Is Your Product Line Designed as a Portfolio or Just a Collection of Plans?

Here’s a question we like asking builders: 

If we put every plan in your product line on the table, could you explain exactly why each one is there? 

It sounds simple but surprisingly isn’t. It’s a good time to stop and ask yourself what your product line strategy actually is. 

Product lines tend to grow over time. A plan gets added for a new buyer. Another for a particular lot. Someone asks for a larger version of a good seller. 

Before long, you can have a collection of individually good plans that don’t necessarily work well together. 

That’s the difference between having a collection of plans and having a production builder product line strategy.

Every Plan Should Have a Job

When we review a product line, we look at how the plans work together. 

Are they reaching different buyers? Is there too much overlap? What are any obvious gaps? Can the sales team clearly explain why someone would choose Plan A over Plan B? 

The goal isn’t to eliminate all overlap; some overlap is useful. The question is whether it’s intentional.

If several plans are serving essentially the same buyer in essentially the same way, more plans don’t always mean more buyer choice.

Then Look Beyond the Floor Plan

A strong product line also has to work operationally.

Can the plans be built efficiently? Can they scale across communities? Do the elevations create enough variety? What happens when several homes appear on the same street? Can the plans adapt to different lots without creating unnecessary complexity? 

A plan can work beautifully on its own and still create problems when you try to repeat it hundreds of times. 

That’s why product line planning is so critical. It should consider the whole picture: buyer appeal, differentiation, streetscape, buildability and scalability.

Buyer preferences change too, which means a product line that worked beautifully several years ago may not be responding to the same needs today.

Stepping back to look at the entire portfolio can also help you see when a once-strong plan may no longer be earning its place. Knowing when to refresh a product line doesn’t necessarily mean starting over. Sometimes it’s about identifying what’s still working and what needs to evolve.

Sometimes, when you step back and look at the product line this way, you realize you don’t need more plans at all. You just need the ones you already have to work together more strategically.

Want Another Perspective on Your Product Line?

Book a Complimentary Product Line Review Consultation and send us up to three plans. We’ll take a look and share what we see.