all
talk.
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Is there, I had read, I don't know, last year sometime about all of the different
platforms, trying to find a common language so that you could be able to work across
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platforms.
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Is there progress on that?
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Yeah, it's definitely, it was an exciting thing that came, that got on the radar a couple
of years ago, right?
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When I, during my time back at, well, yeah, I've been on both sides of the spectrum with
both Google and Apple.
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It was always this like friction of device compatibility and so and so forth.
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And my wife has definitely given me a hard time because I had Alexa when it first came out
and then I went to work for Google.
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I got rid of all my Amazon devices and got Google assistant.
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And then I went back to Apple and then I
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got rid of all my Google devices and added Siri.
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And she was like, Alex, I don't know what to yell, hey, act, drive me nuts.
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And so I think a lot of consumers feel the same way.
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Like, what do I, where do I start with all these three?
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But that shared language between devices is continuing to make progress.
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So whatever ecosystem you pick revolving around just one, it's going to come about.
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But we've definitely seen that.
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start to take shape and like manufacturers like Philips, right?
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And others are having forward compatible devices that they're launching that even if
you're gonna go in a retrofit your home, you shouldn't have a problem having it work with
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whether you have Siri Alexa or the Google assistant in your house.
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Do you have some favorite home tech?
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man, I'm like you, I'm big HomeKit fan boy.
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Like I got all my stuff in one app.
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And so I think, you know.
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For me, security has always been like the core staple.
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And so the Yale locks, would only highly recommend Schlage just came out with one where
you can actually use your watch to bump into your, know, tap to get into your house, which
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makes me want to go out and spend $300 just to switch smart door locks, which my wife
would be like, I don't understand, but you know, it's one second faster for me to do that.
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So I think those are definitely two and then Phillips Hue.
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mean, from a lighting standpoint, that's something a lot.
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can just go out and start tomorrow.
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And so it's really fun at the holidays to set all the different, different colors and
everything.
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Right.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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I love my wifi enabled locks and it, and I travel a lot.
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So it's, it's nice to know, you know, if, if, if I'm gone, I want to check and see if the
house is locked up.
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If I've got somebody coming over to the house, I can unlock it for him.
295
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It is, it's, it's fantastic.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, the one thing that I have not invested in, and I saw this at the Builders Show
several years ago, was a pad, a sensor pad that goes under the carpet next to your bed.
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And when you step on it in the middle of the night, it lights up your baseboards all the
way from your bed to your toilet.
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And as somebody who suffered a broken toe in the middle of the night,
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I can just tell you right now that that is that is one I don't know why it doesn't exist
in my home yet.
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I've got to put that in there.
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I would buy that right now.
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And I think those are some the spoke experiences that know, whether purchase or builder
can offer because I don't think you know, I think personalization is kind of going that
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touching on that topic for a second.
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I would love for the like the devices to respond to me as I navigate around the house.
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I don't we're not even there yet on that.
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Right.
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And so stuff like that.
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Okay, so let's talk about tech learning and we'll bring AI into the conversation here as
well, because you're right.
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00:20:25,464 --> 00:20:36,587
mean, ultimately, the best way to do that is to have a robot follow me around the house,
see the way that I live, and then come along and say, well, what you really need is a
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sensor out of the carpet for when you get up in the middle of the night.
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But when you are thinking about the evolution of AI, how
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do you see that fitting into the discussion specifically on personalization?
315
00:20:52,776 --> 00:20:59,739
mean, it seems to me that that question will evolve, but the possibilities are endless.
316
00:20:59,739 --> 00:21:01,730
Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more.
317
00:21:01,730 --> 00:21:09,523
I think AI is really going to be, really unlock personalization for both builders and
businesses across the spectrum, right?
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Because as you feed these models, your information, right?
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When you're logged in, it,
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continues to, it's contextual, right?
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00:21:18,527 --> 00:21:23,049
And I've seen that my own just as I continue to ChatGPT on a regular basis.
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I don't have to go remember that question I asked it three weeks ago.
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It has that background.
324
00:21:28,971 --> 00:21:35,174
And so I think that's going to just enable these really incredible experiences.
325
00:21:35,174 --> 00:21:38,555
I think the challenge really comes down to like privacy, right?
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And what you're willing to kind of provide and give up and share with these models.
327
00:21:46,687 --> 00:21:57,636
I, you know, we, we, we've seen some great progress on, on our side, with, you know, with
high arc as well in, in, in terms of kind of in a, you know, leveraging that technology to
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00:21:57,636 --> 00:22:08,004
just speed up things that I was wanted to do, on a regular basis or give us an example,
give us one way that you guys have figured out how to speed things up and, and be able to
329
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streamline an otherwise complicated process.
330
00:22:10,626 --> 00:22:11,547
Yeah.
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it's, it's this idea of like a co -pilot, right?
332
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and so it w like I, when I'm going and I'm going through and like designing a home,
there's certain things that I need to kind of put in place.
333
00:22:24,938 --> 00:22:27,278
and so, rooms, for example, right?
334
00:22:27,278 --> 00:22:30,678
Every home you got, you generally kind of do a layout or the first floor.
335
00:22:30,678 --> 00:22:37,838
And so we'll have this, generative AI or generative modeling that allows me to like do it
10 X faster.
336
00:22:38,028 --> 00:22:40,828
and it, it kind of, it auto builds that layout.
