Episode 28: Successful Lead Generation With David Belman

In episode 28 of the Professional Builders Secrets podcast, we’re joined by David Belman, President of Belman Homes Inc. based in Wisconsin, United States. Throughout this episode, we dig into the background of Belman Homes, and how David’s shaped it into the building company it’s become today.

Belman Homes is Waukesha County’s premier custom home builder, and has served the Waukesha and surrounding Milwaukee communities as home builders, land developers, realtors, and green home building experts for the last 35 years.

David takes pride in the fact every Belman home is handcrafted on-site using only the best suppliers and finest contractors. Ensuring each custom home will be unique, comfortable, energy efficient and most of all, an investment to be proud of.

Throughout this episode, David discusses what you need for successful lead generation, key metrics to measure the success of your lead generation, how to find your unique selling proposition and so much more.

Listen to the full episode to learn David's story.

 

David Belman - President of Belman Homes Inc.

David Belman is the President of Belman Homes. With a passion for building homes, giving back to the community through Operation Finally Home and being an industry leader for housing. He introduced Belman Homes to the Parade of Homes and has since created 7 models with 3 Top People’s Choice Awards for best overall design. David has also won numerous awards over the years including the 2017 MBA Builder of the Year, Waukesha Freeman Citizen of the Year, and many more.

Connect with David

 

Timeline

1:03 The background of Belman Homes.

2:55 Why you need a healthy pipeline of leads.

4:15 Why your documented sales process is just as important as your lead generation.

8:31 What’s shaped where Davids building company is at today.

10:39 The main elements that have driven Belman Homes growth.

13:09 How David got involved with APB.

14:10 What you need for successful lead generation. 

18:18 Successful lead generation recipes. 

20:34 Trending sales techniques that create high conversion rates. 

23:48 Key metrics to measure the success of your lead generation. 

26:55 Finding your unique selling proposition. 

28:32 The challenges right now vs the future of the industry.

34:59 The future of Belman Homes.

36:06 David’s advice for other builders.

 

Links, Resources & More

Belman Homes Website

APB Website

APB on Instagram

APB on Facebook
APB on YouTube

Join the Professional Builders Secrets Facebook group for builders & connect with professional builders world-wide.

Bosco Anthony:

Welcome to the Professional Builder's Secrets podcast, a podcast by the Association of Professional Builders (APB) for building company owners, general managers, VPs and emerging leaders. Here we discuss all things running a professional building company, from sales processes to financials, operations and marketing. Welcome everyone, we have another great episode from the Professional Builder's Secrets Podcast. I'm joined today by David Belman, President of Belman Homes Inc. David, thanks for being here today.

David Belman:

Hey, thank you so much for having me; it's a pleasure.

Bosco Anthony:

Well David, let's start off with a little bit about Belman Homes. How did you get started in this industry, and what is it today?

David Belman:

I got started early. I'm a second-generation builder, so it's a family business. We literally had it in the basement of our home, and so I grew up at the dinner table hearing conversations every day about home building. My father was a big influence on me, so he got me interested in home building. It all started at the dinner table one day, where he had his feet up at the table. It was a Saturday and he was reading a newspaper. I was bored, and I wanted to hang out with Dad. I told him I was bored, and to cut a long story short, I ended up at a job site with a broom and a shovel. He handed them to me and said, "Start at the top, and work your way to the bottom, and I'll be back in two hours."

David Belman:

I was about nine years old, and he left me at the job site. So I learned how to clean houses, and I did a lot of hard work, and at the end he gave me a cheque. I learned the value of hard work, and the value of a dollar, and I also learned never tell your dad you're bored, and never disrespect your father.

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah, fair enough. Where is Belman Homes today? What is it, where are you located? Tell us a little bit about what you do.

David Belman:

We're out of Waukesha, Wisconsin. It's kind of a weird name; it's an Indian name here. We're just a suburb outside of Milwaukee, and we're a single-family home builder. We also do land development, a little bit of real estate work, and we build about 35 to 40-ish homes a year right now. We've been very fortunate: we have great customers, and a nice following, a lot of repeat business, and a really solid reputation as one of the top builders in the area.

