Membership Increases to Fifteen as Four Top Regional Builders Join New Home Builder Consortium
Austin, Texas – March 13, 2001 Builder Homesite, Inc., the emerging new home technology consortium founded by 10 of the top US homebuilders to develop web-based solutions for the homebuilding market, announced today that four top regional builders have joined the consortium in the last two weeks, bringing the membership ranks up to fifteen.
Joining the consortium is Gateway Homes, ranked 117 in the 2000 Builder400 building affordable homes with quality features in the Texas market; Highland Homes, ranked 35 in the 2000 Builder400, an innovator in design touches and space usage concepts with communities in Texas and Georgia; Medallion Homes, ranked 123 in the 2000 Builder400 headquartered in San Antonio and nationally recognized as a leader in the deployment of innovative building science-based homes; Ryan Building Group, ranked 105 in the 2000 Builder400, a family owned Midwest builder focused on energy efficient quality homes. David Weekley Homes, ranked 26th by 2000 Builder400, joined in February 2001.
Builder Homesite is backed, endorsed and driven by a consortium of the nation’s premier homebuilders and focused on improving the home selection, buying and ownership experience through the use of online technologies. BHI products are being designed to provide consortium members with the benefits of new sources of revenue from an open, un-biased new home channel, reduced technology acquisition costs and the monetization of each builders’ home and community assets. The fifteen consortium members represent over $31 billion dollars in gross revenue for 2000 and build over 150,000 homes in thirty states across the continental US.
“The challenge for non-member builders is how to make a craft-oriented, labor intensive, low-tech industry take a vertical jump in sophistication to actively leverage the benefits of the Internet and create a new marketplace without disrupting their day-to-day business,” commented Tim Costello, President and CEO of Builder Homesite. “That is the power and value of the consortium. The member builders now have a wholly-owned third party focused on solving their biggest problems . . . of the builders. . . for the builders.”
New Home Industry
Currently, the new home market is estimated to be a $230 billion market in the United States. PaineWebber’s eBuilder Report states that builders effectively using the Internet could see profits per-home improving by up to 30% in the next ten years. Consumer use of the Internet during the home selection process is increasing–research studies show that 62% of all new homebuyers already use the web for sources of information and service. Other research has revealed that over 85% of consumers will use or plan to use the Internet to shop for homes in the next two years.
About Gateway Homes
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Gateway Homes was founded in 1990 to provide Texas families with beautiful, distinctive, quality constructed homes at affordable prices. Gateway Homes currently has over eighteen communities under construction.
About Highland Homes
Founded over 15 years ago, Highland Homes builds over 1,800 homes annually in Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio, Texas and Atlanta Georgia. Highland is a family-owned and operated company that focuses on providing their customers with outstanding design and customer service second to none.
About Medallion Homes
Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Medallion Homes was founded in 1995 to provide Texas families with exceptional value and unprecedented features in homes that are built with environmentally friendly building practices. Medallion has won over 18 national, state and local awards for innovations, products and services, and are nationally recognized as a leader in the deployment of innovative building science-based homes. Medallion, currently is building in over sixteen communities in the San Antonio metro area.
About Ryan Building Group
Ryan Building Group, a family-owned, family-operated builder founded in 1992, is committed to providing value and quality homes to families in the Midwest. Ryan Building Group builds in Illinois and Wisconsin as William Ryan Homes and in Ohio as Williamsburg Homes.
About David Weekley Homes
David Weekley Homes, founded in 1976, builds in 14 cities from Colorado to the Carolinas and is the second largest privately held builder in America. The company was named one of the “Top 100 Companies to Work For” in Fortune Magazine in 1999 and 2000, and has received the following awards: National Builder of the Year, America’s Best Builder, and the National Housing Quality Award.
About Builder Homesite, Inc. and NewHomeSource.com
Founded in Austin, TX in 2000 by a consortium of 32 of the nation’s largest homebuilders, Builder Homesite, Inc. (BHI) represents over 225,000 new home sales annually. BHI’s mission is to offer improved technology and marketing solutions for the new home industry. The first product by Builder Homesite is NewHomeSource.com, a consumer website offering the most comprehensive information and selection of new homes available on the Internet. Because of the extensive distribution network, more and more builders are making BHI their entry point into the Internet. By providing data to New Home Source, builders can also participate in BHI online partner channels, including Yahoo, eBay, CitySearch, Homegain, newspaper and realtor websites.
If you are a member of the media and have a question or interview request, please contact:
- Eleanor Bowman
(512) 413-5278