Jim Sorgatz

Dip Toes or Dive In? The Case for Going All-In On Digital Marketing

June 1, 2025
By Jim Sorgatz

Lady diving into a pool with Kitchen image in the background

A phrase we frequently hear following a demo of our digital marketing tools is, “We’d like to dip our toes in the water.” While this may be a good idea in some instances, say testing the water temperature before stepping into a hot shower, it doesn’t make sense when it comes to your website.

In today’s technology-driven world, your website is the front door to your business. So it is imperative to have one that is attractive, cohesive, easy to navigate, and COMPLETE. With many smaller builders competing in markets dominated by big public builders, professionalism is critical. So, if your website still mainly features black and white drawings and you are gradually replacing them with 3D renderings from random providers, and/or photos of built homes taken with a cell phone, you may want to reconsider that process. Black and white stick renderings captivate no one, and photos, unless professionally shot like ones by Chad Davies, rarely do your homes justice, especially when new landscaping consists of a few small shrubs and twigs for trees. Buyers are looking for their dream home, not one that screams, “weekend projects ahead!”

*3D photoreal rendering. Nothing says “dream home” more than a sultry in dusk shot*.

Think Like the Big Builders

To see what homebuyers expect when they visit your website, it pays to look at what the bigger builders are doing. A few of the top sites like Toll Brothers and Taylor Morrison include an abundance of professionally shot photographs and videos to create visual interest, meanwhile the individual model pages feature 3D photoreal renderings for consistency. Their sites also include interactive floor plans allowing potential homebuyers to select structural options and oftentimes space plan with a furniture planner.

*The top digital lead generator: An Interactive floor plan with elevation previews and furniture planner*.

The Small Builder Advantage

Where you can stand out from the big guys is by personalizing and streamlining. Even the most thoughtful big builder sites are rather convoluted due to an excess of homes and communities. With fewer homes to showcase, smaller builders have a distinct advantage. Professional renderings and virtual tours need not break the bank, and they allow homebuyers to explore your homes from anywhere in the world.

View of desert valley from living room of a home on a hill — *Still image taken from a virtual tour. The view outside the windows is real.*

Smaller inventory encourages deeper exploration of your models, especially when they feature engaging virtual tours, visualizers, and interactive floor plans. And studies show the more time spent customizing a home with digital tools, the more likely the prospect is to purchase that home.

The Best Time to Upgrade a Website is…

NOW is the perfect time to add digital assets or make other upgrades to your website. Yes, the market is down and budgets are stretched, but we know housing will come roaring back at some point – it always does – and builders need to be prepared. Website upgrades also have a small price tag compared to other marketing ventures like building a model home, or even TV ads. So, take some time during this downturn to be thoughtful, strategic, and intentional about website upgrades that will attract homebuyers and generate solid leads as the housing market begins to turn.

Laying Out The Welcome Mat

In summary, as your website is your online front door, be sure to lay out the welcome mat. Draw in prospects with a clean, easy to navigate site, with stimulating imagery and engaging interactive tools. Remember, consistency is critical. Get all renderings from the same provider. Ditto for interactive floor plans. Better yet, use the same vendor for all digital marketing assets for peace of mind and the best results. Hence the reason Outhouse offers CAD services . For all-in clients, assets are automatically updated across all digital product lines when a change is made in the CAD files. This not only ensures accuracy and consistency, but also reduces costs. And, finally, check out big builder sites for inspiration, but be sure to keep an open mind on ways to make your site easier to navigate and more compelling.

Like Iconic Brands and Well-Designed Homes, Skilled Craft Never Goes Out of Style

April 18, 2025
By Jim Sorgatz

Bill Gelbaugh brings the same precision and visual appeal to camp cooking that he delivers at Outhouse.

In today’s world of ever-increasing automation, the role of the craftsman may no longer occupy the center stage it once did—say, during the Renaissance—but the need for skilled craft has never gone away. Whether it’s clothing, jewelry, furniture, or homebuilding, there is still something deeply human—and deeply valuable—about a well-built item. A custom home, for example, with thoughtful design elements and finishes shaped to a buyer’s personality, has a presence and soul you can’t replicate with mass production.