337
00:22:40,828 --> 00:22:44,518
And so while I think it's a little bit of a stretch on personalization,
338
00:22:44,866 --> 00:22:56,949
The idea is that we've really been able to start tapping into the power of that generative
design and AI to just accelerate workflows that people have had to do for years or decades
339
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very manually.
340
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And so that's been a big win for us that our customers have been able to take advantage of
as well.
341
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So I think that's a good example.
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00:23:05,712 --> 00:23:14,176
But you have to have something like that if you're going to personalize because otherwise,
I think most builders look and say personalization equals complexity.
343
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and complexity threatens quality and efficiency and a lack of quality and efficiency hurts
my bottom line.
344
00:23:21,179 --> 00:23:24,550
So if we can't connect those dots, we're gonna have a problem.
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00:23:24,550 --> 00:23:35,995
If you were starting Alex Hunter Homes tomorrow, and I gave you three different ways to do
this, one is build a home that was like technically tricked out and then you'd have to
346
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sell the heck out of it because you're gonna have to charge a lot of money here because
everything's already included.
347
00:23:41,117 --> 00:23:43,480
Option two is to say I've got three,
348
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:53,633
tech packages for you, pick one and we're gonna build it efficiently or option three,
here's the base price and here's a thousand different personalization options on it.
349
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How would you approach this?
350
00:23:55,233 --> 00:23:57,814
Yeah, that's a good question.
351
00:23:58,594 --> 00:24:08,777
I would go route number two and without giving you the who wants to be a millionaire
answer, the third one's very daunting, right?
352
00:24:08,777 --> 00:24:09,858
It's kind of this idea.
353
00:24:09,858 --> 00:24:11,658
It reminds me of like, man,
354
00:24:11,866 --> 00:24:18,790
When I had a ton of time and Dell first came out, I could pick every different component
in my computer.
355
00:24:18,990 --> 00:24:20,731
Sure, I'd be happy to do that.
356
00:24:20,731 --> 00:24:27,024
But the idea of having to pick all these different items for my home would just over...
357
00:24:27,024 --> 00:24:29,896
You have cognitive overload is what I like to call it.
358
00:24:29,896 --> 00:24:34,678
And so I think this select choice is this perfect middle ground.
359
00:24:34,919 --> 00:24:38,201
And we did this with how we sold product to at Apple.
360
00:24:38,201 --> 00:24:40,782
And I think there's a number of builders that are doing this as well.
361
00:24:40,782 --> 00:24:50,922
this idea of packages and really curating the experience while it can still feel
personalized, I think is a really powerful value proposition.
362
00:24:50,922 --> 00:24:58,512
Cause ultimately you're eliminating friction yet, you know, you're giving this buyer the
sense of I'm still getting to choose my own adventure.
363
00:24:58,512 --> 00:25:00,702
think car manufacturers have done this really well.
364
00:25:00,702 --> 00:25:08,834
they've, you know, maybe it's like three options and maybe it's like 10 packages now, but
that's how, you know, if Alex Hunter Holmes was in existence,
365
00:25:08,834 --> 00:25:16,010
I spend a lot of time understanding my customers, knowing what they want and going route
number two.
366
00:25:16,010 --> 00:25:18,342
That's a question though.
367
00:25:18,342 --> 00:25:20,774
It's a fascinating conversation.
368
00:25:20,774 --> 00:25:27,950
I'd love to be able to play this back three years from now and see where we're at because
things are changing that quickly.
369
00:25:27,950 --> 00:25:30,531
How can people learn more about HiArc, Alex?
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00:25:30,632 --> 00:25:34,574
Yeah, you can visit us online at hiarc .com.
371
00:25:34,915 --> 00:25:37,247
Definitely welcome to connect with a member of our team.
372
00:25:37,247 --> 00:25:38,758
We'd to have a chat with you.
373
00:25:38,830 --> 00:25:41,404
but yeah, definitely check the website or follow us on LinkedIn.
374
00:25:41,404 --> 00:25:48,504
We're always posting some fun and helpful content for, sales and marketing folks and
builders alike to, to take a look at.
375
00:25:48,504 --> 00:25:48,694
it.
376
00:25:48,694 --> 00:25:49,344
Well, it's interesting.
377
00:25:49,344 --> 00:25:51,567
It's fascinating stuff is cutting edge.
378
00:25:51,618 --> 00:25:52,779
it sounds like it's fun to be you.
379
00:25:52,779 --> 00:25:54,732
Thanks for spending a few minutes with us, Alex.
380
00:25:54,732 --> 00:25:55,212
You bet.
381
00:25:55,212 --> 00:25:56,493
Thanks so much, Jeff.
382
00:26:00,034 --> 00:26:01,004
There you go, Ryan.
383
00:26:01,004 --> 00:26:04,056
And Alex is all about his smart home.
384
00:26:04,056 --> 00:26:07,939
He's not the only person you and I have had this conversation before.
385
00:26:07,939 --> 00:26:12,661
You really that's one of the things that you really get a kick out of is smartifying your
home.
386
00:26:12,661 --> 00:26:13,502
Tell us about that.
387
00:26:13,502 --> 00:26:16,253
You know, I I've always been interested in this.
388
00:26:16,253 --> 00:26:28,398
And I again, if you go back to my early childhood, there was a couple of traumatic things
that happened that caused me to be a little concerned about kind of like home safety.
389
00:26:28,398 --> 00:26:44,298
One is I remember the night stalker in the 80s was Had had a victim that was 20 minutes
from my house my dad had been barricaded in our garage and held by knife point and Was
390
00:26:44,298 --> 00:26:53,448
forced to empty out our house when I was in eighth grade So I've always been interested in
home safety and so it started there for me with cameras, right?
