Constellation HomeBuilder Systems and Kijiji Strategic Partnership - Provides National Opportunity for New Home Builders to Advertise To Canadian Home Buyers
Constellation HomeBuilder Systems and Kijiji Strategic Partnership
Provides National Opportunity for New Home Builders to Advertise To Canadian Home Buyers
TORONTO–November 9th, 2022 – Constellation HomeBuilder Systems, North America’s largest provider of home building software solutions, is excited to announce a strategic partnership with one of the Canada’s largest real estate websites, Kijiji. This alliance gives new home builders another way to advertise their new homes to hundreds of communities coast to coast across Canada, directly to millions of unique monthly visitors on Kijiji.ca.
Today’s business-minded home builders want to sell homes as quickly and easily as possible, and this partnership makes it super easy. Powered by Constellation’s new home marketing software platform, NHLS Distribution Engine, it has never been easier for new home builders to create an unlimited number of new home listings to advertise with great convenience and no extra charge to your NHLS account. This comprehensive value offering is exactly what the Canadian new home building industry has been waiting for, a national site for all new homes.
The NHLS platform is built to seamlessly integrate with popular construction ERP systems including NEWSTAR, BuildTopia, FAST, and other systems as requested but can also be used as a standalone solution to accurately distribute listings, with the click of a single button.
“We’re thrilled to be able to share this important strategic partnership with homebuilders,” said Jeremy Halbert, Vice President – Customer Experience and Initiatives Group of Constellation HomeBuilder Systems.
“It has been challenging times for new homebuilders,” Halbert added, “Builders will need to get more innovative to promote their homes as broadly as possible. Builders should advertise listings to as many potential home buyers as they can, prioritizing sites that consumers visit frequently. We are committed to empowering builders with digital tools to simplify this process and help builders sell as many homes as possible.”
“It is extremely time consuming for builders to accurately list their new homes online and managing different channels is difficult. We help builders not only push new listings directly to their own website, but we can also automate the process to push that same information to as many 3rd party online Real Estate listing channels as possible such as Kijiji, realtor.com and our very own NewHomeListingService.com. All of this ensures that builders are getting as much exposure as possible. “Halbert continued, “This entire solution is a great example of Constellation’s long-term dedication to homebuilding innovation to deal with the complex process of selling homes.”
Lionel Romain, Kijiji’s Commercial Operations Manager, says “We’re excited to welcome home builders to Kijiji.ca through Constellation and the NHLS platform! Members can easily post high-quality, fully branded listings on Kijiji through an industry tailored syndication service. Members will gain access to millions of monthly visitors with just a few clicks.”
“Kijiji Real Estate helps owners, builders, and agents advertise their properties on Canada’s first marketplace,” Romain continued, “In addition to syndicated listings from NHLS, fully targeted media campaigns are available to amplify the builder’s exposure on Kijiji.”
Building on the joint enthusiasm, Milo Anderson, Director & Founder of NHLS Distribution Engine at Constellation HomeBuilder Systems says, “We are beyond excited to introduce the new strategic partnership between the NHLS Distribution Engine and Kijiji. The NHLS Distribution Engine (NHLS.info) is directly integrated with Kijiji — literally clicking one button sends new communities and homes directly on their site. Thanks to this new collaboration we have effectively changed the landscape of how builders connect with homebuyers on a national level. We look forward to supporting buyers on this journey.”
Continuing our commitment to increasing awareness, simplifying processes, and leveraging our relationships for new home builders, Constellation HomeBuilder Systems looks forward to opportunities, growth, and the increased exposure for new home listings with Kijiji.
For more information on the collaboration, click here.
About Kijiji
Kijiji, which means “village” in Swahili, is the number one classifieds website in Canada, connecting over 16.8 million buyers and sellers each month. Kijiji offers Canadians an easy way to buy and sell and find homes, jobs, and services on a local level. At any given time, there are more than 6 million listings on the network and two new ads are posted on Kijiji every second of every day. Kijiji makes it easy for Canadians to find exactly what they’re looking for in their own community. Visit business.kijiji.ca to connect with a Kijiji digital media expert.
