The Ultimate Guide to Buying & Building in Texas is a 3.5-hour online course. Content ranges from Texas laws and contracts, to the building code adoption processes, climate zones, and construction best practices. Additionally, the course advises on essential homework to do in choosing a builder and what to expect in the construction process. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, there are some 500,000+ Texas newcomers out there that stand to benefit from the information.
Opportunities for Texas Builders
Setting Client Expectations
The State of Residential Construction Industry Report 2025 by the Association of Professional Builders says the biggest sales challenge for builders is unrealistic client expectations, cited by 34% of respondents. Unrealistic expectations can lead to strained client relationships, misaligned goals, and eroded profitability. The Ultimate Guide to Buying & Building In Texas is all about setting client expectations. And we’re seeking to align with members of our Building Savvy audience who may consider promoting the course to their clients or using it as training tool for their sales teams.
Content Marketing
A key finding from the APB data shows that 65% of builders who identified unrealistic client expectations as their biggest challenge are not producing any blog articles or content. Regular content creation, such as blogs, plays a critical role in setting client expectations by educating clients about the building process, costs, and timelines. Furthermore, there’s a clear connection between content marketing and profitability. Builders who produce content—particularly blog articles—are seeing a noticeable boost in their gross markup, APB reports.
Email Marketing & Social Media
And According to APB, email marketing is an essential tool for nurturing leads, keeping clients engaged, and converting prospects into sales. Yet 52.4% of builders still “never” email their database. And social media engagement remains a largely untapped opportunity for organic engagement in the residential construction industry. Builders who post on Facebook and Instagram at least once a week typically achieve over 70% higher sales revenue.
Partners who join us in the effort to market this course to Texas newcomers can receive:
- Personalized video introductions to each educational module. Promote your brand and stance on the subject matter.
- Ready-to-post blogs for your website correlating to the subject matter your clients will learn by taking the course.
- Email newsletter templates with links to your blogposts.
- Ready-to-post social media text/photos/reels with links to your videos and blogposts.
Please contact [email protected] for more information, suggestions and ideas.
Sign up to be notified when the course becomes available and receive a special preview of it.
Interviews with the Experts on Building Savvy Bottom Line
Like all of our Building Savvy content, the focus of the new Building Savvy Bottom Line video podcast is first and foremost for you—our key housing industry audience. But some portions of interviews with the experts by Building Savvy’s Executive Editor Beverly Smirnis are also shared with the consumer audience taking the online course.
Portions from the first Building Savvy Bottom Line episodes posted thus far provide valuable third-party perspective on the important points made in the course curriculum.
Our premier episode released in March featured the MLAW Engineering team discussing best practices for foundation design for Texas soils—certainly a topic that is often confusing and unfamiliar to people moving to Texas from other parts of the country or the world.
Paring perfectly with this issue’s focus on Building Science and Energy Efficiency, the second episode features designer and Zero Energy Ready Home Instructor Armando Cobo. Cobo says preventing costly foundation, structural and mechanical problems starts with highly detailed home plans. But Cobo warns there is no one best design decision that fits every project. Furthermore, it’s not just about the products. It’s more about the applications and the installations that make the difference.
Just released
Building Savvy Bottom Line’s just-released Episode 3 introduces Realtor Cliff Kessler, a top producer at the prestigious Allie Beth Allman & Associates office in Dallas. Kessler talks about what brought him from California to Texas, why he loves living here and helping others new to Texas realize all the opportunities they come for. As one of the rare Realtors that specializes in selling new homes, Kessler fully understands the process. He offers his clients a wealth of resources, whether they’re looking to buy a lot and build their dream home, purchase a spec home or buy and remodel an existing home. And using his insight into different preferences that some of the Texas newcomers have, he helps the builders better position and market their homes to deliver what the new breed of Texas homebuyers are looking for.
Stay Tuned
Paul Evans, who served two terms as a voting member on the International Code Council will speak to both you and the consumer audience about building codes. And Matt Motes of Shackleford Law (and contributor to our Legal Perspective column) will talk about important language in the building contract and why it’s there.
Be sure to subscribe to The Building Savvy Bottom Line on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or other platforms.
