Customer success story

Knez Homes: Leveling up your construction website can generate more leads


Learn how this team saves hours and wins clients (without ever meeting them either) all because their website was built by Buildertrend

Success story: A better client experience with website design

The old website for Knez Homes created many issues for a home building team with little time for digital drama.

“Three times a week – that’s how often our website was going down,” said Elaine Keating, vice president of sales and marketing at Knez Homes. “It was nothing but problems. All of that’s in the past now.”

Today, this Ohio-based building team has a website that’s as beautifully and thoughtfully constructed as one of their very own projects. That shouldn’t come as a big shock knowing they’re one of the leading home builders in the Cleveland market. However, the surprise comes when learning who helped create and launch this new website.

It wasn’t an overpriced agency or something they painfully cobbled together themselves. Instead, it was Buildertrend – the leading construction project management software – to the rescue. Because Buildertrend is a team that’s more than tech. It also offers value-added services, like website development, to make even the best construction pros better.

The success of the Knez Homes’ new website shows what’s possible for teams who take advantage of all the ways Buildertrend takes them above and beyond.

Industry

Townhome and single-family home builder

Location

Cleveland, Ohio

Established

1988

Winning solution

Pro websites

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Their story: A suburban home builder gone big city

Knez Homes isn’t new to the residential construction game. In fact, they’ve been in business since 1988, primarily building custom homes in Cleveland’s suburban neighborhoods. Although suburban homes helped grow the trusting reputation of Knez Homes, its owner, Bo Knez, recognized another market with a greater purpose.

As a Clevelander himself who grew up downtown, Bo saw the need to rebuild the neighborhoods inside of Cleveland. After a building a few custom homes in Cleveland’s west side, Bo knew he had to push for the same residential development the suburbs had seen in Cleveland.

It was time to head to the city. Today, approximately 95% of their work is urban-centered, mostly on townhome communities.

“Our business is unique because we build single-family homes, but we also know the townhome product, which can have almost a commercial quality about them when there might be 10 or 12 of them attached,” Elaine said.

Modern townhomes with a stone and symmetrical exterior. Melted snow sprinkles the sidewalks.
Townhomes by Knez Homes

Their goal: Remodeling their construction business website

This home builder seems to do it all.

Single family homes? Yep – for over 30 years, in fact. Townhomes? By the dozen. More than 70 projects per year? Check. With so much to build in so little time, they needed a system that could keep up with their rapid business growth.

They found that with Buildertrend construction software – a robust tech solution that added organization to dated processes with tools for scheduling, purchase orders and client communication. Now they could quickly manage all aspects of a project, all in one place.

With Buildertrend, Knez Homes evolved to a more modern way of getting the job done. It was time for their website to keep up.

Geometric townhomes with lush gardens filled with young trees.
Townhomes by Knez Homes

Their solution: Combining an upgraded website with customer relationship management tools

By the time Knez Homes made the leap to work with Buildertrend’s Pro Websites, they had already been using the software for more than four years. This was a company they could trust – one they knew excelled at saving builders’ time, money and stress. Pro Websites was a natural fit and an extension of this Buildertrend way of doing business.

Other big draws to working with Buildertrend on their new online home was knowing, unlike other developers, they were highly specialized and only worked within the construction industry. Plus, the final product would be Knez Homes branded, customized to their unique needs yet able to adjust and grow alongside their business

“We wanted something with ongoing support, where we could keep adding to it on the fly,” said Anthony Russo, a business consultant for Knez Homes.

“That was a huge benefit of the Buildertrend model. Someone doesn’t just build a website that leaves you to figure out how to manage it.”

From beginning to end, the time to build out and launch the site took just two months. Quality wasn’t sacrificed in this speedy of a turnaround either.

Hundreds and hundreds of pages of content were moved over, pages rewritten to flow better, multiple versions presented to find the perfect design and security increased. The site they’d always dreamed of was now a reality.

“The process was all so easy to maneuver because of the support we received from Haleigh Miles [front end web developer with Pro Websites],” Anthony said. “We have one of the most elaborate websites you guys have built, too, and somehow you guys did it in two months. I can’t imagine how quick you might be with others.”

It wasn’t just the Knez Homes team that was impressed with the final product either. Clients were equally blown away.

“We’ve received such great feedback. Clients actually called to tell me how much easier it was to navigate. People always go to our site to check listings, and they love the new way it’s laid out,” Elaine said.

Highlights of the new website are the online design center and virtual tours. Clients can choose from a library of available products in Knez Homes builds, slashing hours from what use to be a time-consuming and labor-intensive part of the construction process. They can also virtually walk through a Knez home, which makes their clients even more educated.

“They’ve been able to direct clients to the website to begin getting an idea of actual selections instead of just Googling whatever and hoping they carry those products,” Anthony said.

The new and improved knez.net saves time when it comes to capturing leads, too. When someone visits the site and fills out a Contact Us form, their information’s instantly recorded and put into the Buildertrend CRM tool. Manual entry has met its match.

“A prospect pushes into the CRM, which sounds like something simple but the impact is overlooked” Anthony said.

“You don’t have to stop what you’re doing and take time from your day to do it. It frees up a pain in the ass.”

quotes
Three times a week is how often our website was going down. It was nothing but problems. All of that’s in the past now
Elaine Keating, VP of Sales and Marketing

Their success: Boosted leads through a revamped website

Since improving their website, Knez Homes gets around 2,000 online visitors per month, a significant leap from where they were out before. Unlike their old site, their new one is responsive so it’s mobile-friendly to view on tablets or smart phones. Half of that increased traffic now comes from these sources.

A website is any business’ smartest marketing tool, championing the brand and attracting new leads. Today, the Knez Homes accomplishes this job – and then some.

“We’ve seen a huge impact on the amount of time we have to spend managing the site. I’m saving hours,” Elaine said.

“There’s a significant decrease in issues, and a significant increase in positivity and traffic from clients. Our website goal was achieved and exceeded.”

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