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As we move into 2026, operational excellence is becoming the defining advantage in residential construction. Labor capacity, cycle time pressure, cost volatility, and rising buyer expectations are forcing builders to rethink how work gets done and how teams stay aligned. The companies that thrive will be the ones that strengthen their systems, sharpen their processes, and invest in people and partnerships that can weather rapid change. To support that shift, we gathered insights from top operational leaders on the practices, technologies, and decisions that will set builders up for a smoother, more resilient year ahead.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in 30 years of being in the weeds with homeowners, it’s this: Your greatest source of future sales is the people who have already completed the journey with you.
It’s the families living in the homes you built. And the quality of that relationship comes down to what happens after the sale...during the construction phase and in the ownership stage, with your warranty and customer service team leading the charge. That’s where trust is built, repaired, or lost.
As we head into 2026, here are my top two tips to elevate customer experience and protect your most powerful referral engine:
1. Sit With Your Team…See What Your Customers See: make it a habit to sit beside your warranty team, listen to calls, shadow a visit, or review emails together. Not to inspect them but to understand the customer journey through their eyes.
2. Treat Surveys Like the Goldmine They Are: Surveys are not a scorecard. They are your playbook for improvement. And when you use them right, they will tell you everything you need to know about the experience your homeowners are actually having.
My tips for 2026:
Your sales, construction, and warranty teams should feel empowered, not punished, by feedback. When your frontline team sees surveys as a tool instead of a threat, you turn data into action and action into loyalty.
Final Thought
You can build a beautiful home. You can have strong processes and great technology.
But if you want referrals, reputation, and repeat business, the real magic happens in the ownership stage—when you walk beside your customers, honor their experience, and equip your team to do the same. Invest in the people who are the face of your organization and watch the CX experience flourish.
2026 will reward the builders who get intentional about the human side of homeownership.
No matter where you sit in the construction industry, residential, commercial, or industrial, we’re all facing the same challenge: we need people. The next generation of builders, leaders, and innovators isn’t just the future of our companies; they’re the future of our communities and the entire built environment.
That’s why workforce development isn’t just a priority; it’s a responsibility. Getting in front of students early, showing them the opportunities construction provides, and helping them see how their unique strengths align with this industry are key steps toward addressing our workforce shortage.
But recruitment alone isn’t enough. We also need to invest in our current teams, helping them grow, communicate effectively across generations, and cross-train in vital roles. When people understand more than just their job, they can advance, step into new roles, or even pivot into new areas of the business. That flexibility builds not only stronger careers but also more sustainable companies.
Today’s workforce, regardless of age, values authenticity, purpose, and growth. They want to be part of something real, something that builds both people and projects. As leaders, we must create environments where communication flows freely, learning never stops, and everyone feels empowered to contribute.
Why Workforce Development Matters
Taking the time to connect, train, and develop our people pays off in every direction:
At ABC Carolinas and through Women Talk Construction, we’re committed to continuing this work: connecting people, developing talent, and building an industry where every generation can thrive. Because when we invest in people, we’re investing in construction’s most valuable asset—the human one. Connect with me via LinkedIn and let’s grow the workforce TOGETHER.
In homebuilding, we build our days around plans—the starts, the closings, the schedules, the scopes. We map out timelines as if time will always cooperate, but anyone who has lived long enough, led long enough, or built long enough knows better. Some days don’t come with warnings, and the runway you thought you had suddenly isn’t there.
Life can change in an hour: a leader steps away, a crisis hits a team member, a trade falls through, a project shifts overnight. And in those moments, the question suddenly shifts from “What did we plan?” to “How do we carry each other through this?”
Operations are a people business, especially on the hard days. You can have the cleanest processes and the smartest technology, but when life swerves, you don’t lean on the calendar, you lean on your people:
Companies that stay steady aren’t the ones that avoid disruption; they’re the ones that invest in humans so deeply that when disruption hits, the team becomes the plan.
People don’t get to pause their lives because the operation needs them, and the operation doesn’t wait for personal worlds to settle. Behind every role is a human doing their best with whatever runway they have that day. Sometimes it’s long, sometimes it’s short, and sometimes it disappears without warning. When that happens, an organization’s true strength shows itself immediately: Do people step in or look away? Do leaders communicate or retreat? Do teams pull tighter or fracture? Do relationships hold or unravel?
