Field notes · Builder Summit
Builder Innovator Summit Notes on Adaptability, Buyer Experience, and AI
Find the highest-leverage next step, take imperfect action, and repeat.
I spent three days at the Builder Innovator Summit and really enjoyed it. I met some great people and came home with a lot to think about, so I recorded this casual walkthrough of the ideas, tools, and slides that stood out to me. I put this post together from the transcripts of all the presentations and meetings I attended, plus my own notes and the pictures I took.
Across the sessions
Adaptability is what I keep coming back to.
Across a pretty packed schedule, I kept thinking about one question: what makes some companies grow so much faster than others?
01 / Put attention where it matters
The tip of the spear
David Senra relays a NASA manager’s observation from Max Olson’s essay about SpaceX: when a new problem surfaced, people converged on it. I’ve had that “flash mob in the hallway” image in the back of my head all week: a whole team moving toward the most important problem.
Bogdan Constantin at Brown Haven was one of my favorite speakers. His six-month Higharc rollout made that practical: focus on the 20% that drives most of the impact, even while some of the work is still unfinished. The pattern I see is to find the highest-leverage next step, quickly take drastic, imperfect action toward it, and repeat.
And I’ve been trying to get comfortable with impermanence. As soon as I get comfortable with one rate of change, it speeds up again. That’s probably my biggest takeaway from the week. More on that at 2:22 in the Loom ↗
That can also mean letting go of pet projects when they no longer earn the time they take. The work we stop doing can make room for the next thing that matters.
02 / Listen for what’s next
Go where the puck is going.
Listen to what people are asking for, look at where the market is moving, and let that change what you do. It comes up at 3:37 in the Loom ↗
I can imagine a homeowner sharing a kitchen photo in ChatGPT and asking what a remodel might cost. A local company’s tool could give them an estimate, a 3D rendering, selections, and a way to get in touch without leaving the conversation. I don’t know when that shift happens, but it’s a different question from just “how is SEO changing?”
03 / Reconsider what software is worth
A subscription has to earn its place.
After hearing a lot of software pitches, I caught myself thinking: could someone build a narrower version of this for a few thousand dollars? Maybe. I’m not saying it would match every feature or the polish of the product being sold. That thought starts around 5:35 ↗
A custom tool still needs someone to maintain it, keep it secure, and look after the integrations. A subscription can be worth it when the design, support, reliability, and ongoing upkeep justify the cost. If the product is expensive and only solves a narrow problem, a smaller internal tool might be enough. The question is who will own it after launch.
04 / Give learning somewhere to happen
Make room to learn, then use what we learn.
I liked hearing about a weekly team meeting where people share how they’re using AI. I could imagine a weekly huddle—or one person making a short Loom each week—giving everyone a chance to pass along what they’re trying. I talk about that around 7:12 ↗
Increased adaptability takes intentional learning time. Small experiments can travel further when the team makes room to share them.
The flash-mob observation
David Senra relays a NASA manager's observation from Max Olson's essay on SpaceX, in his March 24, 2026 conversation with Eric Jorgenson.
Buy, build, or connect?
Buy
Do the design, support, and reliability justify the subscription and onboarding?
Build
Could a narrower tool solve the problem? Who maintains it after launch?
Connect
Can we get our data out and use the product through other tools and agents?
The talk that stuck with me
Brown Haven
Opening keynote
Brown Haven made speed and conversion practical
Brown Haven connected faster implementation with a simpler path from interest to sales.
- Higharc rollout
- 6 months
- focus on the work driving impact
- 20% → 80%
- marketing budget after April cut
- ~60% lower
- year-over-year lead growth, per Bogdan
- ~19%
Bogdan reported almost 19% more leads year over year after Brown Haven cut marketing spend by about 60% in April. An improved website lets buyers book directly with sales reps, reducing handoffs and helping the team move toward a quote sooner.
The six-month Higharc rollout followed a clear rule: focus on the 20% of work driving 80% of impact. I read that as permission to ship a useful first version, even while it is imperfect, then improve it with better change management.
The Oasis slide starts with data Brown Haven connects, cleans, and owns, then adds business-trained AI, staff-built dashboards, and automation. The point is a connected business record that can reduce manual work.
TakeawayThe strongest lesson for me was to shorten both the implementation cycle and the buyer’s next step.