Bosco Anthony:

You spent your time building a healthy pipeline and doing a lot of lead generation. Why is it so important for a healthy pipeline for a residential building company today?

David Belman:

Consistency is a big part of it. The pipeline's important for a lot of reasons, because we rely a lot on our trades, and we have very specific companies that we like to work with and continue to work with time and time again. When you have a full pipeline of leads and you're able to keep your guys busy, that protects your trades, and they’re one of your most valuable resources, really. It protects your trades and allows you to keep the same guys and keep them busy so that you're not losing them to other builders. That's an important thing for us. 

David Belman:

So, it's almost as much about the production end of it, the more that you're working every single day, producing work. It obviously means that you're generating that revenue as well on your bottom line, but you want to make sure that you keep really key trades employed. What we do too is, even if let's say we do have a little lag somewhere, we do some model homes as well, or spec homes, we fill those in when we're not doing customer work so that we can keep our guys busy.

Bosco Anthony:

Let's talk a little bit about lead generation activities. Why is that so important, and how can it elevate a brand or a business like yourselves out there as well? What are some of the key significant activities that are important for a building company?

David Belman:

It's a couple of things. It's not just the lead generation, it's also having a documented sales process that you follow as well. Because you could generate hundreds and hundreds of leads, but if you don't have a good, easy to follow sales process and system behind it, you're going to generate a lot of leads that are going to go nowhere. So, that's just as important as the generation part of it. 

David Belman:

I think a lot of things have changed, and it's funny because I've told people this, but what worked a year ago doesn't work now, what worked two years ago definitely doesn't work anymore. It's constantly changing and evolving, but as we move more and more into this digital age, where everything’s going through online, the beauty of it at least is that when you get an online lead, they tend to get sorted out fairly quickly.

David Belman:

You can also track it, and you know your numbers. So you can say, "Hey, I did this ad, or I did this promotion, I did this post, and I got something generated back out of it." You know what works and what doesn't work. So, you have to be testing and measuring everything that you're doing and understand what's working and what's the most effective thing, and then doubling down on it.

Bosco Anthony:

When you talk about having a documented process, are you referring to a sales book, or a sales manual? What does that look like?

David Belman:

At Belman Homes, we've actually created a sales process. We have a set process that when we take a lead, and we get an incoming lead, how we work through that. Ours is an eight-point process, basically. So, what we try and do first, before we even put them into the sales process, you have to do some questioning, and be a little bit of a detective and determine if this is actually a valid lead or not. So, if it's not a sales-qualified lead, then obviously you don't really want to spend a lot more time on it. So, you assist them, and then direct them to maybe another builder, or maybe away from building. We get a lot of those where they say, "Hey, we want to build a brand-new home for $200,000."

David Belman:

We say, "Yeah, it's unfortunately not possible in our market to do that; it's $500,000 to build a new home." So, obviously that's the first part, determining if they’re even qualified to be your customer. If not, obviously we move those on, we don't push them forward. But if yes, they do check the boxes, then what happens a lot of times is customers come in right away. They say, "I’ve got this sheet here, and I’ve got all this stuff, and I want all this stuff, and let's start talking price." 

David Belman:

We say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out, time out. Let's talk more specifically. On our end, we want to know a little bit more about you, what's important to you. When we build a home we can't unbuild it, so we need to know really what's important to you, because we want to do this right the first time. So, we're going to ask you a lot of questions, you certainly have an opportunity to ask us questions."

David Belman:

We put them through a little bit of an interview process, where I'm getting to know them, but I'm also trying to find out what's really important, and drill down to those key items. Then, once we do that, then we can start to build out the rest of the sales process for them. The big thing for me when I do that, and the reason why I do that, is that I want them to really understand what makes Belman Homes different from any other builder they're talking to; I don't want to be a commodity. So, baked into our sales process, we talk to them about why a Belman home is different, what sets us apart, and why they should work with us versus a competitor.