391
00:26:53,448 --> 00:26:57,038
Just being able to have eyes on especially because I travel for a living
392
00:26:57,038 --> 00:26:59,158
to be able to know what's going on.
393
00:26:59,158 --> 00:27:03,118
So literally there is, there's not one inch of my property that I can't see what's going
on.
394
00:27:03,118 --> 00:27:04,998
And I love having that automation.
395
00:27:04,998 --> 00:27:11,238
Then there's the convenience factor for me too, Jeff, like to be able to not have to get
out of bed to shut the light off that I forgot.
396
00:27:11,238 --> 00:27:13,168
Like I love that.
397
00:27:13,168 --> 00:27:18,718
I love that my home alarm system goes on automatically at 10 30 every single night.
398
00:27:18,718 --> 00:27:23,798
My garage door automatically shuts if I accidentally leave it open at a certain time.
399
00:27:23,798 --> 00:27:26,582
yeah, the easier I can make my life.
400
00:27:26,582 --> 00:27:29,013
and not have to think about things, the better.
401
00:27:29,013 --> 00:27:34,055
So I'm all in on home automation without a question.
402
00:27:34,055 --> 00:27:40,968
That is to me the biggest benefit of all kinds of tech is to free up mental space.
403
00:27:40,968 --> 00:27:43,959
So I don't have to think about things that I otherwise would have to look at.
404
00:27:43,959 --> 00:27:54,244
I'm not nearly as advanced as you are, but there are things that I look at and I go, it is
really nice to know that I can lock and unlock my doors without having to be close by in
405
00:27:54,244 --> 00:27:55,514
order to do it.
406
00:27:55,798 --> 00:28:02,502
I'm really interested in kind of what happens next in some of the new and innovative stuff
that's still coming down the pipe.
407
00:28:02,502 --> 00:28:04,163
you heard Alex talk about this.
408
00:28:04,163 --> 00:28:07,946
We're still pretty behind as an industry into what's going to happen.
409
00:28:07,946 --> 00:28:12,078
But I think it's got to happen through the new home industry.
410
00:28:12,078 --> 00:28:17,071
Retrofitting older homes, way more difficult than building it that way in the first place.
411
00:28:17,071 --> 00:28:22,734
So kudos to those builders who are on the cutting edge of building very, very smart homes.
412
00:28:22,734 --> 00:28:24,114
Well, there you have it, everybody.
413
00:28:24,114 --> 00:28:27,134
Another episode of the Builder 365 podcast.
414
00:28:27,134 --> 00:28:28,994
Always good spending time with you.
415
00:28:28,994 --> 00:28:30,014
Good spending time with you, Ryan.
416
00:28:30,014 --> 00:28:32,314
Enjoyed the conversation as always.
417
00:28:32,314 --> 00:28:35,104
Please, please, please share, share, share.
418
00:28:35,104 --> 00:28:36,444
Send a social media link.
419
00:28:36,444 --> 00:28:39,013
Let people know about the Builder 365 podcast.
420
00:28:39,013 --> 00:28:40,534
We sure appreciated that.
421
00:28:40,534 --> 00:28:42,174
Until next time.
422
00:28:42,174 --> 00:28:42,774
Take care.
423
00:28:42,774 --> 00:28:44,114
Go change the world.
00:00:00,088 --> 00:00:09,739
People now are not looking at technology and personalization as a, eh, I'm not sure I
really need that versus, okay, I know I need it, but now where do I place my bets?
2
00:00:09,739 --> 00:00:11,001
How do I get going?
3
00:00:11,001 --> 00:00:17,908
I think that's where, I think that's, once we cross that, that's gonna get us into the
four, five, six and beyond.
4
00:00:25,774 --> 00:00:26,304
Hey, everybody.
5
00:00:26,304 --> 00:00:29,334
Welcome back to the Builder 365 podcast.
6
00:00:29,334 --> 00:00:34,204
Jeff Shore here along with my co -host and very, very good friend, Ryan Taft.
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How you doing, Ryan?
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You know, live in the dream as they say, live in the dream.
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Indeed.
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We are right.
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We're recording this coming off of our sales and marketing leadership summit in Nashville.
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Great fun.
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Of course.
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What was the highlight for you?
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Or just give us one of the highlights from our time together in Nashville.
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One.
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Just one.
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I mean, because I want to say the Back to the Future skit, of course, but.
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Seeing Ryan Taft as Marty McFly.
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And I mean right down to, you know, the vest, puffy jacket, the white shirt with the black
stripes, the red tennis shoe, the whole nine yards.
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It was amazing.
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How long did it take to find that exact outfit?
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Actually, it came in a package all together, except the shoes.
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I had to go get the shoes separately.
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Yeah.
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for sure, but everything else really was packaged up.
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so that was fun.
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But, you know, really the big highlight to me, Jeff, is really the reunion of all of it,
right?
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Getting to see all of the people that we have known, you know, whether they're people
we've worked with for a decade or more, or even some of the new folks and getting to meet
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some of the folks who are just getting introduced to all things, sure consulting.
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overall, it's just a great time.
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It really was.
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And to compliment
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the Marty McFly there.
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had Brian Walter dressed as Doc Brown and our friends at CMG Home Loans brought in a
DeLorean replica from the actual movie.
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So it was really, really cool.
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We had such a great time at the summit.
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Lots and lots of fun.
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And one of the people that we love hanging out with the summit is our good friends at Open
Door.