Speaker excerpts
“I'm going to focus on the 20% that drives 80% of the impact.”Bogdan Constantin · President, Brown Haven Homes
“we're actually up almost 19% on leads year over year because we're focused on the website, how it converts.”Bogdan Constantin · President, Brown Haven Homes
“People can book directly on our sales people's calendars.”Bogdan Constantin · President, Brown Haven Homes
“There was no secret sauce. We were just focused on it.”Bogdan Constantin · President, Brown Haven Homes
“A good bit of it still was not done, but it didn't matter because the value that I was realizing made up for any of the mess that I saw on the flip side.”Bogdan Constantin · President, Brown Haven Homes
“I can compete on how quickly I react to what my buyer wants.”Bogdan Constantin · President, Brown Haven Homes
From the room
Three sessions.
One changing landscape.
The ideas below sit close to the images, evidence, and notes that brought them into focus.
Oct. 26, 2026 • Day 1 keynote • Dallas
Innovating Through the Gloom
The keynote moved from housing data to a practical builder example: Brown Haven cut implementation time, focused on the work with the biggest payoff, and made it easier for buyers to reach sales.
Opening keynote
Housing demand and inventory vary by market
Qadra Evans paired a modest national recovery with sharply different engagement and inventory patterns across cities.
Engaged shoppers per listing had a U.S. median of 4.8, with photographed city figures from 10.5 in Buffalo to 2.2 in Houston. August 2026 inventory ranged from well above pre-pandemic norms in some Sun Belt metros to far below them in parts of the Midwest and Northeast.
The practical read is local: one national headline cannot tell a builder what buyers are doing in a particular market.
TakeawayUse the city-level pattern to frame the local question.
Speaker excerpts
“That's where we're seeing more engaged shoppers per listing.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
“It is market by market right now.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
- slide headline; comparison period is not printed in the photo
- +20%
- U.S. median engaged shoppers per listing
- 4.8
- Buffalo / Houston, respectively
- 10.5 / 2.2
- Austin inventory versus its pre-pandemic norm
- +48.3%
- Raleigh inventory versus its pre-pandemic norm
- +29.2%
- Chicago inventory versus its pre-pandemic norm
- −52.2%
Opening keynote
Younger buyers are already shaping the offer
Qadra described Gen Z as an active buyer cohort whose preferences builders can address in the home and sales center.
The buyer-mix slide shows Millennials at 40% and Gen Z at 17%, up from 14%. The following slide narrows to Gen Z preferences, including electric appliances and at least one smart-home feature.
The figures describe different groups: one slide shows the overall buyer mix; the next reports Gen Z preferences specifically.
Speaker excerpts
“from 14% last year to 17% this year.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
“They prefer electric to gas. And they want smart homes. ... at least one feature is what Gen Z is looking for.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
- Millennial share shown on the slide
- 40%
- Gen Z share shown, up from 14%
- 17%
- electric / gas stove preference
- 63% / 37%
- electric furnace / gas furnace / heat pump preference
- 40% / 25% / 18%
- Gen Z buyers looking for at least one smart-home feature
- 93%
Opening keynote
Specific features carry the clearest price signals
Qadra used kitchen and outdoor features to make buyer demand more concrete.
The data links individual kitchen and outdoor features with higher sale prices. Quartzite shows the strongest kitchen association at +5.3%; outdoor kitchens lead the outdoor list at +4.4%.
Specific choices make the signal more useful than a broad label such as “upgraded kitchen.”
TakeawayName the feature buyers value, then make it visible in the home story.
Speaker excerpts
“These are all premium on your sales.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
“Outdoor living, this is one of those pandemic era trends that have not gone away yet. So you can see outdoor kitchens, outdoor fireplaces, these really great living spaces outdoors are things that people want.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
- quartzite
- +5.3%
- quartz
- +3.0%
- wine fridge / pot filler
- +2.3%
- induction cooktop / kitchen island
- +1.6%
- outdoor kitchen
- +4.4%
- outdoor fireplace
- +2.3%
- pergola / fire pit
- +1.6%
Opening keynote
Search is shifting toward usable space and amenities
Qadra’s search data favored usable amenities over broad luxury and acreage terms.
Outdoor-amenity searches rose 30% year over year. Water-adjacent spaces, accessory dwellings, and fenced yards also gained, while mansion/luxury and acreage searches fell in the slide’s comparison.
I see outdoor living and wellness as connected parts of the home experience: buyers are searching for spaces they can use, not just larger labels.
Speaker excerpts
“Here's where buyers are searching. You can see the trends year over year of what's important as far as what they're searching for. We have a natural language search on Zillow.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
- outdoor amenities: patio, yard, view
- +30%
- water-adjacent amenities
- +21%
- ADU / guest house and fenced yard, each
- +25%
- mansion / luxury and acreage searches, each
- −10%
Opening keynote
The first showing happens on screen
Qadra’s phrase, “screen appeal is the new curb appeal,” stayed with me.