David Belman:

I won't even price a home out until they really understand it and are aware. Also I don't want to price out a home to someone who's going to go to 12 other builders and do exactly the same thing: that's a waste of their time. So I point that out to them, and I say, "Hey, interview a bunch of builders, find your top two, and then start pricing things out. Because you're just going to make a lot of work for yourself, and you'll get really confused."

Bosco Anthony:

It sounds like you've perfected the process, obviously over time. If you look back down memory lane, what were some of the initial learnings that have brought you to where you are today? What are some of those classical mistakes that you're really proud to have made now, because it's really shaped where you are today?

David Belman:

I think this started way back in about 2013, when we really started to devise a sales process. The beauty of a sales process is that it is going to change over time. You could spend a lot of time putting it together, but it can literally die on the vine if you just leave it that way. You've got to constantly tweak it, and especially with the new ways of marketing and things, those are going to change from time to time. But I've sold houses since I was 18 years old, when I first got into the industry, really. At first it was all trial and error. I had no documented process, and it was just about tenacity, really, going through and just staying up on your leads and contacting people and just continually working the phones and setting up meetings.

David Belman:

Nowadays it's so different. You can get an e-lead; we have a chat bot on our website, where we've designed questions to filter out everything we can. You get the same email to you as soon as they send it, and we say, "Well, I know how much they can afford it, what area they want to build it, what type of home they're looking for." So, I already know maybe 70% of what I need before I've even had a conversation with them. That's amazing, but sometimes we say, "Hey, for whatever reason, at point three of the seven-point sales process, I'm dropping a lot of customers. We need to do something there; what do we need to change?" That's what's cool about having a sales process – it’s that you can identify each point in the sale and see where your drop off rate is the highest.

David Belman:

Then you can move things around, maybe you have to give them some additional documentation, maybe you've got to do something to wow them there, maybe you've got to make a verbal commitment with them earlier. There are all sorts of little things you could do to basically improve those metrics.

Bosco Anthony:

Now, obviously with transformation, what were the contributing factors that have led to the growth of your company outside of the sales process, and outside of the lead generation? If you look back now, growth doesn't just happen overnight. What really pushed it to the next limit?

David Belman:

There are two things that I can point to, and in a lot of it the main genesis is for us really focusing on the company culture and having a compelling vision statement for our company. What had happened is, around that same time, around 2013, my father was still involved with the company, but he was vacationing over the winter, and was only working for the company part time. So, I started to take over, and that was one of the first things I implemented: "Let's create a vision." The vision at Belman Homes is “creating the ultimate building experience, one customer at a time.” So, we're not going to focus on building the most homes, or being the cheapest builder building the most homes.

David Belman:

We want to have really happy, satisfied customers, and that's what we really wanted to focus on. So, that became our passion and our goal, and that basically raised the bar for everyone in the office. So, that really helped. The other thing that happened with that is, as you focus on that you tend to improve on it. As we did that, it brought in the awards, and different things that we've received that tied in with our reputation or branding as one of the top builders in the area. So, while all of my competitors were just focusing on price or quantity, we had something completely different to talk about. That really set us apart, and that upped our conversion rate with our customers, and it improved the overall morale of the team.

David Belman:

Now our team felt like, "Hey, we have a purpose." At the same time, the second part of it that I alluded to was that when you put in a strong work culture, there are three things that happen. Your top performers are going to embrace it and probably get better, you'll have some of your average performers who'll start to raise the bar, and then you're going to have people who don't feel passionate about that, they don't like it, and they're going to stick out like a sore thumb. Either your team is going to hold them accountable, and they're going to get on the bus, or they're going to just continue to stick out, and you identify that, and then either they remove themselves from the situation by finding another job, or you end up having to let them go.

David Belman:

I've had to go through that process a few times, and luckily most of the people jumped on the bus and came along. But when someone doesn't fit your culture, it becomes instantly obvious that you can get rid of them quickly and find somebody who can be much better.

Bosco Anthony:

Tell us a little bit about how you heard about APB, and about your relationship with them.

