As we head into 2018, the Built team is more excited than ever to be in the construction industry. When we started Built three years ago, we could not have predicted the way the real estate and construction markets would continue to expand across nearly every market in the country.

At Built, we take a consultative approach with our clients. We really get to know their business -- where they’re doing really well right now and where they have opportunity to improve. From that learning, we tailor our platform to their specific needs, and our implementation team stays in regular contact to make sure they’re getting positive results. You’ll never see us selling our software, then wishing our clients luck from afar.

The surge in popularity of reality renovation shows has inspired many homeowners to look at their houses in a new way -- namely as a project they can beautify themselves. Home buyers are looking for houses that look like they do on TV, with modern layouts and updated features. Combine that with record-low home inventory, and the result is more people choosing to update their current homes instead of looking for something new.

As we closed out 2017, Realtor.com and Oldcastle Business Intelligence released detailed reports on the state of the nation’s housing and construction industries accompanied by their projections for the year ahead. We compiled a list of the top trends and predictions from each report and put the key data points into two infographics for housing and construction.

Forward-thinking lenders know that construction lending is a vertical they can’t afford to ignore. New construction projects are going to grow nationwide in 2018 and likely beyond, and there is a lot of good money to be made for lenders that can get their construction portfolio right.

Built co-founder and president Chase Gilbert was recently interviewed for the Lendtech Briefing series put on by Mortgage Cadence. The interview covered a variety of topics, including:

One of the most important aspects of my job is keeping up with trends in the industries we’re involved in -- not only lending, but construction, software and technology, as well. And the end of the year brings us a great time to look at what’s coming next, to see what trends we should expect in the coming months.

Here at Built, we’re passionate about the work we’re doing. Just watch Chase Gilbert talk about the pains our construction lenders feel on a day-to-day basis and you’ll see how much he cares. And at times we can get a bit extreme. We’ve been known to throw the phrase “Death to spreadsheets” around the office.

I’ve learned very quickly here at Built that the life of a Chief Risk Officer isn’t easy. Their world requires constant vigilance -- keeping up with all compliance matters while aiming to balance risk and reward for their institution. We could probably devote an entire series of Built Answers posts to just an hour of the concerns they face in a day.

Your company has brand new software ready for implementation, but surprise, surprise your team has met the change with resistance. Creatures of habit, your human employees cannot help but resist change and all of the hard work that goes with it. When it comes to implementing change successfully, commitment is key. Include the following elements in your implementation strategy to get employees as excited about the new software as you are.