- buyers reportedly starting their search on Zillow, per Qadra
- ~28%
Qadra said buyers start their search online, whether on Zillow or another site. Builders need to meet them there with clear, specific views of what the home offers.
I want the first images buyers see to make the home easy to understand.
Speaker excerpts
“They're starting their search online whether it be Zillow or another site. So this is where you really need to update, make sure that this is where you're meeting them and showing off what you've got.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
“more than 25% of people, like 28% of buyers are starting their search on Zillow.”Qadra Evans · Director, Industry & Partner Engagement, Zillow New Construction
Opening keynote
Wellness is becoming part of the home offer
Jennifer Cooper described wellness as a growing home category shaped by practical choices and the people who live there.
- 2025 wellness real-estate market, per Jennifer
- $876B
- wellness real-estate forecast by 2030
- $1.8T
- U.S. consumers calling wellness a top or important priority
- 84%
- Gen Z and millennials: U.S. wellness spending share / adult population share
- 41% / 36%
- buyers prioritizing whole-house water / air filtration
- 22% / 22%
Jennifer presented a wellness real-estate market of $876B in 2025 and a $1.8T forecast for 2030. She connected that growth to air and water choices and to Blue Heron’s personalized home concept.
The slide puts Gen Z and millennials at 41% of wellness spending and 36% of the adult population.
Speaker excerpts
“Wellness isn't a trend, it's actually a trajectory. The global wellness research market has grown substantially.”Jennifer Cooper · Founder, Evolution Marketing; fractional CMO to Blue Heron Homes
“It was $876 billion in spend in 2025.”Jennifer Cooper · Founder, Evolution Marketing; fractional CMO to Blue Heron Homes
“So by 2030, we're going to be at $1.8 trillion in spend.”Jennifer Cooper · Founder, Evolution Marketing; fractional CMO to Blue Heron Homes
“84% of consumers want wellness at the top of their list. ... 41% of those are the Gen Zers and the Millennials. ... there's about 36% of the adult age.”Jennifer Cooper · Founder, Evolution Marketing; fractional CMO to Blue Heron Homes
“And it starts with the physiology. ... we start to create a healthy, branded home experience.”Jennifer Cooper · Founder, Evolution Marketing; fractional CMO to Blue Heron Homes
Opening keynote
Affordability is shrinking the production-builder market
Tim Costello contrasted household distributions in 2019 and 2025 to show how affordability narrowed the production-builder market.
The two photos use different price bands, so their bars are not a row-by-row comparison. Tim said production homes represented 27% of the 2025 market, or 37 million households, and nearly 8 million households moved out of the affordability category between 2019 and 2025.
He framed the affordability gap as a product and market-design problem builders can address.
TakeawayKeep each year’s price bands with its own image; the headline market share and household count carry the clearest comparison.
Speaker excerpts
“More than 50% of the population has no chance of, this was in 2019, of buying a production home. ... Fast forward to 2025.”Tim Costello · Founder & Principal, Built4F
“Production homes is 27% of the market, or only 37 million households. ... From 2019 to 2025, 8 million households moved out of the affordability category.”Tim Costello · Founder & Principal, Built4F
- U.S. households in 2019, per slide
- 123M
- population Tim said could not buy a production home in 2019
- >50%
- production-builder market share / households
- 27% / 37M
- households that moved out of affordability since 2019, per Tim
- 8M
- new-construction median-price marker
- $460K
Opening keynote
Speaker resources
The closing slide gathers the speakers behind the keynote’s market, builder, wellness, design, sales, and economic perspectives.
Market and builder perspectives: Qadra Evans (Zillow), Bogdan Constantin (Brown Haven Homes), Jennifer Cooper (Evolution Marketing), and Tim Costello (Built4F).
Sales and design perspectives: Larkin Ison III (Rilla), Rusty Gunther (Aterra Designs), and Tony Pratte (Audio Advice). John Galante (AE Ventures) hosted.
Speaker excerpts
“Thank you to Rilla for sponsoring this keynote. Larkin, thank you so much. Head out to the connections reception and we'll see you out there.”John Galante · President, AE Ventures (host)
Oct 27, 2026 • Sales & Marketing Solutions
Buyer Engagement Playbook: From First Conversation to Handoff
The panel followed the buyer journey from first sales conversation through ownership, with a consistent theme: carry context forward, automate routine work, and make human support easy to reach.
