265 Interactive Floor Plans - Greg Bray and Kevin Weitzel Apr 23 2025

Greg Bray: [00:00:00] Hello everybody and welcome to today's episode of The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine. 

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. 

Greg Bray: And everybody, we are excited today to have another special episode because I have invited Kevin to be the guest today. So, welcome, Kevin. Thanks for joining us. 

Kevin Weitzel: Hey, oh, thanks for having me here, Kevin and Greg. 

Greg Bray: Are you going to start referring to yourself in the third person for part of this? 

Kevin Weitzel: You know, I could. You know, Kevin says that I should do that, but no, no, I won't do that. [00:01:00] 

Greg Bray: Well, the reason I wanted Kevin to join us today is we have a lot of conversations with builders and one of the things that I continue to see is a lack of use in some of the interactive tools that are available out there for them to really get that engagement with their buyers on the website. 

And so, I wanted to tap in today more into your experience with one particular tool. We'll do some other episodes in the future, maybe about some other ones, as we move forward, but today I really wanted to dive into what we call the interactive floor plan. And I know, you know, a couple of things about that, even more than a couple because you've been working with these for a long, long time.

Kevin Weitzel: I do. 

Greg Bray: So, that's my goal today is to just dive in a little deeper and make sure we understand more about what these tools do, how they work, where builders can leverage them, why they should care, all these powerful questions. But before we dive into that, is there anything that has not already been shared in some prior episode of this podcast that people don't know about you yet? 

Kevin Weitzel: That they don't know about me? Well, I'm an open book, [00:02:00] so obviously everything's out there, but I'll tell you some people don't know the history behind the sideburns. So, I did eight years in the United States Marine Corps and while I was in the corps I hated three things. I hate to get it up early in the morning, I hated running, and I hated shaving. And you do that every single day that you're in the Corps. 

For some reason they loved running, sometimes in combat boots. For some reason they like getting up at three, four, five in the morning. And then, of course, they always want you to be clean shaven. So, when I got out of the Marines I said, I'm never shaving again. Well, that was very short-lived because I found out that my face I get very itchy. So, I look like a crystal meth addict scratching my face off just with how itchy my chin would get. 

So, I went through a whole thing where I tried different ways of growing my hair. I did a mustache. I did a chaplain, which is not a good look by the way. There's a certain person back from the thirties and forties that it resembles his look and it's just not good. I did a Fu Manchu. I did a soul patch. I did a goatee. I did an Amish jawbone. What finally stuck was the sideburns. I did the sideburns. I didn't get any itchiness. 

Truth be told, the thing that I liked most about them, it [00:03:00] made people laugh. And I don't care if you laugh at me. I really don't care because if you're laughing, I'm a happy camper. I did my job that day, sometimes without even saying a word. So, I know that they look silly. I get it. But I like them. So, that's why I have sideburns most of the time. But I do shave once a year because mama said, she's gone now, but my mother said, if you're not going to shave at least shave once a year. So, you're not a dirt bag. 
Greg Bray: I'm going to have to confess Kevin that I haven't shaved part of my face in longer than a year, so I'm not sure what your mom would think about that. 

Kevin Weitzel: You don't want to be a dirt bag, Greg. 

Greg Bray: Yeah, I know.

Kevin Weitzel: You don't want to do it.

Greg Bray: Well, Kevin, I appreciate you sharing that because I don't think everybody knew that, but everybody does recognize the sideburns. They are well known and distinctive. It's part of the Kevin persona for sure. All right, but Kevin, into the good stuff, right? For those who do not know, what are we talking about when we say interactive floor plan? What is it? 

Kevin Weitzel: So, I'll start with saying that not all interactive floor plans are created equal. Some are very basic, some are more complex, some are [00:04:00] static, some are 3D, but in all reality, the interactive floor plans were developed back in 1994. That was when OutHouse developed their first one was in 1994. It was actually, originally created for luxury apartments, like for Mark Taylor type communities, those types of thing, or Christopher communities, and it was meant to just be a furniture planner. So, when somebody was considering renting an apartment or buying a high-end condo, that they could determine how their furniture was going to be placed within that unit.