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Special thanks to our partners in this podcast.
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Builder 365 is powered by Open Door for builders, easy sales,
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Smooth Moves.
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You can learn more about the work they do to support home builders at opendoor .com slash
builder 365.
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Ryan, let's talk a little bit.
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Here's a quick trivia, a little housing trivia for you.
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Research tells us that the most important room in the home for women is the kitchen.
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Here's a question.
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What's the most important room for men?
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Well, if they're smart, it's the kitchen.
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I'm tracking with you.
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Well, as it so turns out, they must be smart because it is actually the kitchen that
that's that came in at number one.
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Well done, gentlemen.
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Well done.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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Yeah.
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After you get past the kitchen, now everything changes.
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But the kitchen is the number one most important room for everybody.
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It's a really, really interesting as we look at that.
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Why do you?
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Do you think that the motivation is the same, Ryan, for men and women when it comes to
their affection for the kitchen?
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I don't think so.
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I think I think there's probably a little bit of a difference, you know, when I think of
like what for me, it's food, right?
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That's where the food is.
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So that's that's that's that's the attractor.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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But I feel like, you know, it's command central for for Melissa.
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Right.
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It's it's where all things are.
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Organized from all things are seen right with an open plan, etc.
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So I think there is little bit of a difference Yeah, yeah, there's one other side of it
too.
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And and that is that to me the kitchen is almost a medallion For the home.
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I want that kitchen to be kind of a showpiece For for our home.
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So yeah, I don't mind that it's a that it's that it's a beautiful kitchen, you know Here's
what's also this interesting
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as important as the kitchen is, it might be lessening out just a little bit.
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And Nolan, I'm going to have you put a chart up on the screen here and see we have an
ongoing, interesting, and potentially disturbing trend in America.
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We eat out a lot.
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And if you look at that graph, that is that's stunning.
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Does that does that surprise you here, Ryan?
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I'm sorry.
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For those of who can't see the graph, what it says is now we have gone from going back
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just really not that long ago, 25 years ago, 59 % of money we spent was food at home, 41 %
was out of the house.
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Now we're at 53 % of our food budget is spent outside the house, 47 % spent eating at
home.
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Does that surprise you, Ryan?
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It actually doesn't.
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You know, when you look at, especially now, right, if you look at the costs of
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groceries and inflation and things like that.
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You people are searching for cheaper alternatives than you add into it.
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The complexity of life.
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I was sold this lie and I don't know how you feel about this, but I was told technology
and everything was going to make everything easier.
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We're going to get more time and you know, that's just not true, man.
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I feel like I, someone said to the other, said to me the other day, said, man, I was so
bored last week.
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I'm like, bored?
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I haven't been bored since like the Reagan administration.
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I don't even know how that's possible.
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But we're just so busy that it seems to me that eating out is sort of a, eating no longer
is this culinary experience that we have at the family table.
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And if you do kudos, keep that up.
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But most people is sort of a check the box I ate.
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Let me get back to it.
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Right.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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I think it also explains a lot of the, frankly, financial ruin and credit card debt that
we see for the people who eat out without really thinking about
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how that adds up over time.
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There's no question about it.
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Eating at home is substantially less expensive than eating on the road.
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I know, you know, right now, and I confess, Karen and I, this probably, you we don't, we
don't buy a new car every year.
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You know, we, haven't moved in 10 years.
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have no plans to, but when it comes to eating out, that's, I think that's where we blow
the budget.
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But having said that a long time ago, when we wanted to get our, our financial house in
order, when we were way in debt,
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This is the first thing we attacked was our eating out budget and it made a huge impact on
our financial lives.
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Absolutely.
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And this is where we do as well, you know, being on the road as much as I am and then
Melissa being home while I'm gone.
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The trade off then is well, when I come home, when there's one day at home, this is a
weekends, one day at home and then one day we go out.
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so our food is absolutely blown.
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because of that.
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again, I don't spend.
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We don't have debt.
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don't have...
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We're not out buying a whole lot of garbage.
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We like to invest and save our money, but food is where we do spend money.
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Yeah, right.
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You know, the one thing that we have to look at here as it relates to home buyers out
there is that these are busy people.
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They are out and around all the time.
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That might actually help us in one extent, because one of the objections that we tend to
get is the old lot size objection.
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This home site is too small.
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But if we stop and look and go, yeah, we're spending less and less time at home as it is.
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Maybe that's not a big addition as it might have been at some point in the future.
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It very interesting.
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We'll continue to spot trends that are going on around the industry and we'll bring them
to you here on Builder 365.
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But now we're going to bring you a great conversation with Alex Hunter.
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He is an accomplished
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storyteller.
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He's a distinguished marketing leader.
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He is the vice president of marketing at Hi Arc.
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Hi Arc is a cloud technology company for home builders and they sort of take all of the
complexities and they make them really, really easy.
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Alex held key roles at tech giants like Apple and Google.
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He is representing the millennials in a big way.
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worked on marketing campaigns for things like the Apple Watch SE and the Google Nest Smart
Displays.
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great guy, fascinating conversation.
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Please welcome Alex Hunter.
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Well, Alex, thanks for joining us.
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We appreciate it.
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Just for context, give our audience, if you would please, just an overview.
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Tell us about the service that HiArc provides to home builders so they have a sense of who
it is that you are and what it is that you do.
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For sure.
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Yeah.
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Thanks for having me, Jeff.
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Yeah.
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My name is Alex and HiArc is all about helping home builders design, sell and build
faster.