Buyer engagement
Carry context from the first conversation into contract
Moe Abbas described AI-supported sales coaching; Derek Schairer showed how a connected app can carry the buyer experience from contract through ownership.
Moe described conversation analysis, process scores, role-play, and CRM notes as ways to help sales teams learn. He called discovery and the close the two critical parts of the conversation.
Derek presented a branded app and portal for tasks, documents, and updates from purchase agreement through ownership. The screens include demonstration property details.
TakeawayA buyer should not have to start over at each phase.
Speaker excerpts
“the sales conversation is the most valuable conversation, but ultimately AI is uniquely good at giving you insights on conversation.”Moe Abbas / SalesAsk → Derek Schairer / Foundation
“They can score reps on how well they're doing on the process. They can do AI role-playing with sales reps. They can automatically create notes, sync to CRMs”Moe Abbas / SalesAsk → Derek Schairer / Foundation
“Mostly, honestly, sales is really two big components. If you want to get it right, it's the discovery.”Moe Abbas / SalesAsk → Derek Schairer / Foundation
“So the platform experience for buyers starts as soon as they sign a purchase agreement. and stays with them for as long as they own the home.”Moe Abbas / SalesAsk → Derek Schairer / Foundation
“So it's one login, same information. All the information about their home is in sync”Moe Abbas / SalesAsk → Derek Schairer / Foundation
“We start by creating a fully white-labeled app for builders under their own brand in the iOS and Android app stores, along with a web-based support.”Moe Abbas / SalesAsk → Derek Schairer / Foundation
“This is where our magic happens and how we're able to unify and normalize all of a builder's data into structure that can be useful.”Moe Abbas / SalesAsk → Derek Schairer / Foundation
“We coordinate using buyer and owner checklists with automated reminders. This cuts down on back and forth and email to ensure your customers have a clean, smooth, and on time closing.”Moe Abbas / SalesAsk → Derek Schairer / Foundation
Buyer engagement
Self-service handles routine needs; people make the moments matter
Self-service can cover routine information while people focus on the moments that deserve personal attention.
The screens show home-selection details and a timely construction update. Derek said the goal is to automate routine work so builder teams have more time for moments that matter.
Derek said Foundation’s system supports the team without automating the buyer messages themselves; the relationship stays personal.
TakeawayGive buyers routine answers at their fingertips and keep a person close when the moment calls for one.
Speaker excerpts
“AI should automate the routine So all builders have more time for the moments that matter that actually deserve a human touch”Derek Schairer / co-founder, Foundation
“We give customers self-service information at their fingertips, things like paint colors, appliances, fixtures”Derek Schairer / co-founder, Foundation
“we actually don't automate messages. This is not a chatbot. It's not written by AI because we want to have that human in the loop philosophy”Derek Schairer / co-founder, Foundation
Buyer engagement
Derek presented annual buyer touchpoint figures by builder size
Derek presented Foundation’s annual touchpoint averages by builder size and the share he said its platform automates.
- 1,000+ annual closings
- 74%
- 400–999 annual closings
- 73%
- Under 400 annual closings
- 43%
Derek’s slide shows 64,272 average annual touchpoints for builders with 1,000+ closings (16,896 by the builder; 47,376 by Foundation), 30,360 for 400–999 closings (8,106; 22,254), and 15,926 for under 400 (9,096; 6,830).
The slide does not define “touchpoint” or give a date range, so the percentages are best read as the Foundation shares shown in Derek’s table.
TakeawayTreat the percentages as the Foundation share shown in Derek’s table, with the touchpoint definition left unspecified.
Speaker excerpts
“what you see on the screen here are the average annual touch points from our network of builders at Foundation to their customers, broken down by builder size.”Derek Schairer / co-founder, Foundation
“the foundation is automating about half to three-fourths of these touch points for our builders.”Derek Schairer / co-founder, Foundation
Buyer engagement
A seamless journey needs a clear human handoff
Melissa Cervin’s example pairs low-pressure self-service with a clear path to human help.
Melissa described Toni, Lombardo’s AI shopping assistant, as a way to help buyers explore communities and floor plans before they are ready to speak with someone. Buyers can ask for a person at any time, and high-intent questions go to an online sales counselor.
A public conversation with Melissa Cervin includes a demonstration of Lombardo’s Toni AI shopping assistant.
Systems should feel like one experience from the first website visit onward: buyers should not have to repeat why they are looking, and someone on the team should own each handoff.