My dad was one of those rare craftsmen. He started a one-man remodeling business at the age of 40. While technically his own company, he served just three clients—two prominent Phoenix attorneys and Rex Maughn, the founder of Forever Living Products. Rex owned properties like Mormon Lake Lodge in Flagstaff and Southfork Ranch in Dallas—yes, that Southfork Ranch. These clients didn’t shop around. They didn’t ask for quotes. They trusted my dad implicitly and paid him hourly, not because it was cheaper, but because they knew he’d deliver something unique, beautiful, and lasting. I’ll never forget the time he was asked to saw down the legs of a $10,000 antique table just to make it fit below a window with a view. That level of trust only comes from knowing the person doing the work is a true master of their craft.

Technology and Craftsmanship – A Winning Pair

Here at Outhouse, we still believe in that kind of craftsmanship. Much of our work is technology-driven, but it takes more than software to create the kind of visual clarity, consistency, and brand integrity our clients expect. It takes a trained eye, experience, and people who genuinely care about what they’re making.

Bill preparing a meal in the Northern Arizona forest.

A Print Department Founded by Craftsmen

Over thirty years ago, the Outhouse print department was founded by three such people: Bill Gelbaugh, Dorian Boese, and Doug Ills. What they built together wasn’t just a production team—it was a workshop, grounded in artistry, precision, and pride in the finished product. Bill brings a meticulous sensibility to everything he touches, from client branding to color theory to campsite organization. He takes camp cooking next level, creating sumptuous, vibrantly colored vegan meals prepared with bespoke cookware . Doug, a lifelong graphic artist, is also an avid photo restorer who brings old memories back to life with an almost reverent attention to detail. And Dory—well, Dory is a man who appreciates nuance. As a devoted bourbon aficionado, he shares weekly tastings with friends, each pour accompanied by storytelling and quiet discernment. These aren’t just hobbies: they’re reflections of character. Together, the three of them infused Outhouse’s print department with the integrity and intentionality that still defines our work today.

A man with style – Pressroom Manager Dorian Boese at the Barrett-Jackson Auction.

We Elevate Builder Brands

That same care is evident in how we treat your brand’s visual details. Bill, for instance, often catches inconsistencies in logos or brand colors that others miss. He’s been known to zoom in pixel by pixel to ensure a logo prints cleanly on a brochure or displays clearly on a touchscreen. It’s the kind of attention that doesn’t just protect a brand—it elevates it.

Doug Ills restoring a vintage photo

Brand Consistency Is Paramount

And that brings us to a critical point. Brand consistency matters. You may recall a time, a couple of decades ago, when fast-food chains raced to trademark color combinations. Red may dominate the landscape, but it’s the specific hues, pairings, and logo integrations that make each instantly recognizable. Homebuilders are no different. Your brand guidelines: the way your colors appear online, in print, and in your sales environment are essential to how buyers experience your brand. That’s why you need partners who not only understand that but obsess over it.

At Outhouse, our team of visual professionals ensures that your interactive floor plans, site plans, and renderings reflect your brand precisely as designed. Colors are accurate across platforms: website, brochures, signage, and more. Each run of printed material is consistent. Every rendering and virtual tour carry your identity forward with integrity and impact.

A delicious meal prepared in a meticulously curated setting created by Bill.

Proudly Made In the USA

We take pride in that all our digital marketing tools: interactive maps, renderings, virtual tours, kiosks, visualizers, as well as our print collateral and sales center signage are produced by our team right here in the USA. Our home office in Phoenix, AZ houses the print facility that started it all.

The Bots are Coming: Are We Ready for the Disruption Ahead?

March 10, 2025
By Jim Sorgatz

_{Jimdroid – Created by Tabitha Warren with a little help from A.I,}

The past six months have been nothing short of a revelation. Last fall, I experienced an ischemic stroke—an event that was a bit terrifying and life-altering, but also utterly fascinating. While the recovery process has been grueling, it has also given me a rare, firsthand understanding of the intricate connection between the brain and the body—something most people never have to think about.

When a stroke occurs, blood flow to the brain is cut off, damaging nerves and severing their connection to various parts of the body. In my case, I lost control of most of my left side. However, I was fortunate—my face, speech, vision, and cognitive function were largely unaffected. Even more encouraging, my doctors reassured me that I had the potential for full recovery since I could still move my fingers and toes. What they didn’t immediately share, though, was just how difficult that journey would be.

After months of intense physical therapy and relentless effort, I have regained control of most of my muscles. Just last week, I celebrated a significant milestone—full range of motion in my shoulder. Walking, however, remains a work in progress. I can do it, but let’s just say I won’t be winning any style points.