We had an exec over at Maracay Homes, which is now Tri Pointe Homes. They saw it and played with it, and they were like, we need to have these. So, we gave them a one-year exclusive on our IFPs. For one year, Maracay was one of the only homebuilders, if not the only homebuilder in the United States, that had interactive floor plans. So, for one year, they got to play with them. They saw some pretty interesting stats, which I'll get into later. But that's pretty much the origin of it. 

Basically, an interactive floor plan, instead of having a static floor plan on your website that can be expanded and made bigger, it is actually your floor plan that allows you to see [00:05:00] how the floor plan can be configured with various structural options.

Greg Bray: Yeah, and just so everybody's clear, we're going to use the term IFP for interactive floor plan because, you know, we have to abbreviate everything. That's just the way we do it. So, those two things are interchangeable for those who may not be familiar with that term as well. 

So, Kevin, I know that, well, I was going to say back in the day, but actually still very common is that floor plan like printout that has kind of the base outline of all the rooms. And then over here on the side, there's like, oh, the third bedroom or the office or, you know, the second story or whatever it might be, or the three car garage instead of the two car garage. And for those of us who are not quite as visual as some others, figuring out how that actually comes together without a 20-page brochure is really kind of challenging. And I think that's kind of the challenge that you're trying to solve here with this tool. Am I correct? 

Kevin Weitzel: It actually is. In 2013, there was a study done at IBS by the NAHB, and [00:06:00] that study was basically putting a floor plan with transparencies of ten common structural options. And you would be floored, your jaw would literally hit the floor if you heard the stat of how many home building professionals could not put all 10 structural options overlaid on top of the floor plan in a reasonable amount of time. You ready for this number? 

Greg Bray: I'm ready. Hit me. 

Kevin Weitzel: Twenty-seven percent. So, only 27 percent of the people that did this little test with 10 common interactive structural options could place those transparencies over the frame, and that's people in our industry. So, think about how many of your home buying customers, your potential home buyers, are going to struggle with that same factor. Then, when you have it as a static format on your website, they have yet to determine, okay, is it a dotted line that they can see that there's an option? Is it separated onto a completely different page, or, you know, a completely different link that they have to click on? Or is it just detached where it's off of the floor [00:07:00] plan and then who knows if it's geographically close to where it aligns with the floor plan itself. So, you're basically setting your potential home buyer up for failure in not being able to realize and visualize how those can be seen on their plan.

Greg Bray: Well, and then you get into the complexities of, well, if you choose A, B doesn't fit, so you can't have both of those, and you've got mutually exclusive things. And then you've got all the different combinations that are just almost impossible to represent on paper at all because, you know, there's just too many choices. I could do A, B, and C or without C or plus D or whatever. It's just crazy. 

Kevin Weitzel: Yeah, you can have nested options, conflicting options. Like you can't do a covered porch, an open deck, and a sunroom all in the same location, so you have to pick one or the other. And when you pick one, the other two disappear, or just go away, or are not clickable. If you pick an owner's bathroom suite that has two sinks, well then you have the option of a Roman tub, or maybe a standalone shower or walk-in shower. A lot of those things are going to stack on each other, so those need to be nested. So, [00:08:00] if you select X, then Y can be selected as well. 

Greg Bray: So, then it sounds like one of the benefits is just helping communicate what's possible to buyers. What are some of the other reasons that builders should care about this tool? What are some of the other benefits that come with it? 

Kevin Weitzel: So, I call it the 40-40-40 rule. This is all data that came to us directly from, and luckily they were forthcoming with their data because a lot of home builders, they'll give you the initial stuff like here's the time spent on page, here's how many leads we get, and we can see that too, just from being able to track the analytics of it. But what they gave us was their actual numbers.
 
They saw a 40 percent increase in leads. So, that was almost instantaneous. Two, they saw a 40 percent increase in structural option sales. And this was a study of over about six months time. So, they saw an increase of structural option sales by 40%. And that's where the margin is. You've got a lot of margin in those structural options because you can bake it into that pricing versus just trying to stay competitive with the price of the home. On top of that, it shortened the sales cycle. They saw roughly a 40 percent decrease in [00:09:00] time in the life of the sales cycle. So, when you see 40 percent more leads, 40 percent increase in sales, and then a 40 percent decrease in the amount of time it takes for a buyer to make a decision, those are all wins. 

