Innovation

The innovation that Paul Ledet decided to go with is their software. This allowed Paul Ledet cut down on using paper, and allows the customer to access the paperwork at any point which makes the company “very-tech savvy” as he describes. The innovation occurred when they found the software some time ago, at a builder convention show. Chris Ledet Homes’ project manager Paul Ledet was the person to discover this innovation. When he stumbled across this software, they decided to implement this into their construction company. When interviewing Paul Ledet was, he described the innovation as “customer service is what made it quality.”

The innovation that leads to Paul Ledet and his coworker's success can be contributed to their mission statement, “Chris Ledet Homes specializes in the building of quality, energy-efficient, custom homes in Southeast Louisiana. Our team provides attention to detail, quality craftsmanship and individual care for our customers in the Bayou Region.” This is mainly because the software that they did allow customers to customize their homes to their liking and if they did not know what they wanted, they would do a little background research on what their personality is like and customize it to that.

Inspiration

The original idea for the innovation came about when Paul Ledet, the project manager for Chris Ledet Homes, realized that the software he discovered at a builder convention show could cut down of the company’s use of paper. Cutting down on the use of paper greatly helps the environment. Helping the environment is something that Paul Ledet takes great pride in and the fact that the innovation improves customer service The motivation for establishing this innovation within the company is to provide even better customer service than they were able to provide initially. The innovation allows for customers to be able to access their paperwork at any given time, from basically any place. This software also allowed for customers to customize every detail of their homes. Chris Ledet Homes strives itself on providing superior customer service and these two aspects of the innovation helped establish Chris Ledet Homes as a leader in Southeast Louisiana for building energy-efficient, custom homes.

The innovation allows for more organization and less hassle. Ledet said, “all the way down to the finer detail things, we price everything within the house, all of that goes to 40-50 different subcontractors through the program, so it’s very organized. So when the contractors send the information back in, it’s all organized for us to look at. We print it and make a proposal out of it, give it to the customer, and they go with it.”. With everything being organized in one program, there is less hassle which allows for better customer service. “So it’s a hundred fewer phone calls in a day and vice versa.”, as said by Ledet, the need for more efficient customer service and less wasted paper was the inspiration for this innovation.

Overall impact

Chris Ledet and his father have discovered this building software that completely shifted and enhanced the thought of what they thought was capable of their business. This software allows Chris and his close team of 2 to handle more than double the amount of contracts that they thought possible. It allows people to see online every financial, schedule, planning and bidding in what originally was not a real or live document. This software changes the business strategy and basically does the job of two people in for not even the price of one. Chris talking about how Paul developed the to-do list for the projects and how the software became an automated version of his creation: “He was the one that set the groundwork”; “This is what we are doing except on paper”; “I took it and ran with it."

The way it helps the society is that it gives contractors a way to bid on jobs without going through a mediator. So, in summation, organization, and quality. This leads to quality homes that people can recognize by just looking at the foundation and the organization.“We love going in Chris Ledet houses because their organized” It keeps people who are very busy or out of town in the loop with a click of a mouse. On top of that, it helps you budget for your home by yourself with easy real-time calculations. You can choose a higher grade material or product for one part of the building process and use a cheaper part for another allowing Chris Ledet Homes to work with you with transparency and concern for the well being of your home and your pocketbook. Their impact on society is not limited to only the persons home and pocketbook but also their sense of well being when dealing with this great family. “Yeah, we have a good product we’re just trying to give good customer service, and that’s what our whole business is based off of”

On another note, if chosen to do so, there are possible avenues for environmental innovative benefits. These benefits include what we as a group presented to Chris in a meeting stating that there is a possible avenue for less waste. How he and his company can go about doing this is by recycling the scrap wood that would theoretically be thrown into a landfill, and repurpose that material to make paper. One of the bits of material that was reused and repurposed was the brick that was crushed and placed into the ground for the purpose of corrosion prevention. There have been many families grateful for the ability to use these bricks. There are a few other things that the homes themselves help make an impact on efficiency and productivity, which consist of highly efficient air conditioners, windows, and solar panels.

Business benefit

To be a player in the service industry with customer service, Chris Ledet Homes uses a remarkable software that benefits them in a way that could not normally be attained. This makes them a leader in their field because this company can be run with just 3 people with subcontractors that are notified months in advance, with built-in scheduling that makes the time shorter in a building process. The customer has full choices among different selections during the building process with deadlines to keep process ran efficiently.

Another business benefit is the cost plus job that benefits not only to the company but also the customer in a way that puts Chris Ledet Homes in a management position over the project resulting in any left-over savings refunded back to the customer.

Social and environmental benefit

Chris Ledet Homes innovation benefit society by building energy efficient homes. “For the city of Thibodaux, we’re contributing because we’re building houses that last. My dad is getting calls from houses he built 30 years ago to go look at them and they’re still fine and it’s cool to see my friends going in there and buying the house’s my dad built.” -Paul Ledet

Chris Ledet Homes also benefits the environment by starting up and being an active part of the St. Francis Vegetable Garden. St. Francis Vegetable Garden is a non-profit that is a big part of the community with the goal to Grow community vegetable gardens and donate the harvest to local food banks. They provide teachers and parents with a living outdoor classroom where they can present integrated lessons on health, biology, math, and science. Support local growers by educating the community on the importance of fresh local food for our health and the region's economy. The non-profit was first led by Chris Ledet, “My grandfather used to come over every day to work in the back yard and him and my dad started two little garden boxes, so I joked with him and told him that he needed to get him a garden or something. So we decided that we wanted to do something for the community and thats when we started St. Francis Vegetetable Garden. It was his way to kind of honor my grandfather.” - Paul Ledet

Interview

Paul Ledet, Project Manager