This experience has given me a deep appreciation for something most of us take for granted: the brain-muscle connection. Under normal circumstances, our muscles simply do what they’re supposed to without conscious thought. A stroke doesn’t damage the muscles themselves but disrupts the neural networks that control them. Recovery, therefore, isn’t about healing muscles; it’s about retraining the brain to find new pathways through endless, repetitive exercises.

What Does This Have to Do with Robotics?

We all know the robots are coming. Many of us have chuckled at videos of Tesla’s Optimus robot tripping down a hill. Skeptics argue that humanoid robots are still decades away from being truly useful, but my stroke recovery has given me a fresh perspective—I now firmly believe they’re coming much sooner than we think.

Why? Because AI learning mirrors stroke recovery in many ways. Just as my brain must repeatedly attempt movements to forge new neural pathways, AI systems refine their capabilities through repetition. The more they practice, the smarter and more autonomous they become, adapting to new tasks without explicit reprogramming. We’ve already seen remarkable advancements in autonomous driving—Tesla’s latest Full Self-Driving (FSD) version 13.2 shows just how close we are to full autonomy.

The Impending Disruption in Homebuilding

It doesn’t take much imagination to picture robots swinging hammers on job sites. But what will push the homebuilding industry toward this reality? Tariffs? Immigration reform? The growing need for affordable housing? The catalyst may not be clear yet, but one thing is certain: innovation is essential for reducing construction costs and ensuring builders can continue to thrive.

Remember Katerra? In 2015, it looked like this technology-driven, off-site construction company would revolutionize the industry. But despite massive funding, the company ultimately collapsed in 2021 due to a combination of overspending, the pandemic, and lender failures. However, Katerra was just the tip of the iceberg. Since then, AI has advanced at an exponential pace, and robotics is poised to play a crucial role in the next wave of construction innovation.

Are We Ready for What’s Next?

Probably not. Most industries are slow to embrace disruption, and homebuilding is no exception. But the shift is inevitable. That’s why homebuilders and trade contractors need to start preparing now—adapting to new technologies and finding ways to integrate AI and robotics into their processes before they get left behind.

At Outhouse.net, we’ve always been at the forefront of innovation. From launching our first interactive floor plan over 20 years ago to developing interactive site maps, kiosks, animations, virtual tours, and visualizers, we’ve continually pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in digital marketing technology. And we’re not stopping anytime soon. We, too, understand the need to stay ahead of the curve.

The future is coming fast—are you ready?

Don’t Retire Print Marketing – Reimagine It

February 24, 2025
By Jim Sorgatz

People often ask us why a print company specializing in print for home builders is necessary. Heck, today, builders sometimes ask us if print marketing is still a valuable sales tool! The answer to both questions is a resounding “Yes!” We explain why in this post.

The Role of Print in New Home Sales

In a recent episode of the Digital Velocity Podcast, co-hosts Erik Martinez of Digital Velocity and Tim Curtis of NaviStone talk with Alex Kupski and Jake Hoffman, co-hosts of the Millennials in Print Podcast, about the Power of Print in the Digital Age. They conclude, “The more channels you’re present on and the more channels you’re marketing to people on, ultimately, the more effective you’re going to be. Print, just like social, just like email, just like your website, just like a commercial on TV, is a channel for you to market on. It’s another arrow in the quiver. It’s another way to reach people you might not have before.”

…the ubiquity of digital media has given print media a strange new power.” –Brandon Ortiz, Salesforce.com

Print marketing works best when paired with digital marketing. Digital marketing is often the most effective way to draw people in. With interactive site plans, interactive floor plans, renderings, virtual tours, visualizers, and Matterport tours, your website is arguably a home builder’s most potent marketing tool. But it is only effective for a home buyer’s few precious moments on your website. Print collateral, on the other hand, has a much longer life span. Brochures and floorplan/elevation minis often sit on a potential buyer’s countertop or table for weeks or months, a lasting reminder of your homes and communities. Not every prospect immediately purchases a home, so print is a great way to keep them focused on yours.

David Weekley Homes brochure with cactus front cover, and homes on the back

Data shows that print used in tandem with digital marketing is one of the most effective sales strategies as the two mediums strengthen and reinforce each other. A study by InfoTrends found that 66% of direct mail is opened, and 56% of consumers who respond to direct mail go online or visit a physical store. A recent article in SFGate offers some great tips to sync your print and digital marketing efforts:

Place QR codes on print materials.