And then on top of that, the NAHB also has this data that the average home builder gets two to four minutes of total time on their website. I don't care if you're Chuck with the truck or if you're DR Horton. Everything from that small, teeny tiny builder to the largest builders out there, two to four minutes of total time. With just the implementation of interactive floor plans, you can increase that amount of time on page, sometimes two times, three times, four times. You can radically increase the amount of time on page just with IFP's alone. 

Greg Bray: It's fascinating data, Kevin. And remind me again, which builder was it that had the 40-40-40? 

Kevin Weitzel: So, they're now called Tri Pointe, but back then they were called Maracay Homes. 

Greg Bray: Okay, so this is, at the time, not like the biggest builder in the world, but they're not tiny either. They were a decent size builder, and they're seeing some amazing things. That turns into real money. That is real money. [00:10:00] So, this idea that buyers are moving forward faster. You're getting more leads. They're buying more. Just from your own experience talking with builders, where do you think that comes from? Is it just that people understand it better? Is it just, Oh, this was fun, so I'm going to buy from this builder instead? What is it that you feel like is kind of the behind the scenes of what's pushing those numbers forward? 

Kevin Weitzel: There is an engagement factor that comes into play. You know, if you go to one builder's website that just has static floor plans, static images, it can be a little bit boring. Whereas somebody has those engagement tools, whether it be a visualizer, an IFP, interactive sitemaps, they can see real-time status of lots, it's more engaging. You know, that possibly could pique more interest.
But what it really does, it allows them to emotionally engage with that product. You know, they can see where Timmy and Susie's rooms are going to be. They can see where their office is going to be instead of a bedroom on the home. They can even imagine themselves tinkering in their garage when they add that tandem garage or that third car stall. Those are the kind of emotional connections that a home buyer [00:11:00] gets that they won't get just from a static floor plan. 

Greg Bray: You know, this is something that I've done a little research on and included in some of the things that I talk about from time to time. Just this idea that as human beings, our purchases are very emotion-driven, and we don't like to admit that a lot of times. We think we're very rational. I have these requirements and this is going to meet those requirements. But the reality is, is that we kind of have to fall in love with something or once we kind of want it, then we figure out how to rationalize that decision. 

And what you're talking about, this idea of playing with it and saying, Oh, I could do this in this room and, Oh, this comes together this way. And it just doesn't happen the same way when you're looking at just a static image with some little options on the side. You just don't get the same emotional engagement and connection, and that really is a sales driver. 

Kevin Weitzel: So, Greg, let's look at a light bulb. Lightbulbs are pretty simple. We all have them in our homes. We all have to go to Ace Hardware or wherever we're going to buy them. Lowe's, Home Depot, Grocery Store, to get our lightbulbs. Lightbulbs are pretty boring. You just have to know the wattage and how they screw in. [00:12:00] That's really about all there is to them, but let's take this for example. 
If I had a website that showed a lightbulb. Everybody knows that lightbulb looks like. However, if I had an interactive tool that showed you how the room would look using the smart bulb, you could change the tone of the room, the lighting function of the room. You can put a dimmer on it. You can even change the hue to where it has more of a pink hue versus a yellow hue or a daytime glow. If you see all that ahead of time, guess what? 

You don't have to wait for that home buyer to come into Ace Hardware to buy their lightbulb. They're coming to Ace Hardware with their flyer in hand that they printed off at home that says, I want this lightbulb that does all this cool stuff. Same thing with their floor plan. What Maracay told us, and this was a repeating theme, was that they had buyers coming in with a print off of what they did to that floor plan saying, This is the home I like. I'd like to buy it. How much is it? 

Greg Bray: That's powerful. That's powerful. We'll have to find a salesperson who's had that happen and just kind of [00:13:00] compare how that goes. They know what they want. They're ready to move forward. No wonder they move through the process faster because they've already moved through a chunk of it on their own before they even started talking to you. That's a powerful use of the technology. 
All right. So, a builders going, well, of course I want 40 percent more leads, and 40 percent more option sales, and I want everything to move faster. What are some of the ways that you actually put this into the website? It's kind of a separate little piece of content and you have to use it somewhere, somehow. What are your recommendations around that? 

Kevin Weitzel: So, there's stats behind why I recommend one way verse another. The general rule is never let them leave the car lot, never let them leave the website. So, most website designers want to put them on the website in an iframe or a modal, to where it's just contained in a picture frame, if you will, on the website. So, therefore, they never leave.