About Constellation HomeBuilder Systems
Constellation HomeBuilder Systems is the largest provider of software and services in the building industry. Their innovative software solutions, available as standalone or integrated systems, empower builders with information to drive business objectives and simplify the process of building homes and condos. Constellation HomeBuilder Systems is the home building software division of Constellation Software Inc., an international provider of market-leading software and services for specialized industries, which is traded publicly on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
For more information, please contact:
Milo Anderson
Director & Founder
NHLS Distribution Engine at Constellation HomeBuilder Systems
403-616-6074
milo.anderson@constellationhb.com
Electronic Signatures for Real Estate Now Legal in Ontario
For more than 300 years, contracts for the sale or lease of land in Ontario have required ink and paper. Beginning July 1, 2015, electronic signatures can now be accepted on digital real estate agreements, deeds and mortgages in Ontario.
This is big news for a thriving real estate market in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), where the average price of a detached home just rose over $1.052 million Canadian dollars. However, before you begin emailing contracts, take note from Toronto real estate lawyer Bob Aaron, via thestar.com:
Even though electronic signatures will now be legal in the real estate context, those signatures are only effective if it can be proved that the signatures are reliable for the purpose of identifying the person signing, and the attachment of a signature to the electronic document is also reliable.
Since the law does not define how to determine whether a signature is reliable, it is up to individual real estate agents and lawyers using electronic signatures to satisfy themselves that the legal requirements have been met.
I expect that the use of electronic signature platforms like DocuSign (docusign.com) will become popular among real estate agents and lawyers anxious to jump on the electronic bandwagon.
Constellation has partnered with DocuSign to offer integration between the world’s leading provider in electronic signature management and our new home sales software. Builders using our flagship NEWSTAR Enterprise homebuilder management software along with NEWSTAR Sales save valuable time and organization headaches, and rest assured that their sales contracts are saved securely.
To see NEWSTAR and DocuSign, please request a demonstration. Note that we are also working to integrate DocuSign with our other sales software for homebuilders.
Constellation HomeBuilder Systems Unveils New Solutions
Markham, ON – (February 1, 2012) – Constellation HomeBuilder Systems, the leader and most trusted provider of residential home building software solutions, unveils new solutions at the NAHB International Builders’ Show from February 8 – 11, 2012 in Orlando, FL.
Constellation’s software solutions are specifically designed to help home builders manage their business and information technology costs with cutting-edge integrated software solutions to run their business more efficiently, communicate more effectively and build more homes while utilizing fewer resources and reducing costs. Whether you are a custom builder or building thousands of homes annually, Constellation delivers a comprehensive suite of software solutions and continues to demonstrate a longstanding commitment to the home building industry.
Constellation will be on-hand to offer one-on-one demonstrations, visit our booth at W4783.
Request a free exhibit pass – www.BuildersShow.com/ConstellationHomeBuilderSystem
Websites and Online Marketing
Websites and lead management processes are critical components of the home builder’s sales performance. Constellation has combined an easy-to-manage website solution and online lead management system to help builders present their business professionally, and ensure that all leads are tracked and acted upon. With Groundbreaker™ websites, Constellation will provide SEO training to help you achieve higher rankings in popular search engines and convert more leads to sales agent appointments.
Sales and CRM Solutions
When a prospective buyer enters their contact information on your website or visits your sales office, all Constellation sales and CRM solutions are designed to help you turn that prospect into a buyer, maximize upgrade sales, complete selections, generate contracts and reduce errors. With automatic website integration, all prospect information is captured and available in your sales system for fast follow-up and the comfort of knowing that no lead is lost.
