Housing Giants - June 10, 2008 - (Page 19)

up For review Wall Homes’ revieW team keeps floor plans fresH. Chief of Staff Erin Kolp (center) participates in the analysis of floor plans during a regular plan review session. One of the unique aspects of product development at Wall Homes is the plan review process. Organized by Kelly Pollard, the plan review team meets regularly to assess plans and make changes. It is the make-up of the team that provides the uniqueness. Most companies include designers as well as marketing and sales representatives, of course, but the Wall Homes team includes division managers, builders, land acquisitions managers, the chief financial officer and others. “I wanted representation from all sorts of demographic groups,” Wall says. “So I put together a committee of people to go in and tear apart these designs.” The difficulty of pulling this all together falls to Pollard, who needs to make sure the construction and purchasing requirements are carefully controlled and precise. This is, after all, a production builder environment. However, during www.Housinggiants.com the review process, the ideas and feedback can get a little out of control. “You develop a plan and everyone says this looks good,” Wall says. “But what would happen, people would say, ‘You know, I don’t know.’ Then they go back and they’d see something they didn’t see the first time. It really takes a person who is very task-driven and just drives them crazy, but it works. I love the way it works because of the diversity of the people in there.” Pollard maintains control by making sure the team retains minimums for things like square footage of closets and bedrooms to meet market standards. The company doesn’t want to get those items out of whack. “But what it allows us to do,” continues Wall, “is take proven design, proven layouts, and we can do things with them that we hadn’t done before. “It makes a big difference.” 6.10.08.Housing giants 19 http://www.housinggiants.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Housing Giants - June 10, 2008

Housing Giants - June 10, 2008 Contents Viewpoint News & Moves Market CEO of the Year

Housing Giants - June 10, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.