David Belman:

Actually, I talked to Russ [Stephens, APB Co-founder]. It was about a year and a half ago; I do a podcast as well, called The Home Building Hero. We connected on that; he actually reached out to be a guest on my podcast, and we had some conversations, and had him on the show, and we learned about each other's businesses. That's what's so cool about podcasts; it's worldwide. I've been on Canadian podcasts, and New Zealand, and Australia obviously, and all sorts of different parts of the country. That's really cool how we've globalised, and learned from each other, and I've seen some of those videos. One of my friends, a builder down in Louisiana, is a big part of your program as well, and we've met a few times at national events and talked about it. So that's how it all started.

Bosco Anthony:

Well, let's get into some of the challenges that come with lead generation a little bit as well, for the residential home building space. What can home builders expect when it comes to those blind spots and barriers as well, when it comes to lead generation?

David Belman:

A lot of builders, unfortunately, are older – the average age of a builder is 60. So, a lot of them don't embrace digital technology. That was one of the things we were fortunate with, that I embraced it early on. So, whether it's having retargeting on your website, where you have a pixel on, and somebody goes onto your website, and they get served ads. Or using Google AdWords, or you can do behavioural targeting, so you could identify who to send your ads to. Maybe you interview a few of your customers and say, “It seems like a lot of my target audience like golf, or they like outdoors events, or they like tennis.” Whatever it is you can identify, you can then create a buyer profile. Then you can go out and find people who exhibit the same interests and serve them ads.

David Belman:

So, instead of serving and buying radio ads and say, 200,000 people hear your radio ad a bunch of times, but only maybe 1% of them are actually your target market, you're now maybe only targeting 10,000 people who show the same characteristics as your ideal buyer. So, there's a lot of things you could do to be smarter about your money and your ad buy. Then obviously, besides just the leads, you have to have a compelling reason for them to contact you. It's important that you really have a good message on who you are, and what you're about, what makes you different, so you don't become a commodity, and people really want to talk to you.

David Belman:

In my market, there are over 200 builders. We don't have a big, national company in our market, so it's really important to stand out and be on that top list, that top three or four people they contact. A lot of times, we're the first ones that they do contact, which is great.

Bosco Anthony:

It's an interesting insight as well about the fact that the average builder's in their 60s. When you talk about digital onboarding, are you also talking about having software, like a CRM basically, when the leads come in?

David Belman:

Absolutely, and thank you for bringing that up. That's the other thing, as part of the sales process, to really marry it all together. You've got to have your lead gen, you've got to have a sales process, and then in order to reinforce the sales process, what you want to have is a CRM tool, whether it's Salesforce, Insightly, Zoho – there's a million of them. You can even use it through Buildertrend, or CoConstruct has a client portal. But I like Insightly because you can actually make a process in there. So, that's what we do; we use that. So, every spot in that seven-point main sales process that I have, I also have that in my CRM tool. So, when we put a lead in, there's a little bar where we can move them from one point to the next.

David Belman:

I can look at a screen and see our top 20 leads, and I can say, "Hey, I've got three in the estimate stage right now, and I have a 75% probability of closing those deals." If you are light on your leads or your sales, you could say, "I'm going to focus on these three opportunities," or maybe, "Hey, we need some stuff down the road. We've got to fill our pipeline more." You can get a snapshot of that. 

David Belman:

The other thing is, people typically don't buy a house or build a house overnight, especially a new house. So, you may have somebody you put into that system, and they don't contact you again for six months. Maybe they're on your email drip or whatever it is that you have, and then all of a sudden, one day they decide, "Okay, we're ready to do this."

David Belman:

They call you, and you can click on your CRM, and pull it up, and say, "Oh yeah, yeah, we talked back in October, and yeah, I know your kids were finishing up this year's school year, and they're going into a new school." The client says, "Holy c**p, how did you remember that?" If you keep good documentation, and you do a good job with your CRM, you'll know all that stuff.

Bosco Anthony:

Now, you talked a little bit about retargeting ads, and having code that sends people different ads for a website. Let's get into the actual lead generation part of this as well; what are some of those successful recipes that bake strong lead generation tactics that deliver results for home builders today? What are you guys testing right now in the market?