Accounting and Production Solutions
Constellation offers a comprehensive suite of homebuilding solutions to help you improve processes in budgeting, purchasing, accounting, payroll, construction management, and customer service. With one system everyone can have access to the same business data and builders will spend less time updating spreadsheet reports to improve the quality of information available when making critical decisions.
Workflow Services and Document Management
With real-time alerts and notifications, everyone knows what is happening and can follow established business processes to respond in a timely manner. Externally, the workflow system allows builders to provide the new home buyer with the information and comfort they need throughout the construction cycle and beyond. Constellation’s document management solutions provide the functionality to easily secure and publish information for back office and remote employees.
Field Scheduling and Mobile Devices
Superintendents and project managers need information about the job in order to maintain margins, avoid mistakes, and reduce delays. With Constellation’s integrated iPad/iPhone, Android, Blackberry and laptop scheduling solutions, field staff can access sales information, schedules, purchase orders, service requests, site plans, and supplier information to complete tasks and request variances without making a phone call.
Vendor Portal and Collaboration
Constellation’s secure, web-based vendor portal provides suppliers and trades with real-time access to purchase orders, construction schedules, and payment information to reduce phone calls and costly errors. With Constellation’s vendor portal solutions suppliers and trades can get the information they need anytime.
Warranty and Customer Service
With Constellation’s home buyer portals and online warranty guides, you can provide home buyers with information about their homes during construction and beyond. You can track warranty notifications and ensure that you have a record of receipt for regulatory and legal purposes. With Constellation’s customer experience management solutions, home owner issues are submitted online, without paper, and acted upon without any re-keying of information. This saves time, reduces errors, and creates happy customers that will generate referrals.
About Constellation HomeBuilder Systems
As the industry's largest home building software provider, Constellation HomeBuilder Systems has helped more than 2,800 builders manage their information technology costs with integrated home building software solutions to run their business from websites to warranty. From planning to homeowner services, we have land development software, new home sales and marketing software, production, purchasing, scheduling, accounting, warranty, electronic homeowner manuals, vendor portal solutions, and website solutions designed exclusively for the home building industry. Constellation’s product suite includes, HomeDev Pro, BuildSoft Pro, Builder 360, Constellation Web Solutions, FAST, NEWSTAR, Sales1440, and BuildTopia.
Constellation HomeBuilder Systems is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc. (“CSI”), the premier international provider of market-leading software and services, and is a publicly-traded company.
Media Inquiries:
Cathy Kotsopoulos
cathyk@constellationhb.com
(888) 723-2222
Constellation exhibits at the 2011 Remodeling Show
Constellation HomeBuilder Systems exhibited at the Remodeling Show in Chicago on October 13-15, 2011. The Remodeling Show is the only national event which exclusively serves the growing and evolving residential remodeling industry. “It was amazing to see the amount of traffic flow and interest amongst the remodeler community looking for a construction software solution to help streamline their business,”, said Laurent Amar, Director of Sales for Constellation HomeBuilder Systems. “We spoke with many remodelers and trades at the show and identified their unique needs. Some remodelers perform the same or similar jobs many times in a given year and need to focus on marketing and lead generation. Other remodelers have fewer jobs, but they are more unique and longer in duration, so they need to focus on estimating, scheduling and sharing customer communication, while generating referrals. Constellation offers products to service all types of remodelers, everything from website design, sales and lead management, and customer portals for information sharing throughout the job. Basically a one stop shop.”
Constellation’s latest revolutionary product, HomeDev Pro is a cloud-based construction management solution designed for custom builders, remodelers, and mid-market homebuilders looking to integrate all components of their business. By encompassing Job Cost, Scheduling, Purchasing, Production Catalog and Workflow, HomeDev Pro eliminates the need for multiple systems, duplicate entries and complicated interfaces, all to help increase productivity and maximize profits. Offered with a subscription pricing model, it uses Microsoft technology and works with many accounting solutions. Many builders stated clearly “this is exactly what we have been waiting for”.
