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I recently caught up with someone who sells high-performance, pre-designed, and prefabricated building structures for a living. Their story is unique, and it’s easy to see why this could be an attractive sales role and career path.
Let’s explore whether this life could be right for you!
Overview of Their Background
This person has led an exciting and varied career, working in industries like healthcare tech, wholesale retail, and house flipping. Now, they sell prefabricated building structures. Although they wish they had focused on a specific industry earlier in their career, their love for real estate and house flipping ultimately led them to the construction industry—a move they consider a great decision.
Overview of the Company
The company they work for specializes in manufacturing custom, super-insulated, wood-based structural panels for walls, roofs, and floors. These are used in environmentally sustainable residential, commercial, and institutional buildings—think luxury homes.
The company has been around for over 10 years and is known for building quality homes that are assembled much faster than traditional on-site construction. Their work is often in harsh climates around ski resorts and mountainous areas where labor is expensive, and the building season is short.
They collaborate closely with architects to plan every detail of a structure, build the panels in their shop, and ship everything directly to the site once the foundation is ready. The construction process is completed in half the time it would typically take.
Note: They don’t handle finishing work like kitchens or appliances; their specialty is the structural shell of the house.
Day-in-the-Life of a Salesperson in the Prefabrication Industry
At this company, they are the sole salesperson, spending much of their time qualifying potential customers. There are many prerequisites before the company signs on, such as purchasing land, completing architectural drawings, and finding a general contractor.
One challenge they face is dealing with “tire kickers”—homeowners who love the idea but haven’t yet completed the necessary steps. To manage this, they focus on networking with architects across seven states and three Canadian provinces who specialize in the type of housing their company constructs.
Once they receive architectural drawings, they work with their team to prepare a quote, which includes detailed 3D models. The shortest deal they close takes 2-3 months, but many deals take 6+ months, depending on where the customer is in the design process.
A unique aspect of their role is traveling to completed construction sites to host open houses. They invite homeowners, general contractors, architects, and others to showcase the quality of their work and build relationships.
They are also a prolific networker, connecting with relevant professionals on LinkedIn and following industry publications to find potential architect partners.
Pros & Cons of This Work
Pros:
- Work-life balance: They work four days a week, a condition agreed upon with their employer from the start.
- Income: They can earn $100-$120k with minimal stress.
- Autonomy: No one monitors their work or hours.
- Interesting work: They’re constantly learning.
- Meaningful product: Selling something essential—housing!
- Empowerment: It’s empowering to be a woman in the construction industry, where women make up only 10% of the workforce.
Cons:
- Lack of oversight: As part of a small company, they wish they had more mentorship.
- Sales limitations: Their ability to sell is limited by production capacity.
- Risk of losing customers: If production is backed up, they could lose customers to competitors.
- Steep learning curve: The job would be easier to ramp up with prior construction experience.
- Full-cycle sales: This could be a pro or con, depending on your perspective.
TL;DR
- High demand for prefabricated structures in specific environments: There’s a growing demand for efficient, high-quality construction in areas where labor is expensive and the building season is short.
- Challenges in the sales cycle due to complexity and market readiness: The sales process is lengthy and involves significant customer qualification, with many steps needed before work can begin.
- Work-life balance and autonomy: The role offers a great work-life balance and the potential to earn a solid income.
- Networking and relationship building are crucial: Success in this role heavily depends on networking with architects and other key stakeholders through open houses and industry events.