00:00There's a lot that AI will do for you.
00:02Ultimately, you got to know like where you want to be
00:04and what problem you're trying to solve.
00:08I'm Zeb Lowe, sitting with Chris Graham,
00:10president of Constellation Home Motor Systems.
00:13Chris, thank you for joining me.
00:14Thanks, Zeb. Nice to be here today.
00:17Yes, sir. It's a pleasure to have you.
00:19So let me ask you, where do you see technology
00:21and real-time data having the greatest impact
00:23on how builders make decisions today?
00:27And the second part of that question,
00:29what separates organizations
00:30that are using that information effectively
00:33from those that aren't?
00:35All right. Yeah.
00:36In my position at Constellation Home Builder Systems,
00:39I get to work with builders and our teams,
00:41you know, every day, very frequently.
00:44We're fortunate to have good relationships
00:45with our customers, very open and candid.
00:48They give us a lot of feedback
00:50and we really, you know, value the partnership,
00:53you know, that they, you know,
00:56that we've created, you know, with them.
00:57So part of that means, you know,
00:59helping them, you know, make decisions,
01:02use the data that our systems,
01:04you know, contain and help them manage.
01:08The greatest impact really is making sure
01:10that they have solid data, right?
01:13That the data is clean, that, you know,
01:15it's what I like to call pivot table friendly,
01:17you know, that allows them to use it in an easy way,
01:21allows a regular business user
01:23to access the information and, you know, review it,
01:27come up with, you know, review trends
01:28and make, you know, decisions.
01:30You know, some of the best decisions
01:32are the ones that, you know, can be made quickly.
01:35We really value that part of our partnership
01:40with our builders and certainly, you know,
01:42the solutions, you know, that we provide.
01:45The builders that, I guess,
01:48are effectively using, you know,
01:51the information in the systems
01:52are the ones that make it accessible
01:54to everyone in their organization.
01:56Obviously, there's some sensitive pieces
01:59of information and things
02:01that are only relevant to certain departments.
02:04But, you know, with proper systems
02:06and proper data governance,
02:07which we help our builders,
02:10you know, manage within their systems,
02:12you know, they can make sure
02:12that people have the right information,
02:14that it's secured, you know,
02:17that the right people have it
02:18and that they can, you know,
02:19make the decisions that they need to make
02:21as quickly as possible.
02:22You know, you can imagine
02:23anyone having access to information.
02:27You know, there's a lot
02:27that you can do with AI now,
02:29but really making sure
02:31that you're looking at the right pieces
02:32of the information,
02:33that you're using it
02:35in ways that it's supposed to be used.
02:37You know, that's where we provide value
02:39and we help to make it easier
02:40for our customers.
02:41Yeah, I know that there's
02:43a lot of pressure,
02:44just like in many industries,
02:47for builders to adopt AI.
02:50And I think a lesson
02:51that people are learning
02:52and oftentimes learn too late
02:54is that the quality of the output
02:55is only as good as the data
02:57and the systems behind it.
02:58So before a builder starts layering AI
03:01into its processes or operations,
03:04what foundational work needs to happen
03:06around data quality,
03:08structure, and connected systems?
03:10And where do you see the builders
03:12most often getting that process wrong?
03:16Yeah, look, you know,
03:17there's a lot that people can do
03:19with AI and reviewing,
03:23analyzing data, creating reports,
03:26you know, expecting the AI
03:27to make some decisions,
03:28you know, for you.
03:30Ultimately, you got to know,
03:31like, where you want to be
03:33and what problem you're trying to solve.
03:35You know, there's a lot
03:36that AI will do for you
03:37if you, you know,
03:39just kind of give it some information.
03:40But you really got to know
03:41what you want out of it.
03:43And then when you get a result,
03:45you know, you got to look at it
03:46with, you know, a fine tooth comb.
03:48You got to really understand,
03:50you know, what it's saying, right?
03:51You can't just copy paste that
03:53and expect it to be 100% correct.
03:58So you got to know
03:59where you want to go.
03:59You got to give it
04:00very clear instructions.
04:02And you got to make sure
04:03that, you know,
04:04the responses are relevant,
04:06you know, to your business
04:08and to the problem
04:09that you're trying to solve.