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And we do that with a single connected platform as a service.
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We've been around for about
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six, seven years now and just had some really exciting momentum with a number of
production builders across the country.
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And, you know, we had a great show a couple of weeks ago in Nashville and talked to a
number of sales and marketing leaders that are also loving what we do as that's an element
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of it.
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But yeah, it's a little bit about high arc and, kind of what we're up to.
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it.
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You know, it's interesting because the service that you provide app, there's no question
about it.
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I've talked to many of my clients who.
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have benefited in the way that it has made it easier for them to do business and keep
track of what is otherwise a very complicated business.
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But what I really want to focus on today, and this is why I wanted you on the podcast, was
the subject of personalized experiences that trickle down all the way to the home buyer.
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So when I think about what's going on in the United States right now and actually
globally,
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There's such a trend for personalization and a real attraction to personalized services.
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So I think about, you know, Indochino making men's custom -made suits for under $500 or
Disney Vacation Services building bespoke vacations for people.
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Talk a little about your approach to personalization and the trends that you're seeing in
the area of personalization.
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Yeah, it's a great call out, Jeff, because I think in your kind of some of those brands
you're bringing up kind of hit on that point of
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We've seen that right in our own lives from a consumer standpoint, and that's just working
its way across a variety of industries.
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And so, there's this really interesting McKinsey study from a couple of years ago about
what buyers expect on personalization.
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It's about 70%, almost three quarters of folks are looking for that.
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And millennials like myself, I'm at very tail end of that.
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expect it, right?
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And may choose not to go with someone if they don't offer a personalized experience.
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And so we're just, you know, with the builders that we're working with across the country,
we're seeing that request come up more and more as they, as folks are looking to adopt,
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like, hey, how can I make my product or this community stand out to the buyers with all
this increasing competition?
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And it's in part due to that just consumer trend of all those apps we've been using in our
life, Amazon and Best Buy.
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and even Panera and so and so forth, right?
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Those are all working its way into the home building industry, which I think is a really
exciting opportunity, you know?
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Do you think that, especially millennials, you speak on behalf of the millennials, if you
will please, are they being literally trained by other organizations to look at it and
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say, well, know, the service department and my car dealership can do this and even
Starbucks knows my order.
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How you should be able to figure this out.
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Do you, that transfer from one industry into the next as, as, as far as what the
expectations are for, for our customers?
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Yeah, I think so.
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We've seen, I think you've seen that on both the retail side, working its way into things
like you mentioned automotive, right.
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And the whole car buying experience.
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mean, Carvana and, and, you know, room and services like that came well after we were able
to, you know,
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buy online, pick up store or customize our computer and so on and so forth.
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And it really comes down to these consumers, our frame of reference, Is what, is how they
view any new brands or new experiences they encounter.
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And so one thing I like to say, it's a little mantra we have internally is, to builders
that we talked to is like, you are a tech company, whether you realize it or not to
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millennials.
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That's just the expectation.
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And that of course, as the overarching umbrella brings that, okay, you know, I'm engaging
with this company, this brand, they should be tech forward.
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How are they going to personalize the experience and really make my journey a delightful
one?
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And, you know, some, some people are taking advantage of that.
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Others aren't quite yet, but I think, I think we're heading in that direction for sure.
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How great the industry, the home building industry, as you've had the chance to be able to
see what builders are doing, you provide.
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solutions to them.
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How are we doing when it comes to adopting new and very innovative tech solutions?
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Are we still in the archaic mode or are we about where you would expect us to be?
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How are we doing on the rate of adoption?
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Yeah, it's a loaded question.
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So if you see a drop off in your listenership right after my answer, we'll know why.
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Okay, there you go.
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Fair enough.
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Fair enough.
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You know, I think on a scale of one to 10, I'd say we're in that
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We're kind of in the third inning, right?
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Is what I would say.
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construction, home construction as a whole, historical, and there's plenty of studies that
back this up about it lags when it comes to that technology adoption.
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I think that's a relatively well -known thing and stated fact.
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And so taking on something like personalization is difficult, right?
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For builders and so.
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I'd say in that third, fourth inning, we're starting to see, you know, turn a corner.
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People now are not looking at technology and personalization as a, eh, I'm not sure I
really need that versus, okay, I know I need it, but now where do I place my bets?
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How do I get going?
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I think that's where, I think that's, once we cross that, that's gonna get us into the
four, five, six and beyond.
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But it does seem to me that,
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the demand is going to lead the way rather than the availability.
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It is what customers are going to need to see.
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So, you know, I, I, I, we work with builders that they still think having a, you know, a
USB port in an outlet is cutting edge technology out there.
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You can't even tell them that USB -C exists though.
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It'll just blow their mind.
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But, but when you look at a home automation,
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It seems to me this should be a playground for builders because there are so many
opportunities out there.
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And I wonder if it's the complexity more than anything else of introducing these things
that makes builders resistant.
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What is your experience there?
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Yeah.
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I mean, on, on the, are you talking smart home side specifically?
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Yeah, sure.
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Yeah.
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Right.
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Anything having to do with, home tech and smart homes.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Smart home tech.
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You know, it's, it's a really interesting one.
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because it's definitely a category.
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And we had a conference a couple of months ago, the Housing Transformation Summit, where
one of our folks, Connor, talked about this and the challenges that smart tech adoption
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really presents to builders.
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it's, you because you've got these multiple ecosystems.
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You've got Alexa, you've got Apple and HomeKit, you've got Google, and you've got all
these different manufacturers.