But I can tell you that if you have what's called a responsive open, whereas that's where you click a button that basically says personalize this plan or customize this plan, and it opens up a new tab, the difference is your [00:14:00] lead generation. And I don't know why this occurs, but keep in mind, we developed IFP back in 1994.

We've been tracking Google Analytics since 1998 or 1999. We've been tracking analytics from Google Analytics since 2005. And then when the iPhone came out in 08, we converted it to mobile first. Not mobile friendly, but mobile first. So, we had to make sure that all functionality worked on a phone before we would roll it out again to that next iteration on an improvement to a website. So, we've been tracking this data for a very long time. 

So, what we found with all these different iterations of the back ends of how we track all the data, including all the direct data saves that we have, is that we can look at direct lead generation when it is contained in iframe, you know, rolled out on the builders website, an iframe or a modal. It is 1 out of 40 visitors creates a lead. So, you get 1 lead for every 40 people that touch that interactive floor plan on the website. It's not bad numbers, not bad at all. 

However, when it's in [00:15:00] a responsive open, and that's when they click the button and it opens up a new tab, it is 1 out of 9.5 visitors will create a lead. So, for builders that are struggling on lead generation, obviously the responsive open is the way to go. For builders that are maybe wanting a little bit more stickiness in their website and keep them captive for a longer period of time, then an iframe or a modal might be the way to go. And maybe they're not struggling the leads, they just want to make sure that people that are there are staying engaged. 

For builders that think, man, that Kevin, he's crazy. He doesn't know what he's talking about. Let's do one or the other. You know what? Do both. Put it on your website in an iframe and then have a small little button that says, personalize this plan. And we see time and time again, there's about a four to one ratio of people that will click that button to personalize a plan versus just using it in the iframe. 

Greg Bray: As a web developer for many years, that mantra of don't send them away from the website without a really good reason that resonates with me. And I have to admit that your data changed my view. And this is why we need to study [00:16:00] things and measure things and not just make assumptions and do things just because. Now I do think that that advice came from early days where there were a lot of people who didn't understand what was happening when a new tab was opened.

Remember those days where people who were just learning how to use the Internet and was like, where did it go? I hit back and the back button doesn't work anymore. And they, and they got confused. Right? But today's Internet user understand tabs. Frankly, I've seen some people with some crazy number of tabs open on their computer from time to time. It just blows my mind how many tabs I've seen some folks have open. So, I think that reason to do it has changed a bit. 

But at the end of the day, we can't argue with the data. We cannot argue with the data. If your goal is lead generation and you are tracking it, that's what's working. And again, if you don't believe it, then test it yourself like you said. Run your own test, do some A/B testing, do some different types of options there to figure it out. Because we want to use the tools the best way possible, and not just let [00:17:00] a web designer pick just because they like the way it looks or likes the way it flows differently. That's not the idea here, we're trying to get leads.

Kevin Weitzel: Well, I can tell you there are some web designers that like to use the stats that come from it. So, if we look at that 2 to 4 minutes of average time, let's say you have a builder that has a relatively unsophisticated website. And they were getting, you know, 1 minute, 15 seconds average time, 1 minute, 30 seconds average time, very small amount of time.
That web designer looks like an instantaneous genius when they implement IFPs in an iframe, when now they're getting three minutes, four and a half minutes of average time on their website. It's like, what did they change? Oh, we just did some fancy magic on your website. Well, it's the IFPs that you put on the website that are getting that stickiness that are keeping people engaged on the page and live on the page.

Greg Bray: Well, and I think, too, that when you step back and I always try to say, okay, it's working this way. But why? What is it that we can figure out why? And to me, I think one of the reasons is first of all, you've got more room to work, right? This is a tool that the bigger it is, the more you can [00:18:00] see the details on the screen. And even on a phone, if you're opening it up in that new tab, you've got a little more room to work than you do when it's framed within something else. Again, I can't prove that. Now, I just talked about how important data is and here I am just speculating. But I think that's part of it.

I think the second thing that happens is we remove distractions of all the other stuff on the page and allow them to focus in on what this tool is letting them do. Which again, just helps them keep kind of getting deeper and deeper into it without all the other things they might be able to click on or other places that they might be able to go. But again, that's just my kind of trying to explain why does this work better this way at the end of the day? Does it matter why no. It works better and until somebody does the study that says otherwise, that's the recommendation. 