The Value of a New Home Sales and CRM System
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit with a client and was pleasantly surprised. The Sales Manager explained that they weren’t currently using all of the features in their new home sales system to capture all the sales information, but then she explained that they did use it for many important functions. She explained that even though they didn’t use it to its fullest extent, it was still a very helpful tool, and she excitedly described how it recently helped her land a very important sale.
A husband and wife had come into the sales office one day and told her that they had visited and taken a look around a couple of years ago, and liked what they saw, and they were getting closer to being ready to buy. The Sales Manager welcomed them back, and invited them to take a look around the model, and politely excused herself, saying that she needed to take care of something in her office and that she would be back in just a moment. She rushed back into her office and pulled up their names in their CRM system, and was able to refresh her memory by reading all of the detailed notes she had recorded during their earlier visits. She returned to her buyers, and created opportunities to work the pieces of information that she had gathered from their visits 2 years ago, into the conversation. The prospects felt very special and thought it was absolutely amazing that she remembered so much about them.
The Sales Manager told me that she ultimately closed a sale with them, and that the prospects mentioned they were very impressed with her ability to remember them. While she recognizes that there were many other factors that impacted the final purchase decision, she was also confident that her effort to enter additional prospect information in the new home sales and CRM system played a large role in landing the sale.
Online Marketing and Prospect Follow-up Best Practices
Just a quick announcement to let everyone know that the recording from our online marketing prospect follow-up session with Mike Lyon is available for viewing.
In this presentation, Mike does a great job talking about the changing habits of new home buyers and explains some practical approaches builders can follow to increase the number of new home sales.
To summarize, it’s all about:
- providing quick, personal follow-up for all online prospects
- ongoing periodic communication (e-mail, phone calls)
- bringing online prospects into the sales office
Fortunately, Constellation has sales and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to help with this. We can bring prospect information from your website into your sales system automatically, provide website redesign services, and even help builders go live with a new website very quickly. For example, Kaplan Companies and Stylecraft Builders have used our services to create some amazing websites that are optimized for search engine results.
We would like to thank Mike for conducting the webinar. He speaks with authority about the conversion rates a builder can expect and best practices that can be implemented to boost sales from internet leads. He is also the author of Browsers to Buyers:Proven Strategies for Selling New Homes Online, the home building industry’s authoritative guide on internet marketing, lead generation and leads management.
To learn more about Mike and how he can help your organization, you can visit www.doyouconvert.com.
Direct link: Online Marketing and Prospect Follow-up Best Practices
Online Marketing Best Practices Webinar for Home Builders
Final Reminder – Register Now
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 1 PM EST
Presenter: Mike Lyon – Do You Convert?
With more and more new home buyers going online to begin purchasing their new homes, home builders need to consider the following:
- Search engine results and rankings are critical
- Websites need to be organized to capture more prospect information
- Prospect follow-up needs to happen quickly
- Sales staff need to be accountable for every prospect
- Prospects that are not motivated now can become motivated at any time, so ongoing communication is important
The session will be presented by Constellation HomeBuilder Systems and Mike Lyon and will feature a detailed presentation, product demonstrations and an opportunity for questions.
Important Registration Information
After you register for this session, all participants will receive an email confirmation via WebEx confirming your registration with an event URL and event password. If you do not receive a confirmation, please contact Cathy Kotsopoulos via email or by phone at (888) 723-2222 ext 6140.
Constellation Web Solutions – A New Opportunity for Home Builders
Recently, Constellation HomeBuilder Systems announced the asset purchase of The Enterprise from move.com and we wanted to take a minute to introduce this offering to home builders and especially our current Constellation customers. The following is a Q&A summary of the acquisition and our plans for helping home builders better manage their websites.
How can Constellation Web Solutions help make the most of my marketing dollar?
As we come out of the downturn, the methods and means we use to communicate will change and in many cases change dramatically. We will all need to be able to do more with less and the best way to accomplish this is by leveraging the power of the internet. This was a driving force in our decision to add Constellation Web Solutions to the family of products at Constellation HomeBuilder Systems. We can help you extend your financial, construction, scheduling, sales office, marketing automation, and other software offerings from Constellation to the web and your homebuyers through a customized website from Constellation Web Solutions.
