CEO John Wieland with The JW Collection joins the Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio podcast as the first Legends of Real Estate guest! Wieland joins host Carol Morgan on the All About Real Estate segment to discuss his incredible 50-year journey in the homebuilding industry.
The recipient of more customer satisfaction and professionalism awards than any other builder in Atlanta, Wieland has been building homes in the metro Atlanta area for over 50 years and is responsible for training a large portion of the talent working in the industry today.
With a start in 1971, Wieland remarked on how different the industry is today in comparison. Armed with a single hammer, a credit card and his Volkswagen Beatle, Wieland transported building materials to and from job sites. By the end of his first year, his company closed on 12 homes, with six under construction. (Tune into the show to find out how the VW Beatle plays into this!)
In direct contrast to today’s open floor layouts, homes previously featured little wasted space. A typical split-foyer home would boast a first floor with a garage and bonus room, a second floor with a kitchen and living room and a top floor showcasing the home’s bedrooms. Back then, homes were commonly priced from $30,000s with plumbing included!
Wieland revealed, “A big problem today, in my opinion, is affordability. How do people get on that first rung of the ladder? Home equity is the primary source of wealth for most American families, and you’ve got to get started. We need small, affordable homes that aren’t an hour and a half from where you work.”
When asked about what inspired him to enter the homebuilding industry, Wieland cited unemployment. While in business school, Wieland worked in the building materials business with his roommate. After experiencing little success, Wieland decided to leave the venture and search for his next opportunity. With two young kids and unemployment looming, Wieland entered the homebuilding industry with his experience selling building materials under his belt.
To date, Wieland has built over 30,000 homes during his 51 years in business. During this time period he built and the subsequently sold his flagship company John Weiland® Homes. After that sale, he started his current homebuilding company, the JW Collection.
Model homes and design centers, now common aspects of the industry, used to be uncommon. Wieland and his team became pioneers in the Atlanta market for this new addition to the homebuying process.
Wieland said, “Homebuyers could come in and pick the pieces they wanted for their dream home. We’re proud of our early work in that.”
Fundamentally, homebuilding experienced significant slowdowns in the Great Recession, with Atlanta experiencing a peak at 60,000 building permits in 2006 and three years later, only 6,000 recorded permits.
Wieland shared, “You can prepare for 10%, 20% shrinkage in your business but when your business shrinkage reaches 90%, you can’t prepare for that.”
To draw attention to the company's inventory of finished homes, Wieland and his marketing team dreamt up the infamous 101 Home Sales campaign. The idea was to travel in a Winnebago to Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Nashville and Charleston to promote the communities until he sold 101 homes.
Weiland said, “We would pull into one of our cities…and I would drag [myself] into an unsold home…and I would make myself at home.”
During every first night in the new city, Wieland hosted an event for the company members and worked with his marketing team to get press coverage. Employees participated by providing essentials such as coffee in the morning and little touches such as making his bed to elevate Wieland’s stay.
For every sale, Wieland wrote a welcome note to the buyers and presented it to the now, brand-new homeowners. With no days off other than Easter, the entire campaign lasted 60 days and gained national recognition in a challenging market.