Kevin Weitzel: Well, I'll tell you speaking of studies. We were a little bit concerned that AI was going to create a problem because the AI search engines and the AI bots would not be able to see what was contained in those iframes, and that was a legitimate [00:19:00] fear. However, we are finding that the data supports the exact opposite of that, and that they can crawl the contents of what is in an iframe, very simply, actually. 

They can pluck out the majority of the data, they can get room counts, they can get dimensions all off of what is contained in an iframe. So, our initial fear that, you know, oh my goodness, we're going to have to reinvent how IFPs are incorporated into websites, it's not that they're gone, but that is rapidly becoming a non issue. 

Greg Bray: So, Kevin, we talked about the fact that we get more leads when somebody opens it, you know, one way or another. I don't think we've really explained how the IFP actually generates a lead. Tell us exactly more about how that connection is to a lead. 

Kevin Weitzel: Sure. So, Chuck with the truck has a static floor plan on his website. Somebody looks at that floor plan, they can like it or they don't like it, or it's going to meet their needs, it's not going to meet their needs. When you have an IFP on your website, and this is regardless of who supplies your IFP, there's always going to be some sort of save function. When you have that save function, it's gated and not [00:20:00] gated. You don't have to enter your information to see what is there, but you do need to enter your information, and usually minimal. Most IFPs, including our competitors, you just put in your name and your email and it sends you a copy of it. Well, guess what? That same copy goes to the builder as a lead with that buyer information if they gave their email, if they gave a phone number, et cetera. And that's how those leads come about, but that's just the digital side of it.

The in-person side of it is that when somebody is so engaged with the IFP and it meets all their criteria of what they're looking for in a home, they will literally bring that print out, they'll print it off at home, they'll bring it into the sales office and they'll say, this is the home that I want. What lots can I get it on? What home sites can I get on? 

Greg Bray: Kevin, I think this is a good reminder just in general, that when we ask people for their personal information, we have to be giving them something in exchange for that. And in this case, what we're giving them is the ability to save what they've done, and be able to come back to it later and share it with their significant other or somebody else or work on it some more the next day or something like [00:21:00] that. And that type of functionality has value. 

Well, of course, it makes sense to me that I have to create some type of an account if I want to save it and come back and find it later. We're all very used to that as computer users and internet users. And so, that's the give and take. If you force them to do it before they can play with it, they're like, I don't know, what am I going to get type of a thing. Why am I giving this up? 

Now, of course, I'm guessing that you don't recommend to builders that the instant somebody hits save and creates that account, that their phone's ringing from a salesperson saying, Hey, I saw you save this interactive floor plan. Can you meet on Friday to talk about it? 
Kevin Weitzel: Well, that's the thing with IFPs is that you can integrate those with your CRM. So, instead of having to clerk the information in from a spreadsheet, it API connects it and pushes it directly into your CRM, no matter who you're using. If it's Lasso or Sales Simplicity or HubSpot, Top Dollar Solutions, it doesn't matter. Any of any cloud-based CRM that client data can be pushed directly in. And then it just comes down to the internal policies that the builder has. You know, do we reach out to them five seconds after they place the [00:22:00] lead? 

The beauty of an IFP, just like the beauty of self-guided touring, is that your office doesn't have to be open for those leads to flow in. You don't have to have somebody manning a sales center. If Susie is looking at a home plan at 3:45 in the morning and she saves that plan, when you get in the office at six, seven, eight, nine, then that lead is going to be in your inbox, ready to rock and roll, and it's already going to be in your CRM. You'll already have the notification that says that Susie wants this plan with these settings. This is how she saved it, how she configured it. Then it's just a question of your internal policy. What is your outreach? 

Greg Bray: Well, you know, I've even talked to some builders, Kevin, who have mined that data for a whole different purpose beyond the leads where they've said, Hey, you know what, we're seeing trends that this type of option is more popular than that type of option. And they've been able to restructure, which one they lead with in their marketing, and kind of what's the default setting of, you know, do we default with a three-car garage or the two-car garage with the other one being the option. Right. And they've been able to change that [00:23:00] messaging and use that as a way to engage at a different level too. Are you seeing trends along those lines as well? 