How Leaders Can Prepare for the Days Without Warning
A Final, Honest Thought
There will always be days that arrive too soon, situations we didn’t brace for, and moments that ask more of us than we thought we had to give. Operational resilience isn’t built to prevent those moments; it’s built to help us move through them, together.
Homes are built by humans, and humans carry storms, surprises, and sudden shifts right into the workday. The builders who honor that, prepare for it, support it, and create cultures strong enough to hold people when life gives no warning are the ones who don’t just withstand the unexpected—they rise above it.
2025 was a year of epiphany for me, a point where I stopped pulling punches and started calling out the obvious opportunities and problems we need to tackle. Builders, product and solution providers, and trade partners all need to double down on the collaboration required for innovation to truly flow. So as 2026 approaches, here’s what’s on my let’s-get-it-done wish list:
You’re working harder than ever. Sales might be decent, and the days feel full, yet profits still fall short of expectations. It’s natural to blame market shifts or competition, but one of the biggest profit drains often hides in plain sight: disorganized bookkeeping. What seems like a small back-office issue can quietly erode margins, acting like a steady leak in your financial pipeline.
Many business owners operate with books that are simply “getting by”—receipts in shoeboxes, outdated spreadsheets, and a sense of dread as tax season approaches. This creates the illusion of control, but without accurate, timely data, every decision relies on guesswork. Blind spots grow, overspending creeps in, and warning signs go unnoticed until they become costly problems.
Unmasking the Hidden Costs of Disorganized Books
Beyond the numbers, the impact is felt in confidence, control, and peace of mind. Disorganized books drain time, blur performance, and make growth harder than it needs to be. Clean, consistent financials give you the insight to make informed decisions, uncover hidden profit opportunities, and operate with the clarity every business deserves.
Home-building data dashboards have become essential tools, but in 2026, the edge goes to builders who harden their inputs by maintaining clean and centralized data, standardizing nomenclature, tightening scopes, and operating with intentional statuses...then, let lightweight AI copilots handle the busywork: reconciling variances, flagging schedule risks, summarizing warranty trends, drafting scorecards, etc.
When your data model is stable, AI becomes a force multiplier—catching errors early, drawing attention where needed, and turning “we think” into “we know.”
Start by auditing your inputs and reviewing how your data is entered or loaded, how it’s labeled, and who owns it. A clean foundation sets you up for successful analytics and AI adoption.
Today’s sales journey is no longer linear. Buyers move between digital and physical touchpoints, and your systems need to move with them. As you plan for 2026, focus on true connections—link your prospecting, sales, design, and operations systems to capture and communicate consistent data so everyone has accurate, real-time information about what’s been sold and promised.
Disconnected tools and miscommunication lead to rework, errors, missed opportunities, and lost profits. By ensuring your system integrations are set up, processes are put in place, your team is fully trained, and you’re leveraging every feature of your technology, your team will deliver a smoother, more profitable buyer experience and, ultimately, sell more homes.
When I pivoted my career into construction, I was chasing two things: stability and tangible results. Accounting had its rewards, but I wanted to point at something and say, “I built that.” The leap was intimidating, especially stepping into a field long portrayed as male-dominated, but the industry is transforming fast—women now make up 11% of the workforce and are driving a more inclusive future.
These are the key lessons from my journey for anyone considering an early- or mid-career transition.
1. Why Construction, Why Now? The Data Doesn’t Lie
Construction offers some of the strongest financial equality in the country, with women earning 95.5% of what men earn, far above the national average. Combine that with high demand across trades and management, and you get not just a job, but a long-term, lucrative career path with real earning power and benefits.
2. The Three Pathways to Entry
Whether you need a debt-free start, fast-track training, or a management route, the industry meets you where you are. Apprenticeships offer competitive wages while you learn; trade schools provide focused 1–2 year certifications through programs like NCCER; and higher education remains the path for Construction Management, Engineering, Safety, or Finance roles. All three pathways open real doors depending on your goals and stage of life.
