How have you handled the lumber price increases?

This is my 33rd year of owning Quail Homes. I have been through plenty of peaks and valleys in managing our business. Times like now really test your business model and how well your business is managed.

We are in a disruptive period. Predictability is difficult. I have seen our other disruptive periods. Each time we go through disruptive periods we learn and get better.

What I have found during disruptive periods is that people make hasty decisions. Most often decisions are rushed. If you are a football fan, defenses put a huge emphasis on putting pressure on the quarterback. Quarterbacks make more mistakes when they are taken out of their rhythm. So do businesses.

When we feel pressured, I get our team to focus.

We focus on slowing down, gathering information from all sides, and creating a win/win scenario for all those involved. Sounds easy, but it is not.

An example of this is how we approached the skyrocketing pricing of lumber. We decided to meet face to face with every client (about 40 clients).

Prior to meeting with every client we put in a lot of time and effort to have solutions that our clients could consider in making their decisions.

We conducted each meeting with a calmness even when our clients were not. We followed up with each client so that they would know that we would execute what was discussed.

The outcome has been good considering how difficult this was to do. We are glad to see that lumber pricing is adjusting downward.

Our model home is open 12-4 on Saturdays and Sundays. Check our website www.quailhomes.com for its location. If you are thinking about downsizing… Consider Quail… you have earned it!!

I hope this helps and thank you for reading the newspaper.