Utilizing homebuilder industry-specific services from Constellation Web Solutions can reduce the costs of your online marketing presence. Traditional outreach sources (newspapers, billboards, mailers, and flyers) are more expensive and less effective today than in the past. Builders and realtor agents will need to jump to the head of the line and use the power of applications developed specifically to market to the “new” buyers.
It can be difficult to market to the needs of a broad group or demographic. How do you leverage technology to provide what buyers are looking for?
The days of generic information are over! The prospects and buyers of homes have become used to technology providing them with the information they want in the way they want it. The builder can not afford to lag behind in providing prospects and buyers with the exact information they want. This means the builder’s web presence will need to have the intelligence to go from general to specific information and Constellation Web Solutions is here to help the builder accomplish this complex task. The ultimate in specificity allows the prospect/buyer to select models and assess build options for their home from the website. Our interactive floor plans change the drawings the prospect sees based on the specific options selected from the website. Imagine the competitive advantage the builder has when the buyer compares their home built their way with the help of the builder’s website to other properties.
Mobile websites provide immediate, location-independent access to interested buyers on the iPhone, Blackberry and other handheld devices. We are living in a time when we all expect “information now” that is being driven by the latest in communication technology. The builder must be prepared to again, communicate with the buyer/prospect using the method preferred by the buyer. The adoption rate of texting and using handheld devices (apps) to transmit and gather information is staggering. Any builder that is not conveying information or preparing to convey information on mobile devices is at risk. The builders that adopt the technology the buyers use and expect, will recover from the downturn faster and more profitably than those that stick to “conventional” technologies. Constellation Web Solutions has a proven track record in leading builders to the newer technology.
Talking/Texting/SMS yard signs provide information when you are away from your models and sales office. This is all part of the information now. We live in a 24/7 era where buyers and even browsers see something and want more information. The beauty of using an application that communicates (texting or talking) is that you are providing instant access to your information. The greatest benefit is that you are identifying who is asking for the information and you immediately have a way to follow up with them. This completely changes the approach you can take in your sales operation while at the same time being responsive to the needs and wants of the buyer. I would hate to face talking houses of competitors if mine just sat there.
How will my Company, communities, models, and plans get the most online exposure?
By syndicating your new home web content to new home destination websites such as Move.com, Zillow.com or Trulia.com, or your local newspaper website as well as integrating your information with social networking avenues, blogs, and new media such as YouTube.com. The old adage in real estate is location, location, location. It is equally important when it comes to getting your message out. Let us help you get your message out to these new sources.
How do I begin working with Constellation Web Solutions?
Builders interested in our websites and related products should call our sales team at (888) 723-2222, or send a quick e-mail to sales@constellationhb.com.
We are your technology in the home building business. We know the industry and we know technology, can you afford not to work with us?
About Constellation Home Builder Systems
As the largest home building software company in the industry, Constellation HomeBuilder Systems has helped more than 2,100 builders manage their information technology costs with integrated software solutions to run their business from dirt to warranty. From planning to homeowner services, we have land development software, new home sales and marketing software, production, purchasing, scheduling, accounting, warranty, electronic homeowner manuals, vendor portal solutions, and invoice workflow solutions designed exclusively for the home building industry. Constellation’s product suite includes Constellation CRM (CFT), FAST, NEWSTAR, BuildSoft, Builder 360, and Constellation Web Solutions.