David Belman:

Well, right now we've actually dialled down our lead acquisition attempts, because with the supply chain the way it is, leads aren't really an issue for us right now. We have enough jobs; in fact, we really don't want to take on a lot more work at the moment because we're so busy, and everything's taking months longer than it used to. So, we've actually dialled it back. But you know, our strategy right now is multi-tier. Obviously, our website is very good. You have to have a good store front, so that's number one. Have a good website, have your compelling message, have a lot of information on there that sets you apart. You have to have a really strong message. Then we still do radio ads, so we do them, and that's the branding part of it.

David Belman:

So, there's branding, there's website, then like I said, we do some retargeting, sometimes we'll do AdWords. Quite honestly, sometimes a local newspaper is still good. When we have a new project, for example, press releases are important. We do press releases around major events: sometimes those get picked up. Then when everyone's talking about it, we don't even use the big paper, we'll just use our local newspaper, and for about $150 we can buy a nice little banner ad at the bottom. “Hey, we got a new subdivision,” or, “We got this brand-new whatever.” All of a sudden, it brings people out to your site. Then the last and the most simple thing, and this has been true 20 years ago and it's just as true today, is signage.

David Belman:

There's nothing more valuable than having good signage. We have directional signage to our sites, we have signs in front of our models, and that is still probably the number one thing that gets people to your houses.

Bosco Anthony:

When we talk about some of the trending sales techniques, let's shift the conversation, because you mentioned a little bit about the fact that lead generation is really just depending on your client flow, and the demand for work, and what you could do from a capacity perspective. But what are some of the trending sales techniques that you're seeing in the market that are leading to those high conversions? You talked a little bit about the sales process as well. What are some of the age old secrets that you recommend when it comes to having a really strong sales conversion?

David Belman:

One thing that I'll say is, you know what the difference between a contact and a contract is?

Bosco Anthony:

You can tell me.

David Belman:

There's one letter difference, the letter R, okay?

Bosco Anthony:

Okay.

David Belman:

R stands for relationship, so you've got to have a relationship with the customer. The best way to do that is to be a good listener. One of the other things that I spend a lot of time on with my team is training on buyer behaviour and personality. I think that's really important. So, we actually profile our customers and understand what their buying behaviour is and what their personality profile is. When you understand that you can talk their language, and you instantly become more likable, you become more effective. So we do that, and that's baked into our CRM tool as well. 

David Belman:

So, once we meet somebody, I'll say, "Yep, this is a direct communicator, this is a person who likes their numbers and their data,” or, "This is a person who likes a smooth process and no surprises." We can identify that, and then we adjust our process around that. A direct communicator, like a CEO who owns a big company, doesn't want his time wasted, he doesn't want me to spend an hour talking about how our siting's installed. He wants to know that we're going to do this, this and this, and it's going to be the best product for him, and it's going to save him money, and this is what I would do on my house. If I can do that, and I can convince him of that, I can literally give him a sheet of paper and say, "Here's what we're going to do for you. Does this look good?" "Yep." "Sign right here." Those are your best customers, of course.

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah, your best customers.

David Belman:

But those customers are few and far between. But everybody does it a little differently. But, if you can learn their process, you've achieved a lot right there.

Bosco Anthony:

So you're talking about personas basically, like customer profiles, and then mirroring that sort of communication around them. How many personas do you find or deal with in the construction industry space for those clients?

David Belman:

Well, there's lots of different personas. I'm not a psychologist or a therapist or anything, but I prefer the DISC method. That's a very widely-used platform. There are really only four profiles; now that doesn't mean that when you identify somebody as a profile that they're 100% that. They're usually dominant in one, and then you have two or three others. But once you find their dominant trait, that gives you an idea how to communicate. So you have the direct communicator, we call those the Ds, and you have the I, who are the influencers. Those are the people who are ‘people people’, and then you have the Ss, which stands for steady, and they're the ones who like a smooth process. They don't like surprises; they're friendly, but they're quiet.

David Belman:

Then you have the Cs, who are conscientious, and they’re the hardest to sell to. They're like your number guys, your accountants, and your high detail people who are going to come in with 12 spreadsheets and a hundred reports. You can identify those folks, and then understand how they process information and deliver it in a way that they like.

