A few years ago, I was looking to move to a small mountain town and build a new house.
I spoke to a variety of builders about what it might cost to build a house with them and how the process worked, finance-wise and otherwise. After all, I hadn’t done this before.
The answers I got were:
- It depends.
- It’s about $300 per square foot, but that depends.
- First, you need to buy the land and then survey it; then you need to factor in engineering costs before we design the house.
- You’ll need a construction mortgage to start, etc.
This all felt very vague, high effort, and high risk for me.
But then one builder got back to me with something different:
“You can have Model X or Model Y. Model X is $600,000. Model Y is $700,000. That includes a predetermined selection of finishes you can choose from. If you want custom items outside of that, it costs more. I’ve attached info on each model. You pay 10% up front and 90% on completion.”
Guess which builder is the most popular in town – and the one I went with?
The other builders were incredibly talented. But the winning builder made it easy to buy. The others didn’t.
Making it hard to buy meant:
- I was taking on all the risk.
- The costs were unknown and could easily spiral.
- There was too much choice and too many decisions.
Making it easy to buy meant:
- I got a fixed, clear cost.
- The up-front investment, and ongoing costs, were low.
- I knew exactly what I would receive.
- I got enough choice – but not too much.
- Customization requests were handled clearly, with exact costs.
- All the risk was taken off my plate.
Look at the market you serve, alongside their problems, fears, and hopes. Look at the services and products your agency provides.
Then ask yourself: how can I make this easier to buy?