Her dividing line was practical. AI can handle repetitive, informational, low-pressure work; people should step in as the stakes rise around finances, delays, or construction concerns.
TakeawayA good handoff carries buyer context and makes ownership of the response clear.
Speaker excerpts
“Our philosophy at Lombardo was a little bit different. We wanted to go ahead and offer something of value to the customer and start building trust with our brand before we ask them to share with us.”Melissa Cervin / VP of Marketing, Lombardo Homes
“They can at any point reach out and ask to talk to a human. And at certain points, Tony has been taught that when there's high intent questions put out there, she refers the customer back to the OSC.”Melissa Cervin / VP of Marketing, Lombardo Homes
“When you're talking about financial issues, delays, construction concerns, that's when empathy is necessary”Melissa Cervin / VP of Marketing, Lombardo Homes
“The handoff is where a lot of AI experience fails.”Melissa Cervin / VP of Marketing, Lombardo Homes
“if at any point during that experience we make them repeat themselves, or we make something really, really difficult to find an answer to, or we make them chase how to contact us, that experience feels fragmented.”Melissa Cervin / VP of Marketing, Lombardo Homes
Buyer engagement
Keep data connected and builder-owned
The panel’s partnership advice centered on configurability, data access, and open integrations.
Derek’s slide recommends a configurable platform, builder control of business data, and a way to connect the builder’s own AI through an MCP server. The discussion pushed back on vendors that refuse integrations.
I want the software to fit the actual job: data access and connected agents matter, and a small custom tool can be a better fit than an expensive SaaS product when the workflow is simple.
TakeawayOpen connections let buyer context move between the tools behind the experience.
Speaker excerpts
“the partner who has this Chinese walled garden, like, no, we don't integrate with anybody, kick him to the curb.”Derek Schairer / Foundation; Melissa Morman / Built4F, track chair
“You need to own your data. Keep control of your information. Information is going to be going on in the AI era.”Derek Schairer / Foundation; Melissa Morman / Built4F, track chair
“I will move on and introduce our panel that we have together.”Derek Schairer / Foundation; Melissa Morman / Built4F, track chair
“And then over here I have Derek, who I've known for quite some time, co-founder and CCO of Foundation.”Derek Schairer / Foundation; Melissa Morman / Built4F, track chair
Buyer engagement
Measure the whole cost and value of AI engagement
The cost of AI engagement extends beyond licensing, so compare the operating change with outcomes buyers and teams can observe.
Lombardo’s framework includes implementation and integrations, content and data preparation, training, process redesign, testing, governance, and maintenance.
Potential value measures include conversion, response time, employee effort, app use, buyer drop-off, satisfaction, and milestone feedback.
TakeawayMeasure both the work required to run the system and the buyer outcomes it may improve.
Speaker excerpts
“there are a lot of other things that factor into the value of AI. How much time is going to be saved by using this?”Melissa Cervin / VP of Marketing, Lombardo Homes
“good, better, and best should describe the overall continuity of the experience.”Melissa Cervin / VP of Marketing, Lombardo Homes
Oct 27, 2026 • Content That Converts
Content That Converts: Using AI to Tell Your Story Across Every Channel
The session explored AI for photo organization, truthful first impressions, team learning, and content that can travel across channels. The through-line: start with real homes and people, and use AI to make the story clearer.
Content converts
Make every photo useful before it reaches the builder
Cameron described AI working at the intake layer of a large photo workflow, before images become listings or buyer updates.
- photos processed, as Cameron reported
- ~200,000 / week
Cameron said 149Photos processes about 200,000 in-progress and finished images each week. AI routes them by community and lot, reducing the chance that a photo is attached to the wrong home.
The pipeline can flag blur, darkness, framing, lighting, and seasonal differences; tag construction stage, features, and objects; and make images searchable instead of buried in folders. Builder preferences can help select hero shots. Virtual staging is still emerging.
I would start with organization: every image should be findable by the home, lot, stage, and features it actually shows.
TakeawayA searchable photo record can support marketing, construction visibility, and cleaner handoffs.
Speaker excerpts
“So we process around 200,000 photos a week.”Owen Cameron · 149Photos
“It's tagged for a community basis. It's tagged on a lot basis”Owen Cameron · 149Photos
“this photo may be too blurry. This may be too dark.”Owen Cameron · 149Photos
“show me homes in mechanical”Owen Cameron · 149Photos
“it ups the score depending on how much is associated to that hero shot.”Owen Cameron · 149Photos
Content converts
Follow the French Brothers Homes experiment
Kody Smith described an owner-led AI video series that gave a playful face to a real home and its features.