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And it makes, it's like,
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You know, what money can I actually make there?
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I think is a question that builders often kind of face, right?
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But yes, you know, when you offer an option like like a smart home or a home automation
tech where, where a buyer could truly personalize the home that they walk into on day one,
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it's, you know, it's a bit of a complicated mess.
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And I think part of it, it's because it's an afterthought.
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They don't start at the plan level, right?
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When, when, when it comes to designing the community or the home plan.
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And you know, you've got third party integrators that you have to work with all the time.
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but there's a, there's a few builders that I think, a brazo homes and, land sea are really
embracing that personalization of smart home tech for their builders upfront.
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And they're really making it a part of their experience versus, if I can't make enough
margin on it, I'm not really going to offer it.
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but it really could be.
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a differentiating factor there.
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But I think to your point, like I would love to do more improvements in my own home.
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The problem is the platforms that, know, I'm an Apple guy.
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I know how my iPad works, but not everything sinks, right?
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So, so, you know, when you look at your different, your different systems, they don't all
talk.
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Is there, I had read, I don't know, last year sometime about all of the different
platforms, trying to find a common language so that you could be able to work across
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platforms.
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Is there progress on that?
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Yeah, it's definitely, it was an exciting thing that came, that got on the radar a couple
of years ago, right?
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When I, during my time back at, well, yeah, I've been on both sides of the spectrum with
both Google and Apple.
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It was always this like friction of device compatibility and so and so forth.
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And my wife has definitely given me a hard time because I had Alexa when it first came out
and then I went to work for Google.
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I got rid of all my Amazon devices and got Google assistant.
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And then I went back to Apple and then I
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got rid of all my Google devices and added Siri.
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And she was like, Alex, I don't know what to yell, hey, act, drive me nuts.
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And so I think a lot of consumers feel the same way.
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Like, what do I, where do I start with all these three?
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But that shared language between devices is continuing to make progress.
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So whatever ecosystem you pick revolving around just one, it's going to come about.
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But we've definitely seen that.
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start to take shape and like manufacturers like Philips, right?
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And others are having forward compatible devices that they're launching that even if
you're gonna go in a retrofit your home, you shouldn't have a problem having it work with
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whether you have Siri Alexa or the Google assistant in your house.
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Do you have some favorite home tech?
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man, I'm like you, I'm big HomeKit fan boy.
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Like I got all my stuff in one app.
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And so I think, you know.
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For me, security has always been like the core staple.
283
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And so the Yale locks, would only highly recommend Schlage just came out with one where
you can actually use your watch to bump into your, know, tap to get into your house, which
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makes me want to go out and spend $300 just to switch smart door locks, which my wife
would be like, I don't understand, but you know, it's one second faster for me to do that.
285
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So I think those are definitely two and then Phillips Hue.
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mean, from a lighting standpoint, that's something a lot.
287
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can just go out and start tomorrow.
288
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And so it's really fun at the holidays to set all the different, different colors and
everything.
289
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Right.
290
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Right.
291
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Yeah.
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I love my wifi enabled locks and it, and I travel a lot.
293
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So it's, it's nice to know, you know, if, if, if I'm gone, I want to check and see if the
house is locked up.
294
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If I've got somebody coming over to the house, I can unlock it for him.
295
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It is, it's, it's fantastic.
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Yeah.
297
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Yeah.
298
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Yeah, the one thing that I have not invested in, and I saw this at the Builders Show
several years ago, was a pad, a sensor pad that goes under the carpet next to your bed.
299
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And when you step on it in the middle of the night, it lights up your baseboards all the
way from your bed to your toilet.
300
00:19:44,879 --> 00:19:48,830
And as somebody who suffered a broken toe in the middle of the night,
301
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I can just tell you right now that that is that is one I don't know why it doesn't exist
in my home yet.
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I've got to put that in there.
303
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I would buy that right now.
304
00:19:57,676 --> 00:20:07,593
And I think those are some the spoke experiences that know, whether purchase or builder
can offer because I don't think you know, I think personalization is kind of going that
305
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touching on that topic for a second.
306
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I would love for the like the devices to respond to me as I navigate around the house.
307
00:20:13,537 --> 00:20:15,168
I don't we're not even there yet on that.
308
00:20:15,168 --> 00:20:16,048
Right.
309
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And so stuff like that.
310
00:20:18,312 --> 00:20:25,464
Okay, so let's talk about tech learning and we'll bring AI into the conversation here as
well, because you're right.
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00:20:25,464 --> 00:20:36,587
mean, ultimately, the best way to do that is to have a robot follow me around the house,
see the way that I live, and then come along and say, well, what you really need is a
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sensor out of the carpet for when you get up in the middle of the night.
313
00:20:39,728 --> 00:20:46,650
But when you are thinking about the evolution of AI, how
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do you see that fitting into the discussion specifically on personalization?
315
00:20:52,776 --> 00:20:59,739
mean, it seems to me that that question will evolve, but the possibilities are endless.
316
00:20:59,739 --> 00:21:01,730
Yeah, no, I couldn't agree more.
317
00:21:01,730 --> 00:21:09,523
I think AI is really going to be, really unlock personalization for both builders and
businesses across the spectrum, right?
318
00:21:09,523 --> 00:21:13,855
Because as you feed these models, your information, right?
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When you're logged in, it,
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00:21:15,906 --> 00:21:18,527
continues to, it's contextual, right?
321
00:21:18,527 --> 00:21:23,049
And I've seen that my own just as I continue to ChatGPT on a regular basis.
