Business View - January 2016 27
vidson said, helps maintain uniformity during the con-
struction process for multiple homes and eliminates
the need for Van Metre to buy supplies from outside
businesses.
“It goes right out of the architect’s CAD into a panel
design, and I’m able to repeat the house over and over
again, which speaks to quality,” he said. “I don’t want
somebody in the same house type saying that a wall
is different or something else is different. We have re-
fined that by being in that business.
“If I was dealing with a supply company I wasn’t part-
nering with, or that wasn’t part of me, that would nev-
er happen. We’re able to work together efficiently, to
make one and one equal three.”
The top company priority – with 3,500 units in its in-
ventory and an annual absorption rate of 500 per year
– is to expand lot supply by looking into new markets,
based on a logical geographic extension of existing
territory. Second on the future-focused list is addition
of after-market business operations, such as remodel-
ing, to further the connection with an already sizable
customer base.
“It’s something that I don’t want to jump into headfirst
without making sure that we have the right people to
do it,” Davidson said. “But we recognize that it’s an
obvious off-spin of what we do.
“We have a design studio that people pick out their
finishes in and they walk through all the time, and it’s
another way to monetize that. We’re doing $14 or $15
million worth of business in there and I’d like to turn
it into a retail operation and expand our brand. That’s
something that’s on the horizon, whether it’s this year
or next year, but certainly within the next five years.”
CONSTRUCTION
