MXPA03003590A - Options management system for home construction. - Google Patents

Abstract

L invention concerne un appareil, un procede et un programme fournis a un acquereur de logement en vue de voir, d estimer, de selectionner et de notifier des options ou changements interieurs et exterieurs concernant une nouvelle construction individuelle. Un client peut voir, commander ou effectuer des modifications ayant trait a sa maison. En selectionnant ou modifiant ce qu un constructeur offre, un client peut recevoir ou etablir un prix, specifier un mode de paiement (en especes ou augmentation de pret), notifier une vente, une construction, informer des sous-traitants ou des vendeurs, et recevoir la confirmation de tout changement.

Description

SYSTEM. OF ADMINISTRATION OF OPTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSES FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates in a general way to a system for the administration of options for the construction of houses, and more specifically with the exhibition, selection, display of prices, and administration of changes or interior and exterior options. to build new houses, and to remodel and improve houses.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The options or changes made to the construction or construction process have been handled in such a way that they result in a confusing and complicated process of display, pricing and notification. This process is vulnerable to errors. For example, a single change to a house may involve twelve to fifteen subcontractors or suppliers that must be included in pricing and notifications of changes. Traditionally, those considerations of pricing and notifications have been made manually. Subcontractors are sent all changes to a new house, and subcontractors must determine what changes affect BUS areas of expertise. This process often results in options or changes that are erroneous. As a consequence, forgotten changes must be added later in the construction process, increasing costs, losing profits and losing customer confidence. The inability to make changes expeditiously to the options offered by adding to or deleting from the original selections, as well as altered purchase prices and / or sale prices have been added to customer transactions and the builder's profits decreased. The display and pricing have also been confusing for customers because the prices for identical items in different models of houses, or plants are often different. This presents the problem of pricing options or individual changes specific to individual models or plants. In addition to the individual pricing of options by plant or model, the builder is faced with the display and pricing options that are projects or specific to the community. This confusion of exhibition and pricing leaves the user with an absence of information, misinformation and greater frustration in the selection process, and presents a credibility challenge to the builder. Customers want to see the available options and prices to allow them to personalize their home. They also want to secure a final price and that their orders have been received by the subcontractors. To satisfy the construction programs and to ensure that the construction and completion of the house are not delayed, the changes or options must be organized, represented, selected, and the notification delivered, and the installation executed in a timely manner. Builders, manufacturers, or distributors have tested on-site design centers, or small showrooms in their model and sales offices and centralized design centers to display the choices offered to their home buyers. However, multiple projects and multiple pricing can not be resolved in a showroom that displays samples of real options. In addition, this type of showroom presentation does not facilitate the communication and notification process to assist in the delivery and final construction of the options. In this way, these design centers have not solved the problems of confusion and frustration of the buyer. As a result, the display and pricing remains a problem for home builders. As an alternative to purchasing changes or options during construction, customers can choose to wait and make their changes after they move. Waiting is a risky and expensive process since some changes are not available after moving, or the installation cost is greatly increased. Waiting until after completing construction also means that no changes can be added to the mortgage. If the client does not have cash ready for the desired changes, a second or new mortgage is required to include the changes, options, or personalization of the home. The demand of the clients for elections of construction of houses has grown, so that there is the desire of personalization to new houses. The processes available to date have not represented adequate means for the owner of a new house to see and select options, and to notify sales, construction, and subcontractors or suppliers of the changes to satisfy the construction programs. In this way there is still a need to allow buyers of new homes to customize their homes through choices and construction flexibility that saves time, money and frustration, while minimizing risk, confusion and errors in the exhibition processes, order or notification. Several computer-based solutions have been developed that include installed resources to simplify the selection process of options. One such solution is disclosed in the patents 5,991,769 and 5,689,705, which allow the local selection of options from a synchronized database. However, these systems are not very suitable for universal applications or at least for the following reasons: A client with a loan can not be used to access the system. The patents of Fino et al. They teach an autonomous personal computer with a stand-alone database to operate the system. Predefined products are not provided to the constructor to facilitate the generation of a community database with selections of options specific to that specific builder community. Suppliers, manufacturers and subcontractors can not introduce new products into a master purchase catalog database through a user interface or interconnection.

The patents of Fino, et al. They teach the use of their system with a system based on dialing or LAN / WA, and would not easily adapt to the universal access offered by the Internet. Fino does not teach a buyer's option agreement that can be generated online after the user makes a payment or a change of options. Fino does not teach a batch status report that lists all changes and the providers that must be scheduled to execute a particular change, or all associated providers, with contact information. Fino does not teach a visually controlled system where the selection of options is made by a visual selection, or by a text menu. A much more satisfactory method is to present visual images controlled by a home buyer that selects the corresponding images for their particular selections. The patents of Fino, et al., Teach a home buyer that selects options from a text menu only after several interactions the buyer may have the option of viewing an image of the associated option. No visual images of the first presentation are provided and allow the buyer to select from the visual image.

