This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Jessica Fritz of J.Cor Architecture joins Greg and Kevin to discuss how home builders can connect with homebuyers by creating unique home buying experiences.
Buying a home is an emotional decision and telling a story helps builders relate to customers on that level. Jessica says,
“…buyers make their decision off of their emotions and their feelings. There’s a lot of builders out there that have 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath product, but what’s really going to separate them is the feeling the buyer gets when they are in the space. So, that gets into storytelling.”
It can be easy to forget the emotional aspect of buying a home, but builders must consider more than just the physical construction of a home. Jessica explains,
“A lot of times they’ll come to me with we need three bedrooms and this many bathrooms and I try to take everybody a step back and ask them those questions. Who’s your target buyer? What’s the history of the place where we’re designing in? Because all of that starts to roll into the storytelling aspect of the design. If we can get that story put together upfront during the design phase, by the time they get down to their marketing team, marketing really has something to go with when they go out for sale.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how home builders can differentiate their homes through storytelling.
About the Guest:
Jessica grew up in the small, rural town of Dalton, Massachusetts. She comes from a blue-collar family, her dad worked as an engineer, and her mom, a nurse. Growing up in New England she very quickly learned what it meant to work hard and to push towards her goals.
Jessica received her Master of Architecture in 2012 from Wentworth Institute of Technology. She wrote a compelling thesis about urbanism in the Phoenix desert after completing Poalo Soleri’s 5-week workshop at his urban laboratory Arcosanti. Her thesis was how she was recognized by Vernon Swaback and received her first job directly out of college helping his team on a community housing project for the Navajo Nation.
In 2013 career opportunity brought her to work for William Hezmalhalch Architects in Southern California. From 2013 to 2018 Jessica grew from a graphic designer and job captain to a senior associate project manager and oversaw up to three employees and 12 to 15 single-family housing community projects at one time. During this time, she completed projects for The New Home Company in Ranch Mission Viejo, Lennar at the Great Park Irvine, and Pulte Group at LA Floresta in Brea, California. Olvera at LA Floresta for Pulte Group won the Silver Award at the Sage Awards in 2017.
In 2016 Jessica received her Architects license in California as well as reciprocity in all 50 states. She currently holds an active license in California, Utah, New Mexico, Florida, and Arizona. In 2018 Jessica moved back to Phoenix, Arizona to be closer to her family as well as hone her design skills working on custom homes at Swaback Partners. The team welcomed her back with open arms as a Project Architect running a large single-family community job in Sacramento California. After 2 years of settling in Arizona, Jessica’s ambition led her to found J.Cor Architecture in September of 2020.
Jessica is currently growing J.Cor Architecture in Scottsdale Arizona. She works with both production home builders and custom home builders in California, Utah, and Arizona. She also takes on local remodels and additions in her community and will be working with Sojourner Center, where she volunteers, to remodel their domestic violence shelter campus. Her favorite part of working as an Owner is all the wonderful people she gets to meet in the process. “What a great feeling it is to be a conduit for homeowners to realize their dreams.” Since opening her firm Jessica was a 2021 Finalist for NAHB’s Professional Young Leader’s award for the Western Region.