A Conversation With … Kenny Bussell

In November 2015, you purchased 98 available lots in Patriot Place with the goal of 20 homes started by summer. What’s the progress?
It’s going really good. We sold 18 homes so far, and we have about 40 houses under construction right now. They are at one phase or another, from a house that’s just staked out to a house that’s being finished up.

That excites me, but we still have a long way to go. We still have 80 more houses to sell. We have an absorption rate that’s very good if you take into consideration the contamination of the subdivision, the negative publicity for the last decade. Taking a risk and investing in that property, it was right up my alley. I thought I could figure out a way to turn it all around and it seems to be working.

When will you start the remaining construction?
We have 20 (speculative) homes out there at any given time. Every time we sell a house, we replace that home. It’s always as fast as I can. I’d like to be out of there in three years.

What types of homes are going up?
We have a custom house that’s over 2,400 square feet. We have a custom we just closed on that’s over 2,100 square feet. Then we have spec homes out there that are around $180,000. The lowest I think is $155,000 at this time. I thought they would be smaller, but the custom is driving them up.

Have you heard any interest in the county-owned commercial lots?
No, but I talked to one of the commissioners who came through just last week and the week before with the Parade of Homes. They mentioned they were going to be more proactive – not that they weren’t before – but drum up some activity now that they are seeing so many rooftops going up. With them seeing this moving right along, they are going to be able to use that to push their commercial property.

Reviving stalled subdivisions is your niche, jump-starting Vintage Hills and Nixa’s Kelby Creek. What’s the key?
First of all, I like to see what the defect is or why it has stalled, why it didn’t work. Then, I try not to make the same mistake. Sometimes, it’s not their fault; it may have been the economy. I go in there, get my game plan down, which sometimes I have to tweak when I get into it. Sometimes it’s too big of a house, sometimes it’s too small.

When the buyers get out there, they will tell me what I am doing wrong. You do get a few butterflies in your stomach at first.

According to Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., the Midwest residential construction backlog is up 14 percent this month to roughly 7.6 months. Has the residential industry officially bounced back?
Oh, definitely so. We can’t keep up. We have over 35 sold homes right now. That is the most I have ever had sold at one time. This isn’t an investor; these are all individuals, all custom homes. Just watching the markets, we are constantly dealing with more and more people about customs. We’ve never had as much activity as I’ve had in the past nine months. It’s a sellers market in a very strong way, but you never know how long it’s going to last.

Is there still a construction labor shortage?
Yes, there is a labor shortage, and it’s the worst I’ve ever seen. That drives up the cost of subcontractors. Some of the subs that are the most scarce are making significantly more money than they were even prerecession.

How do you attract new workers?
Just keep paying them more money. The advantage a company like mine has is we are a production builder – we have a lot of work and we keep people busy. Also, rather than using a title company, we pay every Friday. You don’t have to wait for a title company, which can take six weeks or even two months for a check.