The patents of Fino et al. they use a single database in the central system and autonomous synchronized databases. Data entry is not provided directly in a central database, but Fino et al. Uses a stand-alone database at the remote user's location that is synchronized with the central database at specific time intervals.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a method to view, set prices individually, and sell home construction options to home buyers. A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides means to effectively notify all parties of the necessary construction changes to the house. Yet another advantage of the present invention is that it provides the builder with the opportunity for additional sales gains and / or to increase the purchase price of the house due to the availability of options. A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides a system that has display options and prices, and that it notifies all the necessary parties. to Another advantage is that it provides a home buyer with a new home customizing a process that is timely and efficient and represents less risk to both the home buyer and the home builder. A further advantage of the present invention is the characteristic of the Master Buying Catalog that allows a builder with a secure password to access a Master Choices Catalog or online library at builderoptions.com. The builder can navigate through the options available in the Master Buying Catalog by product category, supplier, manufacturer, and option to select or specify their catalog of specific community options. The builder can also add options not found in the Master Buy Catalog with the feature requested by the customer. After selecting the options for their specific community catalog, they can send notifications to regionally approved suppliers, subcontractors, manufacturers or distributors for bidding purposes. Approved suppliers can access their products in the Master Purchase Catalog to update products, set prices and information with a secure password. This specific community information can then be used to create the Community Options Catalog to be used by home buyers and designers for selections of final options to their home. The invention of the exemplary modality allows, advantageously, that the buyers of houses select and establish prices on options to their new houses. The invention also ensures the addition of options to their new homes, remodeled or improved, during construction. In particular, one aspect of the exemplary mode is directed to a method to allow home buyers to view visualizations of all available options and make specific selections in price and availability to their communities and models. Another aspect of the invention is directed to a system using a central controller and any number of design terminals for all construction correspondence and tracking. The invention provides an Options Administration System (OMS), which allows a home buyer to change options for their new home through an interactive online interconnection together with notification of the appropriate parts of those houses. changes The WHO allows a totally new way of doing business in the options management industry. The WHO allows the collective communication conduit where the builder, subcontractors, suppliers, manufacturers and home buyers can be provided with options management information. The WHO is based on the network and a client is presented through a web browser on the Internet. The system comprises a communication network, a server system, a communication device, a plurality of databases, at least one interactive interconnection, and HTML files. The communication network is, advantageously, the Internet. The server system can be powered by programs and standard programming systems in the industry such as the Windows NT operating system with Windows NT Web Server. The databases can include a master purchase catalog database, constructor databases, community databases, schema databases, and a batch database. The plurality of databases can be, advantageously, relational databases such as Microsoft Access databases. Interactive interconnections can be generated by different subprograms created in programs such as Visual Basic, HTML, DHTML, Active X, CGI, or several other programming languages. The WHO partially understands a collection of network pages programmed mainly in HTML or a derived language such as DHTML. Network pages have several interactive capabilities, including drop-down menus, text boxes, and information presentation. The OMS was designed so that the resulting network pages presented to the home buyer are not browser-specific. For example, this means that a home buyer using Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator will see the network pages represented in the same way with few or no variations. When a home buyer advances through the interactive entry process, the interactive interconnections help to process information by providing [sending and receiving means]. The interconnection is interconnected directly to make requests to the plurality of databases to retrieve information. WHO is kind to the user and connects with the home buyer by entering the options changes from a remote location. Each option selected or purchased by the home buyer creates one to multiple changes to the construction of your home. These changes must be communicated to the construction, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors or subcontractors. An advantage of the present invention is that those notifications or communications are part of the interactive interconnection in the database, creating reports to all the necessary parties for each option to be installed correctly in the house. Real-time access to these reports is available online using a secure password. These passwords allow multiple users access to the reports and information they need to build the house with the selected options. The notification of the necessary reports can also be sent from the database directly to each party via email, automatic fax or hard copy. These reports include but are not limited to the following and together they create the Options Operation System necessary to build the house with all the correct selections and changes. The Options Selection Sheet, which is a list of prices of the builder, the builder of community houses and specific plans of all options or selections available for your home. The desired list is created by the home builder alone or with a designer consisting of the items that will be considered for the selection.

This allows the home buyer to go online and study the options available in the catalog, and create a list of possible elections to be discussed and selected at a later date, but before cutting the selection, and can be viewed or modified online when the home buyer advances through their personal selection process. The Buyer's Options Agreement, which is a specific purchase contract for the builder, community, phase and lot that lists all selections, changes, deposits and sales prices that apply to the home. The Change Order, which is a list of all selections or changes made by the home builder at each specific online appointment or selection. This lists the selections or specific changes of the constructor, community, phase and lot with prices and deposits. The Lot Status Report, which is a list of all selections and changes to the house for construction purposes. The report lists the selections or specific changes of the constructor, community, phase and batch by option category with the supplier, manufacturer, distributor or subcontractor that has been notified of the selection or change.

