Too many homebuilding leaders still cling to the belief that the future of homebuilding is somewhere out there, around the next corner or maybe the next. That it will arrive after one more cycle. That it's something you can pilot next year or table until interest rates come down.

But here's a thought, call it radical or not:

The future of homebuilding is no longer in the future. It's now, living in real life.

Whether you're ready or not, your ability to lead in this business — at any level —depends on how quickly you can pull the future into your operations, your decision-making, and your team alignment.

That’s where Focus On Excellence comes in.

This is not simply a conference.

It’s an around-the-table working summit. Its impetus and design represent a unique opportunity to combine the hard-won knowledge, wisdom, insight, fire-in-the-belly, and experience of seasoned homebuilding leaders with our present and next generation's digital fluency, systems thinking, and AI-native capabilities.

This is where the past and future of homebuilding meet. Mentorship isn't just encouraged — we weave it into the fabric of every session. Legacy leadership transfers the “knowledge wealth” of what works in this business to tomorrow’s most capable operators, motivators, and leaders.

And here’s a critical point: Even if AI weren’t all the rage right now, the case for full digital and data transformation would still be urgent. Why? Because it’s not just about technology — it’s about people. These exponential forces aren’t only changing your internal capabilities and reshaping your customers. Their expectations, behaviors, and decision-making patterns are evolving fast.

And the only way to keep pace with their hopes, dreams, and lifelong memories of home is to evolve just as fast.

Today, The Builder's Daily officially opens registration for Focus On Excellence 2025, a one-of-a-kind summit and workshop for strategic and operational leaders in U.S. homebuilding. It takes place October 27-29 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Denver.

We call on the CEOs, COOs, division presidents, founders, owners, and key homebuilding enterprise shareholders and stakeholders of this business to show up. It's not just to network or sit through another slide deck, but to engage, commit to, and invest deeply in solving what might be the single most existential business challenge our industry has faced in a generation.

Why Now?

We've just lived through four better-than-expected years post-pandemic. Homebuilders outpaced resale in affordability, availability, and the newness they offer. But now, all the forces are converging in ways that put that advantage at risk:

• Mortgage rates are still elevated, and monthly payments are crushing.
• Insurance premiums are surging in key markets, with carriers pulling out.
• Property tax burdens are rising fast.
• Tariffs and geopolitical tensions are threatening supply costs.
• Consumer confidence is brittle.
• AI and software integration are rewriting what it takes to remain competitive.

If you're leading a homebuilding business right now, you're doing it under the strain of one kind or another.

Still, some companies are finding ways to stay afloat and outpace. What's different? They're not waiting for the future. They're building it into the present. They're planting the seeds by recognizing the value of granular, rigorous data and metadata recognition, workflows, and systems-building.

The Real Work of the Present

MIT Sloan’s George Westerman and Didier Bonnet nailed the moment in their research on digital transformation:

Executive awareness of the powerful and ever-evolving ways in which digital technology can create competitive advantage has become pervasive. But acting on that awareness remains a challenging prospect.

It requires that companies become what we call digital masters. Digital masters cultivate two capabilities: digital capability, which enables them to use innovative technologies to improve elements of the business, and leadership capability, which enables them to envision and drive organizational change in systematic and profitable ways."

Homebuilding, as a whole, remains a born-and-stayed-analog industry. Instinct, relationships, experience, and elbow grease built the field.

Those tools, as valuable a role as they may play, can’t drive the next wave of resilient, high-performing businesses.

To survive — and thrive — through the next five years of market, policy, labor, and capital whiplash, builders need full-stack, integrated systems. Not silos. Not handoffs. Not seat-of-the-pants reactions.

What Focus On Excellence Delivers

Focus On Excellence is not a conference. You won't just hear insights and ideas. You will do work, future-proofing work among your cross-generational peers. It’s a working summit. A catalyst. A rare forum where current and next-generation leadership teams come together to:

• Map real-time macro risk to day-to-day decisions
• Sharpen operations through systems thinking and AI-powered tools
• Learn how customer care is shifting from a transactional service to an integrated business strategy
• Develop the human side of leadership needed to keep talent aligned, empowered, and effective

It’s a leadership transfer center of excellence, where experience, wisdom, and strategic insight meet next-gen fluency in data, technology, and smart systems.

We launched this idea last fall in Austin. What we learned there has only reinforced what we know now: organizations that future-proof themselves aren't lucky. They act, invest, show up, and dive in on events like this.

The Time and Place

Focus On Excellence 2025 will take place at the Four Seasons Hotel Denver from October 27 to 29, 2025. The experience kicks off with a welcome gathering on Monday evening, followed by two days of intensive, interactive, executive-level programming that will leave participants not just inspired but equipped.

We’ll be announcing our keynote speakers and session leaders in the next two weeks, but we can already promise this: you won’t be sitting back. You’ll be working. Learning. Collaborating and building the future of your organization, starting right now.

With Thanks to Our Partners

We proudly announce New Home Star as our Elite Sponsor for Focus On Excellence 2025.

And we’re grateful to our Premier Sponsors, whose partnership makes this industry-defining experience possible:

• Boise Cascade
• Builder Advisor Group
• Higharc
• Launch Development Finance Advisors
• Westwood Insurance Agency

More sponsors and program details to come.

Register Now

There’s only one way to build resilience, capability, and sustainable excellence into your homebuilding business: bring the future into the room today. That’s what Focus On Excellence 2025 is about.

Join us in Denver this October and tap into a vibrant, connective network of high-impact leaders reshaping the present together. Register here.