Behind the Business Brightwater Homes: Leading the way in sustainable home building (part 1 of 2)

This month, we’re bringing you a special Behind the Business series featuring Brightwater Homes, where we explore sustainability in semi-custom home building. In this three-part feature, you’ll hear from the Brightwater team how software helped them scale their business, while allowing for client customizations and sustainability in every home.

Founded in 2011 by Charlie Bostwick, Brightwater Homes emerged from a vision to create thoughtfully designed homes that go beyond aesthetics – focusing on sustainability and community impact.

“Our goal is to create spaces where people will thrive while protecting the planet. We’re huge on sustainability,” said Tara Brown, vice president of strategic development at Brightwater Homes.

With deep roots in production building, the Brightwater team quickly recognized a growing need to combine smart design with environmental responsibility. Watch part one of this Behind the Business series – and hear how they use Buildertrend to grow the business in an eco-friendly manner.

Sustainability at the core

At the forefront of Brightwater Homes’ mission is their commitment to sustainable building practices.

This commitment has driven their innovation in creating energy-efficient homes and communities that push industry boundaries. In 2023, they celebrated a major milestone by completing their first net-zero energy neighborhood – a bold step toward a greener future.

“Our intent is for us to be net-zero energy ready in all of our neighborhoods by the end of 2025,” said Joel Ferguson, vice president of operations at Brightwater Homes.

This ambitious goal places Brightwater Homes ahead of current building codes and showcases their leadership in sustainable home building within the semi-custom market.

Scaling for growth with Buildertrend

As Brightwater Homes expanded their operations, they realized their growth required more sophisticated management tools. Initially relying on Excel, they soon found it inadequate for handling the volume of work that came with increasing demand.

“When I started at Brightwater Homes, we were doing 12-15 homes a year. As we increased our volume, we realized that relying solely on Excel was not going to meet our needs to grow and efficiently control costs,” said Steven Sanders-Myers, estimating and purchasing manager at Brightwater Homes.

Their first step toward improving efficiency was to invest in project management software. However, the initial platform they tried fell short of their expectations.

That’s when they discovered Buildertrend.

“One reason we chose Buildertrend is because of their user interface. It’s more seamless and easier to pick up,” Joel said.

More importantly, Buildertrend allowed for cross-departmental collaboration with all teams – from field workers to sales and purchasing – accessing the same software and staying aligned on project details.

Enabling efficiency in semi-custom home building

Brightwater Homes builds semi-custom homes, meaning that while each house has unique features, there are also many repeatable elements. Managing this balance between custom design and scalability was made easier with Buildertrend’s tools.

“Having Buildertrend for design selections and purchase orders specifically for the volume we handle enables us to scale and repeat efficiently,” Steven said.

The software allows the Brightwater team to streamline operations, speeding up processes while maintaining the high standards of customization that their buyers expect.

Building homes, building memories

At the heart of Brightwater Homes’ vision is more than just efficient building and sustainable practices.

They’re committed to crafting homes that foster family memories and community connections – where sustainability isn’t just a buzzword, but a lived experience.

With a commitment to sustainability and the power of Buildertrend’s construction management tools, Brightwater Homes is setting a new standard for semi-custom home building, leading by example in their community-focused and eco-conscious approach.

Discover how Buildertrend can help transform your semi-custom home building business by allowing you to build more homes, more efficiently – all while giving your homeowners the personal touch they expect when building their dream home. Book your free demo today.