Media Inquiries
Cathy Kotsopoulos
ckotsopoulos@constellationhb.com
Free Event – Online Marketing Best Practices and Prospect Follow-up
FREE Event – Online Marketing Best Practices and Prospect Follow-up
With more and more new home buyers going online to begin purchasing their new homes, home builders need to consider the following:
- Search engine results and rankings are critical
- Websites need to be organized to capture more prospect information
- Prospect follow-up needs to happen quickly
- Sales staff need to be accountable for every prospect
- Prospects that aren’t motivated now can become motivated at any time, so ongoing communication is important
The session will be presented by Constellation HomeBuilder Systems and Mike Lyon and will feature a detailed presentation, product demonstrations and an opportunity for questions.
Date: Tuesday September 1st, @ 1 PM Eastern
Constellation Software Inc., Acquires The Enterprise and the Homebuilder Web Development Group Assets from MOVE, Inc.
Toronto, Ontario, August 4, 2009 – Constellation Software Inc. (“Constellation”) (TSX: CSU) announced today that it has completed, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Constellation HomeBuilder Systems (“CHS”), the acquisition of certain assets and liabilities of the Enterprise and the Homebuilder Web Development Group (“The Enterprise”) from Move, Inc. (Nasdaq: MOVE), the leader in online real estate.
The Enterprise, based in Milwaukee, WI, develops custom Web sites for real estate brokerages and homebuilders. Product offerings include web development, interative voice response (IVR/Hotline) systems, and television production solutions.
“We are pleased to add the The Enterprise to the CHS family of technology solutions,” commented Dexter Salna, President of CHS. “We will continue to build on The Enterprise’s strong, well established customer base and flagship product line.”
About Constellation:
Constellation’s common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “CSU”. Constellation Software in an international provider of market leading software and services to a number of industries across both the public and private sectors. Constellation acquires, manages and builds vertical market software businesses that provide mission-critical software solutions to address the specific needs of its customers in those industries.
About Move, Inc.:
Move, Inc. (NASDAQ:MOVE) is the leader in online real estate with 8.3 million(1) monthly visitors to its online network of websites. Move, Inc. operates: Move.com, a leading destination for information on new homes and rental listings, moving, home and garden and home finance; REALTOR.com, the official Web site of the National Association of REALTORS; Moving.com; SeniorHousingNet.com; and Top Producer Systems. Move, Inc. is based in Westlake Village, California.
For futher information, contact:
John Billowits
Chief Financial Officer, Constellation Software Inc.
(416) 861.2279
info@csisoftware.com
www.csisoftware.com
Constellation’s New Home Builder E-Mail Marketing Solutions
Constellation Builder Broadcast is a complete e-mail marketing solution, providing an economical, results-oriented solution for home builders of all sizes, whether you build 5 houses a year or 10,000.
Now, more than ever, it is critical to know as much about potential home buyers as possible. You would never send the same e-mail to a home buyer as you would to a real estate agent. Constellation Builder Broadcast offers affordable tools to send timely, meaningful communication to your prospects and customers that will help you get referrals to help increase sales.
Collecting and managing e-mail addresses is just the beginning. Beyond simply sending the e-mail messages, Constellation has prepared a best practices guide for e-mail marketing. This guide, along with Constellation Builder Broadcast will help you optimize your e-mail campaigns, and effortlessly keep your campaigns in compliance with junk e-mail regulations.
Some of the key benefits include:
Built-in best practices for e-mail marketing and campaign management, designed to increase prospect-to-customer conversion ratios.
Build strong, trusted relationships by staying in-touch with your prospects, ensure delivery of the messages you want them to read, and encourage them to make a purchase decision.
Measure e-mail marketing effectiveness with insightful reporting, tracking and analytics to determine content relevance, timeliness, frequency and overall performance of your e-mail marketing campaigns.
See how you can stand out from the competition with polished, professional, and highly relevant e-mail marketing campaigns.
Constellation User Conference – Large Builder Roundtable Discussion
We had a number of medium and large volume builders discussing everything from the recent stimulus programs, selling new homes, doing more with less, implementing software systems, working with trades and suppliers, vendor portals, home builder websites, and the impact of green building on home builders. Some of the builders share their success stories in the current market and how they are leveraging technology to do more with less.