Bosco Anthony:

You talked a little bit about metrics as well; you talked about the fact that you love using Insightly as a CRM because you can identify where the drop offs are, and where your sales process does really well. As a business owner, what are some of those key metrics around lead generation that you're looking at from start to finish?

David Belman:

Social media's easy because you can do a post, and you can see, for example, how many people are liking it and communicating with it, and if somebody responded to that. Or you can do something different. For example, just this week, I decided to post something a little different. I posted what I call ‘post with purpose’. We have a new model, and I had a realtor reach out to me, and they wanted to do some realtor portraits in our model. 

David Belman:

I said, "Okay, I'm going to talk about that." So I did a post, and I knew it wasn't going to be as high-performing post as I normally do. But I said, "Hey, we've got a brand-new model. We had these realtors come out, they took these really cool pictures in our house. And if you're a realtor and you want some really cool portraits in our model, just reach out and I'll gladly not only open my model up to you, but I'll give you a tour, and show you our brand-new project.”

David Belman:

I've had three different realtors just in the last day reach out to me and take me up on that offer. So now I've got a potential to get referrals from all these people talking to buyers. So, they're out trying to get buyers, they find somebody and they're sending them right to me, now I've got a really warm lead. Now I didn't get 100 likes on it or 15,000 views on the post, but I literally got direct contacts with people who want that opportunity. For me, I don't need 15,000 views on that, I only needed a couple, and that's what I got.

David Belman:

Sometimes you do want to do the branding component and get as many people to see it as possible. But then you also want to do something with a purpose, which in this case I had a specific ask. I said, "Hey, if you're a realtor and you want some pictures, you want to tour a brand-new site, reach out to me." And all I have to do is ask.

Bosco Anthony:

That's a pretty creative way of getting your homes being viewed, and also creating awareness through someone who already has a network. I think that's a pretty creative technique as well. 

David Belman:

Networking is big, too. I just want to touch on that, because we didn't really cover it. With lead generation, networking is really important as well. I do actively network; I'm in a couple of network groups. We put on some events and we do a lot of stuff in the community. One of the things that we do to stand out is build a home for a wounded veteran every year, and it's donated to them. So, we put on community events, and that builds our brand and our reputation as well, and it's a huge differentiator. 

David Belman:

If you have a company, and you don't have that one thing that you can say that you do that nobody else does, you'd better figure that out first. Because before you start spending a lot of money on advertising, you have to have a differentiator; you have to have something that's different. Otherwise, you're probably going to be wasting a lot of money.

Bosco Anthony:

You talked about donating a home every year. Is that through a charity, or a cause? Tell me a little bit more about that.

David Belman:

Yeah, it's actually called ‘Operation Finally Home’, and it's a national organisation that started down in Texas, and they provided a remodel for a wounded veteran in the area. They got almost everybody to donate material and labour, and the media picked up on it. So, they created an organisation, and then we brought it to Wisconsin, and it was so impactful that we decided to do it again, and someone joined in and helped us. Then we decided to do another one, and now, all of a sudden, we've done six.

Bosco Anthony:

Oh, wow.

David Belman:

We're starting number seven this year, so it was one of those things where we're the right people at the right time. The cool thing for me now is I have realtors and other people in the industry who volunteer their time. They come to see me, they come to events, and they help out. And of course, if they're going to refer one of their friends to a builder, guess who they're going to refer them to? Not only have I created goodwill, but I've created friendships that are very powerful. That's why I don't think I have to necessarily spend quite as much on advertising, and we get a lot of free media from it as well. So, when we put on a big event like that, we have magazines and newspapers, and when we surprise a veteran with a home, we get on all the major networks. It's on the news for two or three days straight. 

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah, that's pretty impressive, yeah.

David Belman:

One of the houses featured on 38 different news broadcasts around the country. It was on in Portland, Oregon, Missouri and many different states; it was crazy. Now, that doesn't necessarily bring me a lead, because getting it on the newscast in Portland or Oregon isn't going to turn into a house lead for me. But that's powerful branding.

