Homebuilders can finally play the 'infinite' game and here's how...

A seasoned homebuilder once told me: "No builder can do it right just by looking at themselves".

Years and years of experience. The good kind. It got me thinkin...

I recently attended the Urban Land Institute in Las Vegas, where we were invited to hear Simon Sinek speak live on the concept of the Infinite vs. Finite game. . While I’d encountered this idea before, his perspective was a refreshing take on the subject.

For those unfamiliar, James P. Carse once wrote, “There are at least two kinds of games: finite and infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning; an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.”

Finite games are the challenges we face every day, with clear rules and a winner at the end. But there’s a risk in this way of thinking: we can get stuck chasing temporary wins and surrender to illusion of winning. Real success isn’t about defeating others—it’s about learning, adapting, and staying resilient. Infinite games push us to go beyond short-term goals. They call us to embrace change, rethink the rules, and keep improving so that the game of progress and growth never ends.

As Will Zhang insightfully pointed out, "when you decide to play the infinite game, you operate in a different dimension. You are in tune with every move within your business , its impacts on your long-term strategy rather than fixating on how others around you are performing in their finite games."

Where am I going with this? Conventional housing market intelligence or analytics reports are tools for finite games. They show you how well you're doing relative to others in your region, city, or sphere of influence. They provide clarity on how many homes are being bought or built beyond what you’re selling. But homebuilders today want more—they want a new way of seeing opportunity.

What if I told you that the answers aren’t beyond your doors but within your walls? What if, by looking inward, you could uncover not just opportunities to sell more homes, but ways to achieve better cycle times, stronger gross margins, and ultimately, greater net profit per home sold? By setting goals that push your team while remaining achievable, you not only drive profitability but also build a better business by growing and empowering your people.

Artificial Intelligence leverages housing market insights in a groundbreaking way—focusing on your data and how it directly impacts your business. Instead of asking you to fit external data into your narrative, it empowers your team to make faster, smarter decisions driven by insights that matter most to your success.

We, at OpenHouse.ai challenge homebuilders to embrace the infinite game. It’s not about shutting out the outside world—it’s about believing that your performance and operational excellence are the ultimate drivers of success. Success that could mean as much as a 20% increase in net profit.