Tech-Stack Fusion: Builders’ Road To Velocity And Control

Integration, AI, and Velocity: Why Builders Must Transform

If you run a homebuilding company today, it’s hard to find comfort in the data.

The National Association of Home Builders’ September confidence index "hovers" at a reading of 34, the lowest since the depths of the pandemic and the third‑lowest since 2012.

That slump is showing up on the ground: 39% of builders reported cutting prices in September, up from 37% in August, and the highest percentage in the post-COVID period, according to NAHB. Discounts average 5% and have been in effect for 11 months, dating back to November 2024. Big public builders such as Lennar and D.R. Horton have kept their machines moving by compressing margins and pumping up incentives, essentially daring smaller competitors to match them.

Home sellers in the broader resale market, meanwhile, have had to cut their asking prices at the fastest pace since the pandemic began. At the same time, buyers continue to hold back amid high interest rates and lingering economic uncertainty.

For many operators, the market no longer rewards those who merely stand their ground. It rewards those who seize control of operations they can improve: the speed of their own building lifecycle, the efficiency of their processes, and the discipline and accountability of their teams.

That’s the lens through which to view a recent conversation between Anya Chrisanthon of Anewgo and Chris Laskowski, marketing director at New Home Star.

Laskowski isn’t a typical marketer; he trained in finance and statistics, then joined New Home Star when it was a 20‑person startup working out of the back of a coffee shop. Thirteen years later, the firm has more than 500 employees, a 40-person marketing division, and engagements with approximately 80 builders across 28 markets. He’s now fresh off a master’s degree in integrated marketing and is leading the company’s push into artificial intelligence. When he says that the “age of AI and automation” demands unified data and technology across the entire organization, he's not speaking in abstracts.

It’s a pragmatic appeal to builders whose survival increasingly depends on doing the right things—and doing them fast.

Breaking down silos to build faster

Laskowski argues that the most critical move a builder can make now is to consolidate its tech stack and data across sales, marketing, purchasing, construction, finance, and design.

You have one data warehouse and your data is not siloed between different spaces,” he tells Chrisanthon.

Many builders operate their customer relationship management (CRM) systems independently of their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and the design and drafting tools used by architects.

The result is lost time and money. Sales teams have no visibility into production schedules; purchasing departments reorder materials because they can’t see current inventories; designers issue plan changes that never reach the field.

Step one is to integrate the data in at least one of these three operational areas, and then progress to rewiring the whole building lifecycle.

On the CRM front, when data flows through a single platform—whether it’s HubSpot, Salesforce, Marketo, or a custom integration—calls, emails, texts, advertisements, budgets, schedules, and design revisions all update together, that’s what enables velocity.

A unified data warehouse lets a builder answer questions instantly, adjust production without guesswork, and keep customers informed. It slashes the cycle time from plan to permit to slab to closing because there are fewer hand‑offs, fewer miscommunications, and fewer trips back to the drawing board.

This isn’t about software features; it’s about creating a “single source of truth” that holds teams accountable.

In Laskowski’s view, a unified platform makes it clear who owns each task and how delays ripple through the business. When marketing promises a 120-day move-in and operations can see that financing, procurement, and trade scheduling align, the date becomes a commitment rather than a marketing promise. And when the design department tweaks a floor plan or option, that change automatically updates sales collateral, purchase orders, and field plans, preventing costly rework.

Automate the redundant, free up the critical

Unifying data sets the stage for automation. Laskowski describes the rise of AI “agents”—software workflows that string together multiple steps to complete tasks without human intervention.

In a simple marketing example, a prospect fills out a form with only their email address. Within five minutes, an AI agent scrapes the person’s LinkedIn profile, scrubs the company’s website, drafts a personalized script, runs it through a video‑generation platform, and sends an email with a tailored video and relevant guides.

My mind is that this technology is not in the near future—it is right now,” Laskowski says.

For builders, agents can be used far beyond marketing. They can ingest a sales agreement, generate a take‑off list, check current supplier pricing, issue a purchase order, and reserve a production slot. They can read a customer’s warranty claim, match it against product specifications, order the necessary part, and schedule a technician.

On the design side, AI can generate plan variants based on buyer preferences and local code constraints, giving drafters a head start. The effect is to move routine processes into the background, freeing teams to focus on strategic work—solving unexpected field problems, nurturing customer relationships, mentoring trades, and driving product innovation. Automating repetitive steps also reduces opportunities for error and eliminates time-consuming rework, meeting both the velocity and cost-efficiency imperatives.

From SEO to AEO: designing for machines and people

Perhaps Laskowski’s most urgent warning is that builders’ traditional search engine optimization (SEO) playbook no longer works.

Organic search has been brutal,” he admitted, noting that HubSpot—arguably the most sophisticated marketer in its category—lost 90% of its blog traffic in a single year.

The culprit is not a Google algorithm tweak, but a wholesale change in consumer behavior: buyers are turning to generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity to research everything from mortgage options to builder reputations. These tools pull answers from anywhere on the web; if your data isn’t tagged and structured so the algorithms can read it, you’ll be invisible.

AI search is the biggest return on investment channel for builders right now,” Laskowski said

His prescription is radical: treat your website and back-office systems as a data warehouse and build at least 3,000 frequently asked questions that cover not just your products and communities, but also your processes and even your competitors.

Every floor plan, virtual tour, and option should be tagged with square footage, room dimensions, elevations, energy ratings, pricing, and financing scenarios. Pricing should be transparent and data‑typed. Written content should be structured in question‑and‑answer formats that mirror how people converse with AI agents. In other words, the site must appeal to both humans and machines. Builders who make this investment will show up in AI‑generated answers when a buyer inquires,

Which builders in Nashville offer an energy‑efficient four‑bedroom under $550,000 within 30 minutes of downtown?” Those who don’t will be left out of the conversation entirely.

