When she started more than 7 years ago the homebuilding field was quite new to @Diana Solomon.
I spent 4 days with the person I was going to replace, and we went briefly through the procedures, trades and NEWSTAR. After that it was up to me to build on that skeleton. My focus was to improve my NEWSTAR skills to be able to use its features to “work smart not hard”. I hope now I can say I reached that goal.
- What is your professional background?
- My professional background is Mechanical Engineering.
- How did you become interested in homebuilding?
- In Ottawa the main employer is the government, there are not too many jobs in the manufacturing industry, but the homebuilding industry is booming now and it will go strong in the next years.
- What is the most rewarding thing about your work?
- What I enjoy about this work is that there are not two days the same. Always it is something different to do: releasing new lots or helping the accounting or the sites to solve their issues. Sometimes my colleagues from A/P comes to me with older Invoice Statements that need to be reconciliated and I’ll help them with the “digging” to find the discrepancies between the orders and the invoices.
- If you could give yourself advice when you started in the industry, what would it be?
- I would have spent more time on the site and in the design centre.
- What do you think is the biggest challenge the homebuilding industry faces today?
- The biggest challenges the homebuilding industry faces today are the supply chain delays, the materials price increase and the raised interest rates for mortgage. As a Purchasing Coordinator I felt the impact of the fluctuation of the materials price in the high volume of the POs needed to be revised do to price changes.
- What are you looking forward to most in the next 5 to 10 years?
- I am looking forward to have all the accurate data implemented in NEWSTAR and to have established the most efficient rules and procedures for each task. I like trying different ways to do a certain task, so I can select the best option depending the situation.
- What's your favorite tip for someone using NEWSTAR?
- I have two tips for someone using NEWSTAR. The first one is: before you start a new project make sure you have all the contracts and Processing rules in place, and the second tip is: use all the updates features (like Tax update, Price Update) – they are there to save you a lot of time.
- What do you do when you're not working?
- During the winter I like skating and reading, and during the summer I like swimming and going for long walks.
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