Kevin Weitzel: Absolutely. So, back before GA4, and that horrible new iteration came out, I'm sure there's some wins on it, but as far as my opinion, I think there's a lot of shortcomings that it has. But we've been using Google Analytics' back end tool on our IFPs since 2005. With that, we set up a template where it would show your, obviously all the general stuff, you know, what area of the country they came from, what their zip code was, how long they stayed on the page, how many unique users, yada, yada, yada. 

But what we also kept track of was your 10 most popular plans by clicks, your 10 most popular plans by time spent on the plan, and then your 10 most popular options. So, there was a timeframe roughly around 2016, 2017, where every single builder that we had that had a walk in shower as a clickable option, it was always in the top 10, sometimes more like the top three, top [00:24:00] four. 

However, when we progressed into COVID, the option that we saw almost immediately take over the number one spot was an office. Do you have a bedroom that converts to an office? That ranked right up to the top. So, when you look at those factors, yeah, you can actually now replan your plans. Because you can look at what plans you sell. We sell this plan 60 percent of the time. We sell this plan, you know, 31 percent of the time, we sell this plan 15 percent of the time, and then the rest of them just sit there and collect dust. 

You can also look at how often you sell option one, two, three, four, or five, but why are you selling option one when they're clicking on option two and three, but never selecting option two and three? Are they not selecting two and three because of poor design? That the cost is too much? Let's talk about cost too, Greg. 

Was it that, you know, it just didn't make sense for that particular buyer? But why do so many buyers, buyer after buyer after buyer, or lead after lead after lead, they buy X, Y, or Z, but they don't select A, B, and C? So, why do you even have A, B, and C as part of your plans? Or why do you not have X, Y, [00:25:00] Z be the default on the plan like you stated? 

Greg Bray: Well, and I think in this case, too, a builder can probably get that data from their sales of what they actually sold, but we're talking about being able to get that insight much earlier in the process. Because these are people that haven't bought yet, potentially, and are just playing around.

And we talk about emotional engagement. Somewhere along the line, I have to see that plan and say, this looks like something I want to explore deeper. And if we can get the defaults of what they're seeing to be closer to what's more popular and more interesting, the chances of pulling them into that conversation and saying, Oh, yeah, that does look like a plan I want to learn more about. It's just going to be that much easier to do. All right. But you want to talk about cost implications. 

Kevin Weitzel: I want to talk about the cost because just like you can API connect it to a CRM you can also API connect it from an ERP. So, if you're using a cloud-based ERP system, you know, there's several out there that are high quality. [00:26:00] There's eOne, there's MarkSystems, there's NorthStar, there's tons of great ones out there. But if you're using one of these cloud-based ERPs and you're keeping track of all the data for your pricing and your estimation, why not have that customer facing? 

You can literally have that API connected, and then when you're selecting that you want to do a den in lieu of a bedroom, guess what? That's going to real time cost you instead of a 389,000 house, I add 15,000 to it. Or if you're going to do a, you know, an extended porch, that's going to add 6,000 to the cost. Have it shown real time when they click it. Not only that, but you can also show real-time square footage as well. So, all that stuff can show in real time when you're connected.

And with ours, you can actually manually input it as well. So, for smaller builders that are less sophisticated or maybe they can't afford or aren't to a point where they can afford to have an ERP, then we can have it as a manual entry as well. But, yeah, real time pricing. There's tons of data that supports it. Buyers not just want but expect to see the pricing before they actually walk into a sales center. 

Greg Bray: So, Kevin, two other scenarios to consider. All right. We've got [00:27:00] the custom builder who's like, Oh, my, I do everything unique and custom. There's too many options. Does this tool ever work for them? And then on the other hand, the builder who does no options. This is it. This is what we build. This is how we build it. No real choices at all. Do both of those have a use for a tool like this, or is this more for the folks in the middle? 

Kevin Weitzel: So, yes, the answer is yes. If you're talking about an extreme design build, architecturally based home builder where they're basically sitting down with a blank sheet of paper and they're creating a whole new plan, of course, IFPs are not the answer or the solution there. 

However, the custom builder that starts off with a basic plan and then just manipulates that plan to fit the customer's needs, it absolutely makes a difference. So, our friend Bob Schultz has a quote that I love saying to this day. He says there's three kind of builders out there. You've got production builders on one end, you have custom builders on the other end, and then sandwiched right in the middle is semi [00:28:00] profit builders.