The idea of a website as a data warehouse extends beyond marketing. When product development uses building information modeling (BIM) and ties specifications to operational budgets, the same data can feed marketing assets, permitting packages, supplier orders, and field tablets. There’s no room for the old practice of posting a PDF plan with a disclaimer that “plans and features may vary.”

AI‑driven search punishes ambiguity and vagueness. To capitalize on this shift, builders must expose the details they once hid behind gated content. The payoff is that buyers who reach out will have already educated themselves, accelerating the sales cycle and reducing the need for costly, endless hand‑holding.

One-to-one personalization at scale

Laskowski’s enthusiasm isn’t limited to search. He argues that unifying data and adopting AI enables “one‑to‑one personalization,” moving beyond broad demographic segmentation to deliver tailored communications and experiences.

In practice, this means more than personalized emails. It means feeding each buyer’s preferences—budget, timeline, location, lifestyle—into product configuration tools that surface the right plans and options.

It means dynamic pricing and incentives based on real‑time inventory and buyer attributes. It means connecting CRM data with design selections so that by the time a buyer sits down with a design consultant, the system has already assembled a package of finishes that match their taste and budget.

The same personalization engine can drive operations: purchasing agents see which options are trending and adjust orders before shortages hit; construction managers know which homes need extra attention. Done right, personalization shortens the path from lead to closing and improves satisfaction because buyers feel seen and understood. However, it only works if data flows freely and if teams trust the insights rather than relying on guesswork.

Skills and culture: investing in your people

Technology is only as good as the people who use it.

There will be two types of people in five years: those who know how to leverage this technology and people who don't,” Laskowski warns.

For builders, this means upskilling not just the marketing department, but everyone, from superintendents to architects to accounting clerks. Sales teams need to learn how to work with AI‑driven pipelines that triage leads and suggest next steps. Purchasing managers need to understand predictive analytics that flag material shortages and price spikes. Designers need to become comfortable with generative design tools that produce schematic options in seconds. Customer service staff must be able to interpret sentiment analyses and automate routine warranty responses.

This training shouldn’t be a one‑off event; it needs to be embedded in company culture and rewarded through performance reviews. At the same time, leadership has to realign budgets. Laskowski emphasizes using unified data to “align your marketing channels to the highest return on investment”

The same principle applies to operational spending: invest in systems and processes that reduce variance and increase throughput, and eliminate pet projects that don’t move the needle.

The cost imperative and the accountability dividend

Unified data and AI aren’t just about speed. They focus on cost control and risk management. Every mis‑ordered window, every reworked foundation plan, and every redundant data entry adds to the direct costs of a home.

When purchasing, estimating, drafting, and scheduling draw from the same data, those errors plummet. Automation reduces the labour hours needed to produce bids, process change orders, or handle warranty claims. A better understanding of buyer preferences minimizes the number of spec homes that sit unsold. Those savings matter more than ever when price cuts and incentives squeeze margins.

Moreover, accountability improves.

When everyone uses the same data, blame shifting becomes more difficult. If a closing is delayed because design selections were entered late or a trade missed a scheduled start, the system records this information, and management can address the root cause. That transparency fosters a culture of continuous improvement rather than finger‑pointing.

Practical steps: commit, invest, practice

Laskowski isn’t blind to the magnitude of the change. Many private builders are family‑run businesses that have grown cautiously and with good reason. They’ve survived past cycles by avoiding unnecessary risk. However, he insists that the risk of doing nothing is now greater than the risk of taking action. Here are practical actions derived from the conversation and the current market:

Audit your tech stack. Identify every system—CRM, ERP, scheduling, BIM, design, warranty, and marketing—and map where data flows and where it doesn’t. Prioritize integrations that connect systems controlling revenue, costs, and schedules.
Invest in data warehousing and tagging. Consolidate data from disparate systems into a central repository. Tag floor plans, options, pricing, community amenities, and even customer feedback so AI tools can find and use them. Develop FAQ libraries that answer the questions buyers ask AI agents.
Pilot AI agents. Start small by automating a repetitive process, such as generating takeoffs or sending personalized follow-up emails. Measure the impact on cycle time and resource allocation.
Upskill your staff. Provide training on AI tools, data analysis, and integrated workflows. Encourage cross‑functional understanding so that designers appreciate supply‑chain constraints and salespeople understand production schedules.
Embrace transparency. Publish more information about your products and processes than you’re comfortable with. Pricing, timelines, design options, and differentiators should be transparent and structured. The payoff is a shorter sales cycle and better‑informed buyers.
Align incentives to outcomes. Use your unified data to set measurable goals—such as cycle time, variance per closing, and customer satisfaction—and tie bonuses to achieving them. Reward teams for adopting new tools and processes rather than clinging to old ways.

Control what you can

No amount of integration will lower interest rates or increase consumer confidence. But builders can control how quickly they design, price, sell, construct, and close homes. They can control how much rework and friction they tolerate inside their own companies. They can control whether their data works for them or against them. Chris Laskowski’s message to an industry notoriously slow to change is blunt: the tools exist today to collapse timelines, cut waste, and create accountability.

The bigger builders are already using them to pull farther ahead. If smaller and mid-sized builders want to remain competitive when the market eventually rebounds, they need to prioritize integration, AI, and data literacy now. In a market where margins are under pressure and buyers are scarce, the builders who master speed, efficiency, and discipline will be the ones left standing.