Bosco Anthony:

Yeah, that's a pretty inspiring story, too. It's such a needy cause as well in today's world. What are some of the struggles that builders face in the industry today, when we're living through a really unprecedented time? What are some of those struggles that you see happening on a day-to-day basis?

David Belman:

Well nowadays, I don't know if we're post-COVID yet or not, but we're getting there. But the supply chain is a number one issue right now for most builders. The other big thing is just housing affordability in general, as we've seen massive spikes in the cost of homes. So, I'm very passionate about trying to drive that down and keep housing affordable. Here in my state for example, back in the 1950s when only one person had to work and the spouse stayed home with the kids, they were able to buy all the new stuff and have a new car. For twice their average income they could buy a brand-new home. Well nowadays, that's nine times their average income. So, you're seeing people working two jobs, the husband and wife are working, and then they get a side gig.

David Belman:

It's hard for people to make it. We've seen 18% or 19% increase in the cost of homes over the last year and a half, just because of materials. It's getting unsustainable; if these increases continue at this rate, people are going to be priced out of buying a new home, and we're not producing enough homes. That's a huge issue, so I've been working a lot with our elected officials on ways to streamline the process and ways to create efficiencies, and hopefully drive down the labour and material costs. 

David Belman:

Development is a huge issue, so we’re working on trying to make that process more simple. So yeah, that's a lot of stuff that I'm working on right now on behalf of the industry. It's not something everybody is doing, but it's something that I care about. Because I know I'm going to be in this industry for a while, I want to make sure it's one that's going to last.

Bosco Anthony:

Right. Yeah, the construction industry is evolving too. You talked a little bit about some of the challenges like labourers and supply chain issues as well. Where is the construction industry evolving to? Is it the last frontier, as some people call it? Is it the wild west, or is it starting to become even more professional, moving forward?

David Belman:

I think for a while we dealt with the reputation issue that builders and contractors don't know how to deal with people. I think that's slowly improving, especially with the younger generations getting in. That's improved, but the future is also in technology, and in embracing it not only on the lead gen and the sales end, but it's going to have to work its way onto the job site as well. Obviously, we're using a lot of cloud-based software on the project management side for communications not only with the customer, but with the trades. But now it's really moving forward into how to use this technology to build homes more efficiently. 

David Belman:

I gave a presentation about two years ago, which was supposed to be about housing in the future. They said, "Just brainstorm what you think future is going to be like." I explained some stuff, and some people looked at me like I was cross-eyed. But I'm proud to say a few of the things are already coming true. For example, I said, "We're going to 3D print a house," and people thought I was nuts. Now they're already doing it; they’re 3D printing homes. 

David Belman:

Then I said, “Well, my thought is they are going to 3D print a panel, they’re going to take a drone, fly over their job site, set it, and then they'll bring the next one in and set it.” They actually have the technology now, to 3D print it on the site. So, I was kind of right there. But we are also seeing automation: for example, there is a machine that you can put on a roof, and it's like a robot; it'll go through and lay the shingles and nail them.

David Belman:

So I think robotics technology is going to be in the future, especially with labour costs and safety issues; you’ll be able to mitigate some of that.

Bosco Anthony:

It’s interesting you bring up robotics; I had another guest that did a lot of 3D floor plans. The concept's been there for years, and I've been learning about that world as well. Are you ever concerned with robotics, if it's going to wipe out a labour force? Or do you feel like the concept of having humans on-site is still going to be there?

David Belman:

Yeah, you're never going to be able to completely build a house by machine. It's not like there's a factory that just spits these things out, and then they just roll off onto a site. So, you're still going to have humans being a part of this process. There's no way I could see that happening. But I'm not worried about it, because right now we don't have enough labourers to begin with, and it's hard to get people into the labour part of this industry. So, we have to look at these things just to continue to have output. So, technology's going to have to be a big part of what we do, going forward.

Bosco Anthony:

What does success look like for you today?

