Evolving Our Company: Transformations in the Last 6 Months

TLDR

- The "Freedom Initiative" was implemented to create and enforce systems for communication, documentation, and efficiency within the company.

- The outdated systems could have improved efficiency and communication, causing delays.

- The Permitting and Construction department experimented with different solutions, settling on Buildertrend and integrating an analytics dashboard on Odoo.

- The Marketing department was overhauled, elevating the approach, appointing a dedicated marketing director, recruiting an intern, and collaborating with a professional film company for content creation.

- The Sales department now uses Odoo's robust CRM to manage leads and engage with potential clients proactively.

- The company aims to cut construction times by 20%, cut budget by 10%, and increase projects by 10% over the next three years.

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For the past six months, we have been implementing the "Freedom Initiative," which is an effort to create and enforce systems within our company. These systems will enhance communication, documentation, and efficiency within our company. We have run our company in a very mom-and-pop fashion for several years with no systems, accountability, or data. We knew the job was getting done, and we were making money, so we were okay with the lack of procedures. This was fine with a team of 10 people building 20 homes a year. We realized this system doesn't scale to 900 houses, so the initiative was born. The changes within our different departments have been monumental, reshaping how we function, communicate, and excel in our respective fields. Although I can write an entire blog on each department, I will give a brief overview.

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Permitting and Construction

Before

Our systems were outdated—relying on Excel sheets and fragmented communication. Important data was hidden in various places, causing a mess that hindered our efficiency. In my last blog(link), I wrote about the importance of communication within these two departments. With our old processes, contact was very broken, which resulted in delays that could have easily been avoided.

Transitional Efforts