3. Making the Mid-Career Jump
Switching industries takes more than signing up for a class; it takes reframing your existing strengths. Budgeting, scheduling, logistics, and troubleshooting are skills that transfer directly into project finance, coordination, and problem-solving. Pre-apprenticeship programs can accelerate your readiness, and being coachable on the jobsite goes further than you think. Respect, punctuality, and a willingness to learn carry real weight.
4. Four Ways to Not Just Survive, but Thrive
In 2026, the builders who win will not simply build more. They will build with maturity. Focus on five fundamentals that scale at any size: clean handoffs, schedule integrity, variance control, margin forecasting, and the use of decision-oriented dashboards that translate raw data into action. When these habits are built into the weekly rhythm, chaos fades and predictability grows.
Trades show up ready to complete scopes, budgets stay accurate, and leaders gain visibility that looks forward instead of backward. Structure creates freedom, and it frees teams to deliver quality, protect margins, and grow with confidence.
In 2026, the success of residential construction hinges on strong collaboration between builders and trade contractors. With labor shortages, material volatility, and rising buyer expectations, builders must foster long-term relationships, support trade partner development, and align on procurement strategies to keep projects moving efficiently. Investing in skilled labor and proactive planning is crucial, particularly as the industry faces increasing pent-up homebuyer demand and tighter delivery timelines.
To help trade contractors operate more efficiently and scale their businesses, builders should recommend implementing a project management (PM) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool.
These systems centralize scheduling, documentation, and communication, enabling trades to better manage their workflows, reduce delays, and improve coordination with builders. With real-time visibility into job progress, labor and resource allocation, and material needs, PM/ERP tools, and features like bolt-on scheduling capabilities empower trade contractors to deliver consistent results while supporting builders in achieving smoother, faster, and more predictable project outcomes.
Looking ahead, competitive advantage will come from builders who integrate technology into well-designed processes and align their teams behind a shared vision.
The biggest risk in adopting new technology, especially AI, is assuming the tech itself will solve your problems. As Julieta Moradei said, “Digitizing a bad process just gives you a bad digital process.”
The technology isn’t the hard part. Change is. And change starts with asking the right questions about your workflows, your data, and your team.
Without clarity here, tech adoption becomes expensive experimentation rather than strategic transformation.
There’s incredible talent building AI tools for our industry that are proving real impact. But the first step isn’t implementation; it’s insight. Use these tools to:
Technology adoption fails when it’s treated as an IT project instead of a business transformation. Success requires:
Our research with Ivory Innovations showed that builders and developers who succeed with tech share common traits:
As Todd Schoenfeld of Cecilian Partners said: “Don’t chase hype, build habits.”
As we turn the page on 2025 and look ahead to 2026 and beyond, one thing is becoming unmistakably clear: home builders will be racing to integrate AI efficiencies into their businesses.
While AI felt like a novelty in 2025, 2026 will mark the beginning of true adoption, as industry leaders recognize that AI delivers powerful, irreplaceable efficiencies. In fact, it’s fair to say that AI will soon become essential for any home builder hoping to remain competitive—much like websites revolutionized marketing in the 1990s.
Believe it or not, I remember when many builders back then claimed they didn’t need a website and that the internet was just a fad. They really did! Clearly, that won’t be the case with AI. So, lean in, and find the advocates within your organization who can champion this transformation.
Home Builders across North America are seeing slower sales, and those who are fretting over their numbers know that it’s time to cut back on expenses until sales pick up again.
When it comes to making cuts, Home Builders sometimes try to remove themselves from the day-to-day operations and look at “cold, hard numbers.” They look at these numbers as numbers only and forget that not all should be considered “expenses.”
Homebuilding management software is one of those “numbers” that short-sighted Home Builders often classify as an “expense.” They look at a monthly bill that they start to think is unnecessary.
“We ran a homebuilding business BEFORE we had software,” the Owner muses. “So, we just go back to managing as we did before!” As a result, she decides to lean more on her staff to manage operations again.
“We just need to roll up our sleeves and work harder—and we’ll do it together,” she tells her staff. Not having a choice, the staff regroup and try to figure out how to move forward.