Provide digital opt-ins for direct mail.

Include social media reviews and comments on print materials.

Include hashtags and calls to action on print materials.

Although digital and print marketing take different forms, They work together to engage customers and keep your brand at the top of their minds.

It isn’t game over for print marketing. The game has only changed.”

The game has changed regarding print marketing strategies. When you discover the power of fusing “low-tech with high-tech,” you will separate yourself from the homebuilders who made the mistake of transitioning to 100% digital marketing.

Print is particularly effective where there is a physical customer presence – In industries where customers interact in person, such as model home sales offices, print materials provide tangible takeaways. Homebuilders can leverage brochures, direct mail, and high-quality printed floor plans to keep their homes top of mind for buyers who may not be ready to purchase immediately.

Print Remains Relevant in the Digital Age – As digital marketing becomes more saturated, print marketing offers brands a way to cut through the noise. As digital marketing becomes more easily ignored, physical marketing materials command attention, creating a lasting impression.

Moreover, print campaigns should be fully integrated with digital efforts. Rather than treating print as an afterthought, homebuilders can maximize impact by designing campaigns that blend the strengths of both mediums. Brochures, mailers, even print ads should include QR codes, personalized URLs, or augmented reality elements that direct potential buyers to interactive experiences online. Instead of evaluating print and digital separately, builders should use KPIs that measure how both contribute to lead generation and engagement.

Why Use a Builder-Specific Printing Company?

The challenge builders face that is unique to our industry is the weekly sales cycle. From week to week, home prices may change, lot availability changes, and options may vary. The typical strip-mall printer is not equipped to automate this process. Outhouse built their business to serve a single industry – HOME BUILDING. We do all work in-house, from CAD for your construction documents to print materials for your sales centers. This allows all teams, including architectural, rendering, graphics, interactive, and print, to work in tandem. By doing so, we create accurate, up-to-date print materials that are consistent and coordinated with your digital marketing assets. Utilizing the latest technologies, we print and deliver materials on time every week, on the builder’s schedule. Challenge solved – you send us your edits, and we coordinate these changes across all platforms.

Professional Artwork Creation: Outhouse provides clients with the considerable advantage of having drafting and rendering services on-site, allowing coordination with the development of their artwork for all printed materials. This coordination offers clients superior accuracy, faster turnaround times, and lower overall costs.

Coordinated File Management: Another advantage is the ease of managing and coordinating all created artwork with professional digital file and asset management. All artwork is kept up-to-date, consistent, and coordinated between city design reviews, printed sales materials, large format displays, and interactive web products and services.

Superior Print Quality: Superior brand standard quality and consistency every time on every product is only possible with the coordination, color calibration, and production of all graphics, printing, and display under one roof. Unlike a mass-market printer like Vista Print, Outhouse is not a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) printer. We believe that good enough is never good enough, and we have the magnifying glasses to prove it! On rare occasions when colors are incorrect or print quality is not up to snuff the first time off the press, we recalibrate and rerun the job.

Builder-Specific Delivery: Unlike many industries, home building has a weekly sales cycle, and having your print delivered on time is critical. Outhouse understands this. We meet your deadlines your way on your weekly sales cycle.

Woodside Homes brochure with three homes

The bottom line is print marketing still plays an integral role in new home marketing and sales. There’s a reason the Outhouse Interactive Floor Plan has a save button. It allows prospective homebuyers to save their customized floor plans and print them out for further review.

What about younger generations? Retail Focus Magazine tells us that print is 30% more memorable than digital. This applies to all age groups. You need look no further than nightclubs which hand out leaflets advertising upcoming events, and university welcome packs to know that print still appeals to young people. The magazine also notes the best campaigns are when print and digital work alongside each other instead of trying to compete. A younger audience may be digitally savvy, but they still appreciate a well-thought-out hard copy campaign.

Although any printer can give you a halfway decent brochure, only a company like Outhouse coordinates your CAD, rendering, and interactive projects with your print materials and sales office displays. Even if our print pricing is a bit higher, you will save significantly more overall through efficiencies in coordination.

Woodside Homes floor plan — *When you update a plan, Outhouse coordinates the changes across CAD, print, and all digital marketing assets.*

Is 2025 the Year to Break Out of the “Home Builder Box?”