The Supplier Notification, which is a list of the selections and changes that apply to the specific supplier, manufacturer, distributor or subcontractor for a specific builder, community, phase or lot. This report can function as a work order or purchase order to allow construction scheduling. The Placement Diagram, this is an order to drag and drop the selected options to be placed in the specific channel of the constructor, community, lot and plane. This report creates a diagram to be sent to the applicable constructor and supplier to ensure proper placement of the selected options. The Phase Status Report, which consists of all supplier notifications by supplier or product for an entire construction phase. This report is specific to the community, phase, lot and supplier or product. This can function as a large-scale work order or purchase order at the stage selection cut-off, and can be requested by any supplier, manufacturer, distributor, subcontractor or product. Request for cancellation, this report is a request for cancellation of any option already ordered that is specific to the constructor, community, fage or lot. This allows the builder to approve the cancellation and generates a Cancellation of Notification of the Supplier and notification of cancellation of the Lot Status Report, State of the Phase Report and Change Order. It also removes the selection or change of the Buyer's Option Agreement and corrects the sale price and deposits. Price Request, which is the request for an option that is not in the community catalog, but is requested by the buyer of the house. This allows the builder and the appropriate supplier to approve, set the price, and notify the supplier for the final approval of the home buyer. Sales Activity Report, which consists of all selections or changes made within the community classified in order of the most selected items to the least selected. This report allows the selection of options on future communities and the correction of options that are offered during the sale of the current community. Sales Summary, which is a complete sales report that lists community, phase, lot, category, costs, and profits or benefits for the entire community. This can be required in many configurations for the use of the builder in sales analysis and strategic planning.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES The present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of a first embodiment of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which similar reference numbers refer to similar parts, and in the which: Figure 1 is a block diagram of the total system of a preferred embodiment of the Option Management System of the present invention; Figure 2 is a block diagram of the Option Selection System of the invention; Figure 3 is a block diagram of the Construction Management System of the invention; Figure 4 is a block diagram of the Online Master Options Purchase Catalog; Figure 5 is a block diagram of the Centralized Interactive Design Center; Figure 6 is a block diagram of the deployment of the World Wide Web of the invention; Figure 7 is a block diagram of the Operating System and the Centralized Database; Figure 8 is a block diagram of the Network Operating System; Figure 9 describes the interconnection, where a user (home buyer or representative contractor) uses a communication device 901 to enter selections of options (changes) in 902. The community database is updated to reflect changes in 903 and the administrator notified in 904. The action by the administrator activates notifications that are communicated to Extranet builders, if they are allowed, or through alternative notifications 907 via voice mail, fax, email or video link. The information is available for builders 908 and suppliers 909. Figure 10 illustrates exemplary computer / electronic interconnections. A 1001 computer or any Internet client can have access located in a house, showroom, design center or sales office. The Internet 1002 is the preferred communication network to establish a connection between the buyer, the constructor 1003 and the databases 1004, which are accessed through the server 1005. The server 1005 can communicate over the Internet to institute notifications of changes 1006 via fax 1007, a computer connected to the Internet 1008, a mobile phone 1009 or a telephone 1010.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED MODALITY The preferred embodiment of the present invention is directed to a system for displaying, marketing, selecting, setting prices, managing and communicating options for the construction of a new house. This system also controls the communication of selections to all the necessary suppliers to build a new house in relation to the selected options. The traditional methods of exhibition, selection and communication of products for the improvement of traditional houses are not suitable for options for a new house under construction. Problems arise because the options (ie, products for houses), represent changes to contracts with subcontractors or suppliers, and the prices of the products that must be fixed and presented, specific to a community and model as specified by the builder's standards and the options contract, the products are limited to specific selections chosen by the builder, and the order of the products must be communicated to all subcontractors or suppliers affected by the change. The use of options in the construction of a new house is complicated by the ongoing changes in products during construction. The exhibition, selection, pricing and communication must be maintained with the construction programs so as not to delay the completion and closure of the new house. An example of such extremes occurs when a supplier, subcontractor or product is changed and construction programs call for selection and communication to occur before traditional displays and pricing can be changed. This situation results in the delay of construction and adds to the confusion and errors in the construction of the house. In addition, the builder sees a loss in profits and a decrease in consumer satisfaction in the process of building the new house. The construction of a new house without options or changes is well defined, and controls are in place for construction. However, construction with changes to customize a house complicates the construction process. The options must be displayed, selected, the prices fixed and communicated in a timely manner to meet the demands of construction. The preferred embodiment of the present invention provides a process for entering the selected options