Customer Success Story : Nova Triad Homes
How Nova Triad Homes Scaled Smartly With ECI Solutions
The Nova Triad Homes story
Founded in 2016, Nova Triad Homes has quickly emerged as a premier builder within the Epcon Communities franchise network. Focused on serving the active adult market, the company builds high-quality patio and twin homes across North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad region—including Alamance, Forsyth, Guilford and Randolph counties. With a lean team of just 11 employees, Nova Triad constructs 45 to 65 homes per year, maintaining an unwavering commitment to craftsmanship and customer satisfaction.
As part of the broader Epcon builder family, Nova Triad stands out for its disciplined, data-driven approach. “We’re a complex business operating with a small, efficient team,” said Andy Dreyfuss, president of Nova Triad Homes. “That means we need to be smart and strategic with the tools we use.”
The challenge
Scaling operations while maintaining profitability proved challenging as the business grew. Dreyfuss described the complexity: “We’re building 20 to 30 homes at a time, each with a five-to-six-month build cycle. Without integrated systems, it’s almost impossible to keep everything aligned.”
Before ECI, Nova Triad relied on a patchwork of tools: QuickBooks for finance and Keystone for purchasing. But the lack of integration across departments led to inefficiencies, gaps in visibility, and difficulty forecasting margins with confidence.
“Spreadsheets and QuickBooks won’t cut it when you’re trying to build 30 homes at a time,” Dreyfuss said. “We needed a single source of data to streamline operations and reduce risk.”
The solution
Nova Triad turned to ECI’s residential construction solutions: MarkSystems for ERP, LotVue for lot and community visualization, and Lasso for CRM and lead management.
“The biggest appeal was integration. These platforms talk to each other. Everything connects, from sales to finance to construction.”
Though the implementation took time and effort, especially during the pandemic, Nova Triad leaned on ECI’s experienced onboarding team and embraced the discipline required. “They weren’t just software experts. They brought best practices to the table,” he said. “It was more than an implementation. It was business consulting.”
To ensure a smooth rollout, Nova Triad appointed an internal project leader to manage cross-departmental input and keep the process on track. “You need someone who can see the whole business. From sales, construction, purchasing, and finance, while refereeing where needed,” Dreyfuss noted.
The results
With MarkSystems in place, Nova Triad now has real-time visibility into costs, schedules, and gross margins, before a single wall goes up.
“We’re building homes on budget and on time,” Dreyfuss said. “If we see variances, we catch them early. We can confidently predict our gross margins, which is critical for a presale-driven business like ours.”
The impact of Lasso is also accelerating. Nova Triad recently partnered with an outsourced online sales coordinator (OSC) to fully capitalize on Lasso’s CRM capabilities. This partnership allows them to nurture leads better and manage communications based on buyer readiness, whether it’s a 10-day close or a three-year journey.
The company aims to increase its absorption rate to two to three homes sold per community monthly. While that’s a step behind Epcon’s top-performing markets, which average four homes per community per month, it’s a target Nova Triad feels confident reaching with ECI’s tools in place. “To get there, we have to market smarter and nurture every lead, and that’s exactly what Lasso allows us to do,” Dreyfuss said.
LotVue, meanwhile, has transformed lot visibility and buyer engagement.
“Before, we had maps on the office walls. Now, everyone, from sales to field staff to prospects, can access real-time inventory online. There’s no debate about our data.”
With dashboards customized using Pulse from The Mainspring Group, Nova Triad can see critical insights like construction cycle time, cost variances, and trade partner performance at a glance. “We know where we’re losing days, which partners are falling behind, and how that affects the build,” Dreyfuss said.
Conclusion
For a company like Nova Triad Homes, ECI has provided the foundation for sustainable growth. “These tools were built for home builders,” said Dreyfuss. “And if they work for hundreds of others across the country, we knew they’d work for us.”