W
ikiHomebuilding.com started with this question; “Is there way to bring professionals in the homebuilding industry together to share their knowledge with; each other, prospective new homebuyers, and owners of newly built homes?”
I thought contributing to an industry blog might be the way to get started began to look at homebuilding and real estate blogs. I found that if you look long enough, some great insights can be found in builder/realtor blogs. Still, I thought, something has been missed. Most blogs for builders and realtors have a biased slant toward something or other.
Wanting a venue where buyers, owners, and homebuilding professionals could all contribute to a knowledgebase that others could then follow led to the wiki format. The name WikiHomebuilding seemed appropriate.
I found a web hosting company, purchased the domain name, downloaded WordPress, purchased a theme, and created my first website.
Based on experience and research, I try to provide the facts, pros and cons for the articles I approve as editor and write as author. The readers can make up their own minds when it comes to what is “best” and make their own choices accordingly. If anyone, professional or otherwise, wants to add to the discussion, they are welcome to do so. That’s what makes a wiki a wiki.
Pros are encouraged to write for two good reasons; one for them and one for Wiki.
- WikiHomebuilding.com gets more good content
- Pros can use information from articles in the Wiki to validate their business practices*
* As Operations Manager for a custom home builder, I sometimes got questions from customers at the Plans and Specs meeting like this one; “What’s better OSB or plywood (sub)floors?” or “Is a poured concrete basement better than a concrete block basement?”
At that point I would hand them printouts or send them links to articles from WikiHomebuilding.com. The article information validated my company’s position that the standard product, regardless of what it was, had enough positive attributes to make it a reasonable spec for a custom home. The buyer could always select an alternate if they wanted.
People are naturally skeptical and think the builder is going to slant the answer to his/her advantage. The reason the Wiki articles work is because the facts are coming from a source other than the builder.
