Sometimes, insights don’t arrive dressed as grand proclamations, top-10 trends lists, or complex formulas. Instead, they come as simple questions that strip away the noise and expose the heart of a challenge.

Morgan Housel, author and partner at Collaborative Fund, excels at posing those kinds of questions. His recent post, "I Have A Few Questions," resonated deeply, rearranging the furniture about business values, priorities, and behavior in my mind. Housel’s knack for contrarian yet elegant inquiries often unlocks new ways of understanding the forces shaping our industries and personal decisions.

The idea here isn’t to mimic but to take inspiration from his approach and apply it to the landscape that homebuilding and residential construction leaders navigate every day.

The 2025 Operating Environment

As we stand at the doorstep of 2025, homebuilding's core structural demand remains rooted in demographic fundamentals: population growth, age-household formation, and evolving family dynamics. These form the bedrock of opportunity. But while demand hums along, supply constraints cast longer and darker shadows: vacant developed lots, frontline labor, financing, and building materials all contribute to widening cost-of-living gaps.

This tug-of-war between demand and supply sharpens the edges of competition. Winning in this market hinges less on scale and more on competitive competence. Whether a company employs 10 or 10,000, success means becoming a builder of choice — not just for consumers but for business partners, stakeholders, acquirers, sellers, and, ever-more-critically, the talent pool.

With this context, here's a distilled list of 12 questions for homebuilding leaders. They aren’t buzzwords or tired phrases. They’re not about navigating uncertainty or embracing disruption. They’re meant to cut closer to the bone, offering a framework for sharper, more essential thinking, and more accountable action.

12 Questions for 2025

1. Will your business' success in 2025 owe more to:
   a) What you control, or
   b) Externalities — economics, Fed rates, policies, etc. — beyond your grasp?
2. Which matters more in your organization?
   a) Land, or
   b) People.
3. Is the “asset-light” model you're pursuing:
   a) A balance sheet strategy, or
   b) A fundamental restructuring of operations and business planning?
4. Is your rental home and community development strategy:
   a) A hedge against market volatility, or
   b) A sustainable core line of business?
5. Is commonly shared, clean, real-time data across finance, purchasing, and sales:
   a) A department-specific asset, or
   b) A necessity spread across the entire building lifecycle?
6. Are large-language AI models for 2025:
   a) A cost-cutting measure, or
   b) A blueprint for future operational models?
7. When designing communities that are denser, more resilient, and sustainable, are you:
   a) Checking regulatory boxes, or
   b) Inspiring and engaging a new generation of homebuyers?
8. What distinguishes homebuilding's 'outliers' who thrive regardless of market conditions?
9. Will young working households — without inherited wealth — still find a foothold in new construction markets by the late 2020s?
10. What role will access to water play in determining housing supply by 2030?
11. Is the rising cost of home insurance:
    a) A secondary concern, or
    b) A looming affordability crisis for new-home buyers?
12. What is the most essential yet unasked question for the new residential construction and development business in 2025?
13. Why does that matter?

Closing Thought

In a sector often swayed by market cycles, policy changes, and external pressures, leaders are defined by their ability to cut through complexity with simple, powerful questions. Perhaps the most revealing insight isn’t in the answers themselves, but in the quality of the questions you choose to ask. We'll stay tuned, and we're excited to be here to learn, report, celebrate, and challenge.