David Belman:

Oh, boy. I'm not sure that's a great question. I've been very fortunate to have achieved a lot in the last few years, and I actually just won the Builder of the Year Award for my state. I think success, at this point now, is happy customers, steady workflow, and just being able to enjoy the other parts of life. Especially after going through COVID; I went three years without taking a vacation. I just took my first eight day vacation in a long time. Also, success is being able to bring a new generation into this industry. I get a lot of cool opportunities to talk to people like you, then go into schools and talk about my industry, and so on. I'm really honoured that I get to be a part of that, and so I think that for me is a lot of success; building that legacy and being that person to other people.

Bosco Anthony:

When you took the vacation, were you guilty at all? Were you checking your phone, or did you actually take a vacation and not look at the phone?

David Belman:

The little truth behind that is part of the vacation was attached to going to the International Builder's Show.

Bosco Anthony:

So there was a little bit of work?

David Belman:

Yeah. We actually were gone for 10 days. So, three days were work and seven days really were family time. So, non-negotiable with the family was, "Hey, I'm going here, I have to spend three days doing my obligations." They got to hang out at the resort and relax by the pool while I was doing my work. But then the rest of the time, I didn't check my emails much at all, and I was gone, and it was great. And now I'm saying, "I've got to do this more often." So, that's the plan.

Bosco Anthony:

Well, I guess it's not work when you're having fun at what you do, and it sounds like you have a lot of fun with your role as well. What's your future focus for Belman Homes? You talked a little bit about the fact that you want to be a voice for the industry; you're working with your state-elected officials as well. But where's Belman Homes moving towards?

David Belman:

First of all, we've got a lot of land in an area, so we've got a lot of projects that we can put forward. But I'm really hoping to help usher in a change in our administration, especially state-wide here, and really work on some of these issues, the development issues, and the cost of that. If we can get people who want to listen to us – I'm talking to some really wonderful people – if we can get them in, I want to work hand-in-hand with them to radically transform, hopefully in a positive way, that process to make it more simple, easier and allow us to build more homes a lot faster and a lot more easily. Because right now we're using standards from the 1950s that don't work anymore, and especially in a modern era, we've got to get better at that. So if I can play my part in that and transform it, that would be phenomenal.

Bosco Anthony:

Well, it's been an insightful interview. My final question for you is what advice would you give a younger version of yourself, what advice would you give a new home builder, and what advice would you give a veteran who's either looking to retire or close up shop in a few years? What advice would you give?

David Belman:

I'll try and work this backwards; that's a lot to unpack. For someone who's maybe in the twilight of their career, you've got to have an estate plan, and you have to have a transition plan, and you have to have a business that'll work without you if you want to ever sell it. So, you have to have systems in place, because if you're ever going to sell that business, if you leave the industry and the business doesn't work without you, then you don't really have a business, you have a job. So, you have to understand that first and foremost. The second thing, as far as advice to a younger person, the first thing I would say is that you've got to work as much on yourself as you do on anything else. So, you have to improve yourself and constantly learn and want to grow.

David Belman:

So, that would be what I would tell my younger self as well. You're never done learning, you're never done growing, so you have to take 15 minutes every day and invest in yourself. The other thing is that mindset is huge. So, take a few minutes every day, be grateful for three things that happened in your day. Maybe it's minor, like, "Somebody smiled at me today." It was a bad day, that was the one thing you could be happy about, so be happy about that. And then you have to train your mind. 

David Belman:

I usually pick three or four things that I want to get better at, and I focus my mind on them. Mindset is huge; it's a big part of your life. You need to be doing some mindset work every once in a while. I became a good leader because I focused on becoming a leader; I became a better delegator because I focused on it; I became bigger than I am because I worked on myself. So, you have to do that, you have to put that work in.

Bosco Anthony:

And taking the occasional holiday once in a while, right, as well?

David Belman:

Yeah, yeah. Life isn't all about work. You have to realise that time goes by really fast.

Bosco Anthony:

Absolutely, my friend. Well, this has been great, thanks so much for the insights. It's definitely been refreshing to hear from someone on the frontlines about lead generation as well. I wish you continued success with your brand and your business as well and look forward to having you back here.

David Belman:

All right, thank you so much for the opportunity, and enjoy the program.