Schell Brothers named Pro Builder’s 2023 Builder of the Year
Citing a sincere and all-encompassing commitment to happiness, Pro Builder has named Rehoboth Beach-based Schell Brothers as the 2023 Builder of the Year.
The national homebuilding trade publication announced the winner in its recent November/December issue.
Rich Binsacca, Pro Builder Media editorial director, said the Builder of the Year program started in 2005; Schell Brothers is the first Delaware-based company to win the award.
Binsacca said Schell Brothers has been on the radar of Pro Builder for a number of years, but it was a chance encounter with Lance Manlove, Schell Brothers director of innovation, this past year that pushed them up the board. He was aware of the company’s award-winning marketing approach and campaigns, but he was left impressed after hearing Manlove make a presentation on the company’s overall commitment to innovation.
“I researched the company to gain greater insight about the broader operation and came away with the decision to honor them this year,” said Binsacca in an email Dec. 18.
Jamie Hastings, Schell Brothers director of sales, describes the recognition as the industry’s highest achievement. It’s like being honored with the Heisman Trophy or an Oscar, she said.
“Home is everything. We love what we do because we have the privilege of creating something that means the world to people, so to be honored for our work and our mission of happiness on this national level is incredible,” said Hastings. “We’re so proud of our company and so grateful to all who have supported us.”
Binsacca said he wishes more builders took a sincere customer-first approach to business, as Schell does, and embraced happiness as a driving strategy. The former is a relatively doable mind shift, while the latter is much harder to do because it requires a personal commitment and a driving force that then pervades the organization, he said.
“The vast majority of home builders can't conceive of how to translate happiness as a business strategy; still, we felt compelled to showcase it for them as real evidence that something so soft can lead to admirable and sustainable success in our industry,” said Binsacca.
According to a Pro Builder description of the award, the process for picking a winner is thoughtful but informal, with no application, fee or judging panel to determine the outcome.
It varies, said Binsacca, but in all cases the recipient is a home builder that not only exhibits overall operational excellence but also takes a unique approach to its market and exhibits a culture that supports a mission Pro Builder thinks other home builders will find compelling, inspirational and provocative for their own operations.
“In Schell's case, its sincere and all-encompassing commitment to happiness was a story we felt our audiences needed to read and see,” said Binsacca.
Pro Builder presented Schell Brothers CEO Chris Schell with the award in August, when the publication was in town conducting interviews for the story. The publication’s story associated with the announcement can be read at probuilder.com.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
