Jim Walter Homes recently shattered its own speed record by building a 3-bedroom, 2-bath house in just 38 days.
It normally takes the low-cost Tampa home builder about 84 days to complete a new house, from foundation to finish. But good weather, new computer software and a revised staffing plan set the pace for the 1,152-square-foot, $65,050 house in Monroe, La.
"There's a major push in our home building companies to reduce cycle time," said Kyle Parks, spokesman for parent company Walter Industries. "It allows us to build more houses with the same number of people, but it's also a cash issue. We certainly don't want our materials lying on the ground."
Over the past year, Walter spent millions of dollars converting its paper-based forms and processes to digital ones. Almost everything is kept online now, including customer preferences, permit requests, and names and prices of local contractors and suppliers. From Jim Walter's Tampa headquarters, staff can monitor the progress of any home building project and spot trends, such as a lumber shortage in eastern Texas or cost overruns in Alabama.
Project coordinators handle the data input for each project, a new arrangement that allows construction supervisors to spend time at build sites rather than in the office.
Is quality suffering? No way, Parks said. If anything, construction supervisors will be able to keep an even closer eye on subcontractors.
But the 38-day miracle is by no means the norm yet. During the quarter ended Sept. 30, Jim Walter completed just 824 homes, 10 percent fewer than it did the year before.
The reason? Growing pains associated with its recent staff reorganization and software implementation, the company said in a news release last week.
