**We’re excited to bring you another Guest Post from our very own, Steve Raemisch.  Steve is one of our Production Managers here at Veridian Homes and has insight into all aspects that go into a home build.  We’re excited to hear his take on the culture that takes place at Veridian.** 

Building a new home is one of the most exciting endeavors in anyone’s life. The thought of finally moving into your new home where all of your new memories will be made is much like the anticipation that fills one’s heart during the holiday season, a birthday or a special anniversary.

Many people think of all the selections and finishes that will go into their home – for good reason. These are the things you’ll see and use everyday. Cabinets, trim colors, flooring, countertops, lighting and plumbing fixtures all add to the uniqueness in each new home. These are some of the things that go into building a great home, and every home has them. But there is one thing that goes into our homes that sets us apart from the rest – it’s our Team!

At Veridian Homes, you are not just buying a house, you are partnering with us to build a home. And not just with us, but with all of our Trade Partners too. We are all Team Veridian. What else goes into our homes?

WE ARE ABOUT PEOPLE.

With any good team, it begins and ends with people – good people, team players! What has made the history of the Green Bay Packers so great are all of its great players. All you have to say is Lombardi, Starr, Horning, Nitschke, Kramer, Favre, Driver, Howard, and Rodgers. Nothing needs to be added.  At Veridian Homes, we understand the importance of hiring and working with good people.

We are picky.  We go through an extensive process when hiring new people to join our team. Yes, we look for talent and skills. Experience and work ethic are important. But one of the questions we strongly think through is, “Will this person, be a good fit with our existing team?” It’s this team, this culture, that works together in building your home.

We are engaged.  At Veridian Homes, people come to work with a determination to do quality work, day in and day out. We have clearly defined goals and objectives, established scopes of work and specific schedules. We even set our closing dates at the time a contract is signed. These details are worked into the foundation, structure and finishes of our homes. Our homeowners enjoy the benefits of a consistently engaged team.

We are happy.  As the saying goes, “Find something you love to do, and you’ll never go to work a day in your life.” That is true here with our people. Walk through our offices and job sites and you will see people smiling, talking through issues, laughing and enjoying their work. Happy people who enjoy their work are working on your home! We love what we do, and we are happy to do it!

The right people, on the right team, makes for a powerful workforce! People are essential in what we do, but there’s more.

WE ARE ABOUT PROCESS.

Some people who walk through our doors are surprised to learn that we don’t actually build homes. Let me clarify, we don’t do the actual work in constructing your home. We don’t pour concrete, swing hammers, hang drywall or paint. We have specialized Trade Partners that do all these things.  They are experts in their specific areas of construction. We work with them on a daily basis through this entire process.

What we really do is manage a process. That’s our business!

We have a process of helping people find the right home, at the right price, in the right location, with the right finishes. Our New Home Specialists specialize in this process.

We have a process of drawing up the right plans, putting all the parts and pieces into our homes, permitting our homes, and making sure everything fits together! We have a process of scheduling, and working with all of our Trade Partners. We have a whole design team that has a process of helping our homeowners make selections for the various rooms and functions of their home. Our Marketing team keeps our website fresh, tracks trends and provides insightful information for people looking to build a home – and also blogs.

We have a dedicated team of Customer Care Representatives to help our home owners during their one year warranty period, scheduling and taking care of these issues. There is a team that tracks and pays the bills, and takes care of all those on the Veridian team! We even have a process of finding and developing the right locations for the neighborhoods that we build in. And all of these processes work together to build your home long before your foundation is dug, and after your home closes.

So why a process? For one, it makes the job go smoother, but more than that it’s quality. Doing the same thing week in and week out year after year, builds quality. Our homeowners are the great benefactors of all of our processes that produce quality homes.

We also manage a process with our homeowners.We LOVE our homeowners, and we want them to enjoy the process of building their home. During the construction process our Personal Builders explain and schedule five walk through meetings with each of homeowner.

OUR FIVE WALK THROUGHS.

Pre-Construction Meeting.  Here plans are reviewed, the schedule is outlined, and expectations are established.

Electrical Walk Through.  During this meeting specific locations for lighting and outlets are marked on the framing. This is where some personal touches can be added to your home.

Pre-Insulation Meeting.  Here the home is carefully looked over, the placement of lighting and electrical selections are confirmed. We do this walk through right before we begin the finishing phase of the home.

Trim Walk.  This is nearing the final phase in the construction process. Here, we inspect each room, and are confirming final selections and interior finishes. This walk through is done just before carpet is installed.

Home Orientation.  Perhaps the most exciting meeting we have is our Home Orientation. Here the home is just days away from closing.  During the Home Orientation each homeowner is provided with a care kit to them establish and begin to take care of their home. We also walk from room to room inspecting and explain the fit and function of the various parts and pieces that are in your home, both on the inside and the outside. Finally we explain the warranty components that go into our homes. We follow up with two warranty walk throughs – one at the 30 day mark and the other at the 11 month mark. We do these two warranty walks to follow up with any warranty issues and help answer questions that come from living in a new home.

These five walk throughs help each of our homeowners through the construction process we use in building our homes.  It truly takes a team to build a home… smoothly!

WE ARE ABOUT PROGRESS.

We believe you need the right people and a solid process to build a quality home. But there is one more ingredient we focus on here a Veridian Homes and that is progress.

What gets measured not only gets done, but it also helps you understand how you’re doing. This is true in sports, in business, in life, and in building homes.

As our President of Operations, David Simon, frequently tells us all, “Without data, you have myth.”

We are committed to making personal, consistent, steady progress.  There’s a popular saying “If it’s not growing, it’s dying.” That’s so true. Coach Vince Lombardi often told his players, “Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.” This was his way of communicating to his players the importance of making progress, catching excellence.

We make progress internally.  We believe strongly in Professional Development. People are encouraged to pursue things that contribute to their personal development. Newly hired people are given several books to encourage our own personal development.

Internally, our teams work together to make consistent progress. There are teams that meet weekly, made up of several departments, specifically to review and analyze various facets that go into the overall process of building our homes. We include people from different departments, not only because decisions affect various areas of our business, but because all of our perspectives are important in what we do!

We have company-wide Team Meetings, two times a month where we bring everyone together.  We talk about current events, trends in our economy that affect home building, and we look at the big picture of how we are doing. These meetings are consistently led by our owners. They are not only informative, but are very motivating too! It’s a big part of our culture of progress.

WE SEEK TO MAKE PROGRESS EXTERNALLY.

We work diligently with all of our Trade Partners – not subs (those you will find at Milios or in the U.S. Navy). We do this by conducting weekly BUILD Meetings (Building Understanding through Initiatives and Leadership Development) with all of our Trade Partners. Every week, we meet with a group of our Trade Partners, and we cycle through them every two months. At these meetings we talk process, what’s working, and what needs our attention. We also survey our Trade Partners every year asking them these same kinds of questions in an anonymous format to gain a real picture of how things really are. All of this is done in the name of progress.

Why do we take the time and effort to do all this stuff?

Why are we so careful in bringing on the right people?

Why are we so committed to process? To progress?

Because these three ingredients make up a powerful triad of quality – the kind of quality and care that goes into each of our homes, our Veridian Homes!  And that’s for youour Veridian homeowners! One customer at a time, one homeowner at a time.

That’s Team Veridian!