And he says that they're semi profit builders for a reason because they're competing against production builders in that price spectrum, but they're giving the same nuances and eccentricities and the hand holding that a custom builder would give. But the reason why he calls it semi profit is because they don't charge for that servicing and that hand holding. So, it winds up eroding their profitability. 

So, what we recommend using an IFP for is when you have honed in a few, like, let's say you have a half a dozen plans that you can do an iteration of these plans and suit 80 percent of your buyers. Predetermine some options that are smart, that are popular, that are a known entity of how much it costs to implement it, and make those standardized options. Have that be part of your repertoire of that plan, of those series of plans. And then, if somebody wants to customize and pass that, well then charge them tooth and nail, charge them until they can't afford to pay it anymore for that full custom experience. 

But this allows you to maintain that profitability because you already know what everything's going to cost. You've already value engineered it. You've already looked at the estimations of what [00:29:00] it's going to cost you to implement X, Y, and Z into that plan. So, make it part of your IFP. And then you can still go further custom past that, but make those options part of your IFP so you can elevate that profitability back to where it should be and afford you those pain in the butt clients that erode profitability.

Greg Bray: All right. But what about the builders that do no options at all? 

Kevin Weitzel: No options at all. So, a couple of things. One, when they see that static plan on a website with no options, again, they can see everything they need to see there. However, they don't print it. They can't save it. They can print it. You can print screen. But they're not saving it. So, by having an IFP, you can save it. But even above and beyond that, why not give your potential homebuyer and your end result homebuyer, your actual buyers, a furniture planner, a space planning tool. 

So, with our IFPs, we have a to scale, you'd be amazed how many of them aren't just scale, but a to scale furniture planner where you can actually space plan your entire home. Print that off, give it to your moving company, and now they've got a planogram to not only [00:30:00] put boxes in the rooms that they're labeled for, but put the furniture not only in the room, but exactly where they want it. There is an actual benefit to it. Plus, it has a nice clean look versus a PDF that they have to click on to open up or make bigger. It's a very, very clean, predictable look.

On top of that, you know how builders have a page where they have their gallery of images for their plans? They'll have another page where they have, here's our virtual tours of these plans, or our Matterport tours of these plans. You can put hotspots right on the floor plan itself. Here's the virtual tour for this plan. Here are the interior images for this plan. Versus just a random page of it. I'm not saying to replace that imagery, because that there's tons of data that say that people expect that high quality, very professional photography. But have it there and incorporate on your IFP. So, you've got a furniture planner, the ability to save, and you also have the ability to put those other components in one location. 

Greg Bray: I love the ability to give context for a photo and say, okay, this photo was taken from this [00:31:00] corner of the room so that you get that kind of recognition of how this fits with the rest of the house and the rest of the plan and the room around it. That's really powerful, regardless of whether there's any options to show for sure. All right, Kevin, are IFPs the thing forever. Are they going to be changing? What do you see the evolution of this tool over the next little while?

Kevin Weitzel: So, there's a few evolutions with it. One is that, you know, some people like to see them in color, which that's not anything new. That's something that's been done for a while. Again, there was a study done at IBS that was sponsored by the NAHB, I should say, and they had four near identical floor plans. One was black and white, one was colorized, one was colorized with furniture, and one was a 3D dollhouse style. And in that order, it was shown from biggest to smallest in perceived scale.

So, if you're already struggling with a smaller footprint home, you know, whether it be a condo or a single family home or townhouse, why would you want the perception to be that it's actually smaller than what it is? You don't want them to [00:32:00] actually, in their brain, think that it's actually smaller than what it is. So, the evolution is, is that there are companies moving to 3D floor plans that are interactive.
Just my personal belief, I think the top-down floor plan is still the best tool to use for seeing your interactive options. And if you want to see them in real time, skip past looking at it in a 3D of an interactive floor plan and actually put it into a virtual tour. So, when you're in the virtual tour, that's where you can see those interactive options. You know, if you want to see the floor plan and walk through of it with a den in lieu of a bedroom, or with the gourmet kitchen instead of a stock kitchen. That's the direction to go. Not necessarily to try to squeeze it into an IFP. 

Greg Bray: Kevin, what about the situation for the builder who's like, boy, this sounds great. I'd love to have it, but we just have too many plans. We just have too many plans. Is there a place for this if you can't do everything? Or is it an all or nothing? 