04:10I think builders
04:12and businesses in general
04:14go wrong
04:14when they don't really,
04:17you know, have an expectation
04:19for what they're going to get back
04:21or they haven't thought through
04:22what they'll do
04:22with that information.
04:24Anytime I've used it,
04:26it becomes a pretty iterative process.
04:29You got to set it up correctly
04:30in terms of telling it,
04:31you know, the context
04:32and what you want it to do,
04:33but then really spend the time
04:35to review it
04:35and be aware that,
04:37you know,
04:38hallucinations or mistakes
04:40can be made
04:40and then question those
04:41to get better results.
04:43Fortunately, you know,
04:44again, you know,
04:44within our systems,
04:45we provide a lot of tools
04:48that are meant
04:50to provide home building professionals
04:54with the information
04:55that they need
04:56in a, you know,
04:57fairly structured way
04:58that they can act on it.
04:59So, you know,
05:00if we know how to answer questions
05:02from the purchasing department
05:04or from the sales department
05:05or from the home builder executives
05:07or from the accounting department
05:08and we've put that
05:09into, you know,
05:10some of our AI products.
05:12So rather than, you know,
05:13everyone kind of start
05:14from scratch
05:15and build their own,
05:16you rely on a partner
05:17that can help you,
05:18you know,
05:19probably get 80%
05:20of the way there
05:20and then you can get,
05:21you know, creative
05:22on top of that.
05:23I think that's
05:24an important distinction,
05:25you know,
05:26between the,
05:26I guess,
05:26the practical
05:27and the abstract
05:28application of AI.
05:31So from your,
05:31you know,
05:32experience
05:32and from your perspective,
05:34where should builders
05:34be looking for
05:36practical AI applications
05:38today
05:38and how should they
05:41begin to measure
05:42whether or not
05:43that technology
05:44is actually paying off,
05:47whether it's actually
05:47helping them?
05:48Yeah.
05:48So there's a few things,
05:49you know,
05:49there's a lot of experimentation
05:51going on right now
05:52where people are just,
05:53you know,
05:53trying it out,
05:54trying to do things.
05:54They don't really know
05:55if it's going to work
05:56and so it's extremely
05:57important to understand,
05:59you know,
05:59what the outcome is
06:00or what the response is
06:01and then being able
06:02to evaluate it
06:03to make sure
06:03that it is working
06:04and then,
06:05you know,
06:05and then reinforce that.
06:07You know,
06:08the other thing
06:08I would say is,
06:10you know,
06:10despite all the changes
06:11with AI,
06:13you know,
06:13running a good business
06:14still comes down
06:15to good decision making,
06:17collaboration
06:17and looking for efficiency.
06:19So,
06:20you know,
06:20from a collaboration perspective,
06:22you know,
06:22AI can help you
06:23with,
06:24you know,
06:24better information,
06:25better preparation
06:26for conversations
06:27that you need to have
06:28with a trade
06:28or the potential home buyer
06:30can give you
06:30a lot of background information
06:32or highlight issues,
06:35you know,
06:35that need to be discussed
06:38from decision making perspective.
06:40You know,
06:40we already talked about
06:41having good data
06:42and easy to understand data
06:44that's managed
06:45and,
06:46you know,
06:46that's clean.
06:47So then you can make,
06:49you know,
06:49quick and solid decisions.
06:53You know,
06:53just kind of going back
06:55to the efficiency part,
06:57you know,
06:58ultimately that's a continuous process
07:00for any business.
07:01You got to kind of look
07:02at where you're at,
07:03decide,
07:03you know,
07:04which levers you want to pull
07:05or which problems
07:07you want to solve,
07:07how you want to become
07:08more efficient.
07:10So,
07:11you know,
07:11that really doesn't change,
07:12right?
07:12I think that's how
07:13I look at our business
07:16from a software,
07:18you know,
07:18solution and company perspective.
07:20That's what I'm expecting
07:21of my team.
07:22And I think we should be able
07:24to do things a lot more quickly
07:25than we have in the past.
07:27But ultimately,
07:28it comes down
07:28to those three things.
07:29So I would always be looking
07:31in those areas right now.
07:33All right.
07:34Thanks.
07:34Thank you so much, Chris.
07:35Appreciate you coming on.
07:36Great.