February 7, 2025
By Jim Sorgatz

There are many brilliant people here at Outhouse, and one of them is our content creator and social media manager, Tabitha Warren. An enthusiastic advocate for the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, Tabitha made the bold decision to leave her full-time job as a tax accountant in her mid-thirties. But instead of retiring, she pivoted to a new career in digital marketing, joining our team at Outhouse while also helping other companies build websites. It wasn’t an easy transition, but through determination, hard work, and a relentless drive to learn new skills, she made it happen. Today, she’s a Canva expert, crafting stunning graphics and managing social media for most of our marketing efforts. What’s even more inspiring is her constant quest for the “next big thing.” Her curiosity and drive to adopt cutting-edge technologies push me, the old guy, to keep learning and reaching for more.

Tabitha Warren in front of husband Anthony

Tabitha Warren, enjoying some free time with husband Anthony

In a way, Tabitha’s journey mirrors the challenges the home building industry faces. As she mentioned in her January 10th post, “Navigating Labor and Supply Chain Issues,” the industry enters another year trying to stay ahead. It’s not a lack of demand—there are plenty of families looking for new homes—but labor and supply chain bottlenecks, coupled with sticky inflation, that are driving home prices higher (thank you, pandemic). And let’s not forget the high interest rates that persist even after a couple of Fed rate cuts (thanks, lenders).

Builders and contractors who adapted quickly survived.

The housing crash of 2008-2010 showed us that builders and contractors who adapted quickly survived. For many, that meant streamlining operations, letting go of staff (not-so-affectionately called “right-sizing”), and embracing new, cost-saving techniques. Some even chose to be acquired by other companies. Many long-time construction workers faced similar crossroads, and those who were willing to adapt to new careers—sometimes temporarily—are the ones who have thrived today.

The reality is, like the stock market, the home building industry is volatile. It’s a constant roller coaster ride with high highs and low lows, and rare are the moments when things are smooth sailing. The key to surviving and thriving? Being agile. Builders who can pivot quickly, streamline processes, adopt new methods and technologies, or even revert to time-tested strategies when necessary will be the ones who come out on top.

Image of a house blueprint transitioning to 3D exterior rendering

This is exactly why we built the Outhouse CAD department with this roller coaster in mind. Many homebuilders already rely on us for renderings and interactive tools, so it only makes sense to put our 30+ years of CAD expertise to work and help with drafting services. Here’s how outsourcing your drafting to us can benefit you:

• Uniformity for the Field Crew: Our approach ensures that your plans maintain a consistent look and feel across the board, no matter who the designer is.
• Compatibility is Key: Our 2D plans integrate seamlessly with other Outhouse services or external consultants—no hassle, just smooth collaboration.
• You Own the CAD Files: Whether you build one home or a hundred from a single set of plans, the CAD files are yours to keep.
• Accelerated Delivery of Marketing Assets: We can produce your interactive floor plans, site maps, virtual tours, visualizers, renderings, and brochures simultaneously, allowing you to hit the market faster and more cost-effectively.

Embrace the future (or more precisely, the present) with 3D photorealistic renderings, 360-degree virtual tours, and interactive floor plans.

If your website still sports black-and-white stick drawings and static floor plans and site maps, it’s well past time to think outside the box. Embrace the future (or more precisely, the present) with 3D photorealistic renderings, 360-degree virtual tours, and interactive floor plans. Interactive tools are far more engaging than static images—they allow homebuyers to digitally add structural options, rearrange furniture, and even take virtual walks through rooms with integrated VR hotspots. These experiences help families emotionally connect to your homes, turning casual browsers into serious buyers. Plus, interactive features are proven to increase the time visitors spend on your site, which often leads to more sales. In today’s tech-savvy market, these tools aren’t just a nice-to-have—they’re essential. Younger homebuyers, especially, love the gamified, interactive experiences.

Outhouse.net excels at providing all the digital and print marketing assets that today’s homebuyers expect when shopping for new homes, including 3D renderings, virtual tours, visualizers, interactive floor plans, and interactive site maps for your website. And we don’t stop there—we also offer interactive kiosks, print materials, large format signage, and display options for sales offices.

Looking for more ways to expand your horizons? The International Builders Show in Las Vegas, happening February 25-27, is a fantastic place to explore the latest in construction technology and trends. If you’re attending, make sure to stop by and say hello to Outhouse principals and our OSC partner Blue Gypsy Inc. in Sales Central, West Hall W311. We’ll be sponsoring coffee and snacks throughout each day, and we’d love to meet you. All are welcome—even if you have a floor pass only!