Kevin Weitzel: For any builder that doubts because they have too many plans, number one. if you have too many plans, you have too many plans. If you look at any builder's website and [00:33:00] they've got 80 plans on their website, they aren't building 80 plans, Greg. They're building 15 of those plans, and the rest of them are literally just showing how big they are when in all reality they're not building those. Or maybe they built them one time back in 1985 and they haven't built it since. So, number one, if you have too many plans, you have too many plans. 

But, let's go back to the factor of, well, how could you roll it out if you wanted to even just test it? Just to see if, maybe Kevin's not crazy, maybe we will see an increase of time on page, maybe we will see more leads. Go with a series of homes or go with a community of homes. Just do the five plans you're selling in Whispering Weeds. You know, if you're in the Whispering Weeds and you've got five plans you're selling there, it's a bad neighborhood, by the way. Whispering Weeds is not a place to go. Too many weeds.

But if you go to this neighborhood and you have these five plans, test it with those five plans and the proof will be in the pudding. You will see better quality leads coming in, qualified leads, and then they'll be almost self-closing leads. They're ready to rock and roll, especially if you have real time pricing ready on them. Or do a series. [00:34:00] A lot of builders separate their series out into, you know, like here's our standard homes, here's our signature homes, here's our luxury models. Go with a series and just test it that way. And almost every single time you're going to see a benefit from it. 

Greg Bray: It doesn't take very many incremental sales to pay for this stuff. Just doesn't.
 
Kevin Weitzel: There's a funny saying, well, how much are they? Well, how much are all the sales that you're losing because you don't have them? That's a better question. How many sales am I losing because I don't have these? I don't know. I don't know if they answer that question if it's even qualifiable or quantifiable, but it is a legitimate response question. 

Greg Bray: And it's a very valid question that's very difficult to measure as you were saying, Kevin. What are we missing out on because the person moved on to the next builder's website and never even finished because we just didn't capture them and engage them. And it's hard to say, Oh, we know we're losing something, but you know, you're losing something. Again, if you just sell one more home a month, holy cow, That's a lot. But if you're talking about a 40 percent increase in leads, that's huge. 

Kevin Weitzel: That is a very common [00:35:00] number, and we see that from builder, after builder, after builder. And keep in mind, we've been tracking that since the analytics came out in 05 and since Google came out in 98, we've been tracking all of this in addition to our internal tracking as well. So, we know that those numbers are factual and very replicatable. But I'll tell you there's one mistake the builders make there, Greg, you want to know what it is? 

Greg Bray: I do. 

Kevin Weitzel: They trust their website company to allow them to fail. And here's why. You ever seen that little kid's book called Where's Waldo? 

Greg Bray: I have.

Kevin Weitzel: Well, if you spend the money and invest in technology, no matter what it is, but in this case, since we're talking about IFPs, the IFPs. If you don't follow the two, three click rule or the one, three click rule, whichever school of thought you follow and it takes you seven clicks and five scrolls to get to an IFP, you're playing Where's Waldo with that very engaging and lead producing content you have on your website.

And I see that time and time again, where maybe their website company that doesn't understand what the IFP is going to provide for the builder and they bury it on the website [00:36:00] where it's very difficult to find. Or instead of having an actual action button that stands out, it'll just have a one-line with a little underline below it that's supposed to let you know to click it for something. Which a lot of people will avoid those because they don't want to be sent somewhere else. So yeah, avoid letting your website company play Where's Waldo with a product you spent money on. 

Greg Bray: Well, Kevin, this has been a great conversation. There's been a lot of information here, a lot of insights, and I think that folks who really haven't embraced this technology yet need to take a second look and give it a little more attention. But just any last words of advice or thoughts before we wrap up that you wanted to share today? 

Kevin Weitzel: Yes. Although not all interactive floor plans are created equal, because they're not. No matter where you are as a homebuilder in your digital prowess, if you don't have interactive floor plans and you're still using static floor plans, there is boatloads of data that supports that you should implement these things yesterday. You need them on your website. So, whether you come to us or to one of our competitors, preferably [00:37:00] OutHouse, no matter where you go, get some IFPs, test them on a community, test them on a series, and put them into action, and I promise you, you will see results from it.
 
Greg Bray: Well, Kevin, thank you for sharing with us today and being with us. And thank you everybody for listening to The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine. 

Kevin Weitzel: Hey, and I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. Thank you.