What really happens is just the opposite of what the Owner wanted. The costs of doing business look like they went down—but—let’s see what that cut did in reality:
Ultimately, the slowdown WILL turn around. Those of us in this industry know that these slowdowns are all part of the larger homebuilding cycle. When Sales pick up again, you will start to reconsider a software program to manage the chaos once again. And the costs (time and labor) to re-implement OR re-start the software you cut before will cost you more in the long run.
Sure. I’m in the “software business,” and it’s natural that I’d tell you to hold onto your software program. But I was a Home Builder myself for 25 years—and faced the same slowdown cycles (and worse) that you’re facing now. I had to make hard cuts, too. And I was one of the short-sighted Home Builders who couldn’t see the true costs that my “cuts” were making.
Here’s to a successful 2026 where my wish for you is to be leaner where you can be—and— smarter where you need to be.
The 2025 State of Customer Experience (CX) Report reveals a clear message for homebuilders: the customer journey doesn’t end at the closing table. Based on over 351,000 surveys across 625 builder divisions in North America, this year’s data highlights both progress and pitfalls in how builders engage homeowners from purchase through year-end.
According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), overall national customer satisfaction has softened or remained stagnant in 2025. However, within homebuilding, the most recent State of CX Report indicates that the decline is more pronounced—the number of homeowners who say they would recommend their builder drops by 26% between the time of purchase and after move-in.
Even as builders continue to improve construction quality and responsiveness, the post-occupancy experience remains a key vulnerability. How builders engage, communicate, and care for homeowners after closing has become a defining factor that distinguishes top performers from those who struggle to sustain loyalty.
The data shows that quality alone is no longer a differentiator; today’s buyers expect it. What separates top performers is ease, authenticity, and proactive communication. Builders who combine trustworthy service with a genuine, relational approach see stronger satisfaction results and higher referral rates. The report also underscores the importance of “people power”—expert human touch at the moments that matter, enhanced by technology that makes it easy for customers to interact.
To cultivate customer loyalty, builders must focus on creating a consistent and caring experience that turns satisfied homeowners into advocates by:
• Prioritizing the post move-in experience: This stage drives referrals and online reputation.
• Blending “touch and tech”: Combining human empathy and digital tools to make doing business easy.
• Leading with authenticity and caring: This builds confidence, which builds the trust that is the foundation for long-term loyalty.
Homebuilders may sell to short-term buyers, but they build for long-term owners and the post-move-in stage is where lasting impressions are made. Every communication, service call, and digital interaction after the keys are handed over shapes a builder’s brand story and defines a builder’s brand reputation for years to come.
The critical factor for operational excellence is building resilient systems that are backed by strong investments in people and partnerships. Builders must strengthen their systems and processes to handle ongoing pressures like labor capacity, cost volatility, and rising buyer expectations, which are forcing a rethinking of how work gets done.
The hidden costs of disorganized bookkeeping can quietly erode profit margins. These costs include wasted time and administrative overhead (up to 20% more admin work), missed tax deductions, and poor decision-making due to inaccurate data. Clean financials are essential for accurate margin forecasting and securing financing.
Workforce development and cross-training are essential for building operational resilience because they address the industry's labor shortage and improve sustainability. Cross-training ensures that teams can adapt quickly when leaders retire or workloads shift, while investment in current employees leads to stronger retention and better multi-generational communication.
The biggest risk in adopting new technology, especially AI in homebuilding, is digitizing a bad process. Technology itself will not solve workflow problems. Before investing, builders must first use tools for process mapping and to identify inefficiencies to ensure they have clean, accessible data—otherwise, tech adoption becomes expensive experimentation.
Home builders should avoid cutting essential management software because the resulting inefficiency creates hidden costs that outweigh the savings. Eliminating the structured system leads to staff burnout, makes the business unable to scale appropriately when sales return, and results in higher costs (time and labor) to re-implement the software later in the cycle.
Sales & Marketing Strategist
Terrell Turner is an award-winning expert in Online New Home Sales and digital marketing. With over a decade of experience, he blends strategic sales insight with creative content to guide and engage today’s homebuyers.
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