322
00:21:23,049 --> 00:21:26,260
I don't have to go remember that question I asked it three weeks ago.
323
00:21:26,260 --> 00:21:28,931
It has that background.
324
00:21:28,971 --> 00:21:35,174
And so I think that's going to just enable these really incredible experiences.
325
00:21:35,174 --> 00:21:38,555
I think the challenge really comes down to like privacy, right?
326
00:21:38,555 --> 00:21:45,618
And what you're willing to kind of provide and give up and share with these models.
327
00:21:46,687 --> 00:21:57,636
I, you know, we, we, we've seen some great progress on, on our side, with, you know, with
high arc as well in, in, in terms of kind of in a, you know, leveraging that technology to
328
00:21:57,636 --> 00:22:08,004
just speed up things that I was wanted to do, on a regular basis or give us an example,
give us one way that you guys have figured out how to speed things up and, and be able to
329
00:22:08,004 --> 00:22:10,626
streamline an otherwise complicated process.
330
00:22:10,626 --> 00:22:11,547
Yeah.
331
00:22:11,547 --> 00:22:15,500
it's, it's this idea of like a co -pilot, right?
332
00:22:16,018 --> 00:22:24,498
and so it w like I, when I'm going and I'm going through and like designing a home,
there's certain things that I need to kind of put in place.
333
00:22:24,938 --> 00:22:27,278
and so, rooms, for example, right?
334
00:22:27,278 --> 00:22:30,678
Every home you got, you generally kind of do a layout or the first floor.
335
00:22:30,678 --> 00:22:37,838
And so we'll have this, generative AI or generative modeling that allows me to like do it
10 X faster.
336
00:22:38,028 --> 00:22:40,828
and it, it kind of, it auto builds that layout.
337
00:22:40,828 --> 00:22:44,518
And so while I think it's a little bit of a stretch on personalization,
338
00:22:44,866 --> 00:22:56,949
The idea is that we've really been able to start tapping into the power of that generative
design and AI to just accelerate workflows that people have had to do for years or decades
339
00:22:57,009 --> 00:22:58,090
very manually.
340
00:22:58,090 --> 00:23:04,651
And so that's been a big win for us that our customers have been able to take advantage of
as well.
341
00:23:04,791 --> 00:23:05,712
So I think that's a good example.
342
00:23:05,712 --> 00:23:14,176
But you have to have something like that if you're going to personalize because otherwise,
I think most builders look and say personalization equals complexity.
343
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and complexity threatens quality and efficiency and a lack of quality and efficiency hurts
my bottom line.
344
00:23:21,179 --> 00:23:24,550
So if we can't connect those dots, we're gonna have a problem.
345
00:23:24,550 --> 00:23:35,995
If you were starting Alex Hunter Homes tomorrow, and I gave you three different ways to do
this, one is build a home that was like technically tricked out and then you'd have to
346
00:23:35,995 --> 00:23:41,117
sell the heck out of it because you're gonna have to charge a lot of money here because
everything's already included.
347
00:23:41,117 --> 00:23:43,480
Option two is to say I've got three,
348
00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:53,633
tech packages for you, pick one and we're gonna build it efficiently or option three,
here's the base price and here's a thousand different personalization options on it.
349
00:23:53,633 --> 00:23:55,233
How would you approach this?
350
00:23:55,233 --> 00:23:57,814
Yeah, that's a good question.
351
00:23:58,594 --> 00:24:08,777
I would go route number two and without giving you the who wants to be a millionaire
answer, the third one's very daunting, right?
352
00:24:08,777 --> 00:24:09,858
It's kind of this idea.
353
00:24:09,858 --> 00:24:11,658
It reminds me of like, man,
354
00:24:11,866 --> 00:24:18,790
When I had a ton of time and Dell first came out, I could pick every different component
in my computer.
355
00:24:18,990 --> 00:24:20,731
Sure, I'd be happy to do that.
356
00:24:20,731 --> 00:24:27,024
But the idea of having to pick all these different items for my home would just over...
357
00:24:27,024 --> 00:24:29,896
You have cognitive overload is what I like to call it.
358
00:24:29,896 --> 00:24:34,678
And so I think this select choice is this perfect middle ground.
359
00:24:34,919 --> 00:24:38,201
And we did this with how we sold product to at Apple.
360
00:24:38,201 --> 00:24:40,782
And I think there's a number of builders that are doing this as well.
361
00:24:40,782 --> 00:24:50,922
this idea of packages and really curating the experience while it can still feel
personalized, I think is a really powerful value proposition.
362
00:24:50,922 --> 00:24:58,512
Cause ultimately you're eliminating friction yet, you know, you're giving this buyer the
sense of I'm still getting to choose my own adventure.
363
00:24:58,512 --> 00:25:00,702
think car manufacturers have done this really well.
364
00:25:00,702 --> 00:25:08,834
they've, you know, maybe it's like three options and maybe it's like 10 packages now, but
that's how, you know, if Alex Hunter Holmes was in existence,
365
00:25:08,834 --> 00:25:16,010
I spend a lot of time understanding my customers, knowing what they want and going route
number two.
366
00:25:16,010 --> 00:25:18,342
That's a question though.
367
00:25:18,342 --> 00:25:20,774
It's a fascinating conversation.
368
00:25:20,774 --> 00:25:27,950
I'd love to be able to play this back three years from now and see where we're at because
things are changing that quickly.
369
00:25:27,950 --> 00:25:30,531
How can people learn more about HiArc, Alex?