The series used a childlike AI avatar based on owner Kevin Jewell to present homes in Alamogordo and Lubbock. Kody said the joke began during a difficult market and grew into a short series that was gaining traction.
The posts drew on actual home specifications and incentives. The useful distinction is that the character may be synthetic, while the home details behind the story stay real.
TakeawayAn AI character can carry a specific home story when the source details come from the builder.
Speaker excerpts
“It's French Brothers Homes in Alamogordo and then Lubbock, Texas.”Kody Smith · NoviHome
“it's him as a little kid avatar that they created AI.”Kody Smith · NoviHome
“His team can put that together based on the specs of the home and incentives that they have.”Kody Smith · NoviHome
Content converts
Make AI use something the team can learn from each other
At NoviHome, Kody described a weekly hour where account managers, developers, and customer success compare practical uses of AI.
- weekly team AI-sharing hour, as Kody described it
- Mondays · 11–12
The cross-functional meeting gives people a place to compare how they use AI at work and in their own routines. I like the office-hours feel: a recurring, low-pressure conversation where useful experiments can travel between roles.
That conversation could also hold ordinary questions such as whether reviewing a calendar reveals a better way to protect focused work time. The idea is to evaluate useful patterns together, without assuming one tool or answer fits everyone.
TakeawayA regular team share-out makes room for learning from small experiments.
Speaker excerpts
“every Monday from 11:00 to 12:00, my entire team meets with my developers.”Kody Smith · NoviHome
“an account manager talking with a developer. and the customer success person is there”Kody Smith · NoviHome
“manages your schedule, looks for a place where you'd be more efficient.”Kody Smith · NoviHome
Content converts
Improve the first impression without making the home feel fake
The opening example was the gap between a polished listing and the real home a buyer sees on arrival.
The speaker described an exterior with old sod, a stained driveway, and a pallet in the grass. A strong interior can be undermined by a first photo that hides the home’s real appeal.
AI could refresh landscaping, clean a drive, or shift an exterior to dusk. I trust that kind of help more when buyers can also see the real home alongside the vision.
TakeawayUse AI to make the real product easier to imagine while keeping the real product visible.
Speaker excerpts
“It's dirty. It's stained.”Opening panelist (name not reliably captured in transcript)
“show the real thing too”Opening panelist (name not reliably captured in transcript)
Content converts
Keep real homes and people in the source; use AI in post-production
Brad Smith’s “sweet spot” was to start with real footage and expertise, then use AI to speed up post-production.
That can mean removing a garbage can or hose, extending a short shot, or finding the best edit after recording. The home and the people who know it remain the source of the story.
AI can reduce production friction once the real asset exists, while a person stays accountable for what the finished piece claims.
TakeawayUse AI as a production assistant for a real story.
Speaker excerpts
“Get real homes, real people, real products, real expertise”Brad Smith · New Home Content
“get rid of the garbage can. Lose the hose.”Brad Smith · New Home Content
“give me 10 more, five more seconds of that shot”Brad Smith · New Home Content
Content converts
Tell the story once, then reshape it for each channel
Once a story is clear, AI can help reshape it for each audience and channel.
Smith described breaking a complete story into key elements, then reformatting it for a website, social media, and email or sales campaigns. He said the workflow saves his business time.
Each version can fit its channel without losing the facts, people, or product that made the story worth telling.
TakeawayRepurposing starts after the story has enough substance to travel.
Speaker excerpts
“once you've got the full story, let AI help you tell that story”Brad Smith · New Home Content
“create something for your website, create something for social media, create something for email campaigns and sales”Brad Smith · New Home Content
Content converts
Use a second brain to hear what builders keep saying
Smith said builders already have their story; AI can help surface it from conversations and notes.
Kody described compiling builder-call reports and looking for recurring themes. The questions he emphasized were direct: “What am I missing?” and “What theme keeps coming up?”
I find the second-brain idea most useful as a filter: gather conversation notes, ask what matters or is being overlooked, and let a person decide what to do with the signal.
TakeawayCollect the signal first; use AI to organize it, then let people decide what to do.
Speaker excerpts
“And then we will take that fathom and we will compile all the reports.”Kody Smith · NoviHome
“What am I missing is my biggest thing.”Kody Smith · NoviHome
“Look for patterns, tell me what keeps coming up, what seems important, what I might be overlooking, and what is worth sharing.”Kody Smith · NoviHome