370
00:25:30,632 --> 00:25:34,574
Yeah, you can visit us online at hiarc .com.
371
00:25:34,915 --> 00:25:37,247
Definitely welcome to connect with a member of our team.
372
00:25:37,247 --> 00:25:38,758
We'd to have a chat with you.
373
00:25:38,830 --> 00:25:41,404
but yeah, definitely check the website or follow us on LinkedIn.
374
00:25:41,404 --> 00:25:48,504
We're always posting some fun and helpful content for, sales and marketing folks and
builders alike to, to take a look at.
375
00:25:48,504 --> 00:25:48,694
it.
376
00:25:48,694 --> 00:25:49,344
Well, it's interesting.
377
00:25:49,344 --> 00:25:51,567
It's fascinating stuff is cutting edge.
378
00:25:51,618 --> 00:25:52,779
it sounds like it's fun to be you.
379
00:25:52,779 --> 00:25:54,732
Thanks for spending a few minutes with us, Alex.
380
00:25:54,732 --> 00:25:55,212
You bet.
381
00:25:55,212 --> 00:25:56,493
Thanks so much, Jeff.
382
00:26:00,034 --> 00:26:01,004
There you go, Ryan.
383
00:26:01,004 --> 00:26:04,056
And Alex is all about his smart home.
384
00:26:04,056 --> 00:26:07,939
He's not the only person you and I have had this conversation before.
385
00:26:07,939 --> 00:26:12,661
You really that's one of the things that you really get a kick out of is smartifying your
home.
386
00:26:12,661 --> 00:26:13,502
Tell us about that.
387
00:26:13,502 --> 00:26:16,253
You know, I I've always been interested in this.
388
00:26:16,253 --> 00:26:28,398
And I again, if you go back to my early childhood, there was a couple of traumatic things
that happened that caused me to be a little concerned about kind of like home safety.
389
00:26:28,398 --> 00:26:44,298
One is I remember the night stalker in the 80s was Had had a victim that was 20 minutes
from my house my dad had been barricaded in our garage and held by knife point and Was
390
00:26:44,298 --> 00:26:53,448
forced to empty out our house when I was in eighth grade So I've always been interested in
home safety and so it started there for me with cameras, right?
391
00:26:53,448 --> 00:26:57,038
Just being able to have eyes on especially because I travel for a living
392
00:26:57,038 --> 00:26:59,158
to be able to know what's going on.
393
00:26:59,158 --> 00:27:03,118
So literally there is, there's not one inch of my property that I can't see what's going
on.
394
00:27:03,118 --> 00:27:04,998
And I love having that automation.
395
00:27:04,998 --> 00:27:11,238
Then there's the convenience factor for me too, Jeff, like to be able to not have to get
out of bed to shut the light off that I forgot.
396
00:27:11,238 --> 00:27:13,168
Like I love that.
397
00:27:13,168 --> 00:27:18,718
I love that my home alarm system goes on automatically at 10 30 every single night.
398
00:27:18,718 --> 00:27:23,798
My garage door automatically shuts if I accidentally leave it open at a certain time.
399
00:27:23,798 --> 00:27:26,582
yeah, the easier I can make my life.
400
00:27:26,582 --> 00:27:29,013
and not have to think about things, the better.
401
00:27:29,013 --> 00:27:34,055
So I'm all in on home automation without a question.
402
00:27:34,055 --> 00:27:40,968
That is to me the biggest benefit of all kinds of tech is to free up mental space.
403
00:27:40,968 --> 00:27:43,959
So I don't have to think about things that I otherwise would have to look at.
404
00:27:43,959 --> 00:27:54,244
I'm not nearly as advanced as you are, but there are things that I look at and I go, it is
really nice to know that I can lock and unlock my doors without having to be close by in
405
00:27:54,244 --> 00:27:55,514
order to do it.
406
00:27:55,798 --> 00:28:02,502
I'm really interested in kind of what happens next in some of the new and innovative stuff
that's still coming down the pipe.
407
00:28:02,502 --> 00:28:04,163
you heard Alex talk about this.
408
00:28:04,163 --> 00:28:07,946
We're still pretty behind as an industry into what's going to happen.
409
00:28:07,946 --> 00:28:12,078
But I think it's got to happen through the new home industry.
410
00:28:12,078 --> 00:28:17,071
Retrofitting older homes, way more difficult than building it that way in the first place.
411
00:28:17,071 --> 00:28:22,734
So kudos to those builders who are on the cutting edge of building very, very smart homes.
412
00:28:22,734 --> 00:28:24,114
Well, there you have it, everybody.
413
00:28:24,114 --> 00:28:27,134
Another episode of the Builder 365 podcast.
414
00:28:27,134 --> 00:28:28,994
Always good spending time with you.
415
00:28:28,994 --> 00:28:30,014
Good spending time with you, Ryan.
416
00:28:30,014 --> 00:28:32,314
Enjoyed the conversation as always.
417
00:28:32,314 --> 00:28:35,104
Please, please, please share, share, share.
418
00:28:35,104 --> 00:28:36,444
Send a social media link.
419
00:28:36,444 --> 00:28:39,013
Let people know about the Builder 365 podcast.
420
00:28:39,013 --> 00:28:40,534
We sure appreciated that.
421
00:28:40,534 --> 00:28:42,174
Until next time.
422
00:28:42,174 --> 00:28:42,774
Take care.
423
00:28:42,774 --> 00:28:44,114
Go change the world.