into a selected database and creating a community-specific electronic catalog (catalog E). This is done online from a Master Builder Catalog or manually from the existing builder options list. An Options Management System (OMS) then offers the purchaser / possessor of a house selections from the E. Catalog. The OMS can be available on the construction site, a design center or online via the Internet. The presentation and selection of options can be completed with the help of a design or sales agent on the site, or only by the buyer / possessor of the house using the E catalog. The invention then allows a Coordinator or Managers of Options to communicate those Constructor and supplier choices either electronically or manually. This system allows the buyer / owner of a house to customize their house and the builder to maintain the production programs and to complete the construction on time and correctly. To provide the above services, the present invention creates a network of builders, suppliers, subcontractors and buyers / owners of the house with the catalog E to the center. Figure 1 is a flow chart of the total system of the Option Management System 2 of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an Options Selection System 42 is linked to at least one design work station. The method to complete the production of a customized house using a design workstation is described in Figure 1. However, any number of design workstations can be linked either physically or via a modem or network. The present invention connects the builder 4, the designer 30, the suppliers and subcontractors 54, and the buyer of the house 40 through the work station until the house is completed, with all the changes. The selection system of options 42 is used by a designer and / or buyer of a house to make selections of the options or preferred changes desired for his house. The Construction Management System 44 keeps track of all selections and communication in the system and is used by an administrator or options coordinator 38. The Options Management System 2 shown in Figure 1 is incorporated into programming programs and systems provided specifically to implement the present invention. This is the central display or representation 39 that allows you to set the price, display, and select to customize a new specific home product for a community and model. In addition to the present invention, there is no infrastructure to execute the exhibition, selection and communication between the affected parties. The Options Management System can reside in a single or multiple servers. A suitable server would be a platform compatible with a PC with 512 mb of RAM with multiple immediate exchange disk units with a working capacity of 30 gigabytes of disk storage, a router in the Internet connection and an uninterruptible power supply. The E Community Catalog 30 stores all approved builder options that can be offered to the home buyer. Doing this links the constructor 4, the administrator or options coordinator 38, and the catalog designer 18 to prepare and maintain the catalog 30. The present invention can operate on existing physical computing components with appropriate updates. It can also be linked using existing networks on the World Wide Web. The present invention provides a central control for the purchasing department of the constructor 4 to introduce the identification of the options 6, the suppliers or subcontractors of the options 8, the costs of the options 10 of all the suppliers and subcontractors involved, sale prices of options 12, and suppliers or subcontractors to be notified 14 that supply the options 8. The information of options 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 is supplied to an options manager 16 and a catalog designer 18. The catalog designer 18 enter the information in the OMS 20 database by community. Specific photographs of the community 22 including photographs of the builder, photographs transferred by the network, photographs of the manufacturer and photographs of the distributor are loaded into the database. This information along with community-specific graphics 24, such as plants, electrical installation, and logos, options views with pixels and audio 26, and video views 28 complete the Electronic Community Catalog 30, which is ready for selections and presentation to buyers of new homes. The catalog E 30 can be used by a designer, buyer of houses, owner of a house, agent of sales, or coordinator to make selections or changes to houses. As shown in Figure 1, the information of the buyer of a new house 32 is directed to the appointment function 36 and sent to the management of options 38. The construction programs 34 and cut-off dates are also provided to the administration of 38 options, and are entered into the system for each house by appointment 40. Construction programs 34 can be updated and sent to the Options Management 37 to complete the state preparation for the selection of the 40 home buyer. The presentation and selections are then made and entered into the electronic catalog and option selection system 42. The preferred embodiment of the present invention links the option selection system 42 and the construction management system 44 with the status report lot 46. The lot status report 46 is the construction report, by lot, of all the changes made to a house. The option selection system 42 also provides a phase status report 48 which is all changes per option per construction phase per batch. For example, a phase 48 status report can list a particular phase, such as "Phase 1", of a construction or community with all cabinet selections for all lots of phase 1. The notification of provider 50 is provided to construction 52 to schedule the supplier or subcontractor 54 to make changes in the construction for the full customized production of the house 56. At the same time, the option selection system 42 provides sales and marketing 68 with the change order 58 of all selections made at each appointment 40. The buyer's option agreement and money 60 is collected. The buyer's option agreement 60 is an ongoing perpetual agreement with the buyer that lists all options and all changes made to the home. A warranty notification is provided to the constructor's warranty coordinator 62 to update the credit and sales prices according to the changes requested by the buyer. An activity report 64 that lists all the options that are being selected in a community such as a sales report 66 that lists everything sold in dollars by category, lot, phase and community is provided to the sales and marketing department 68.

The purchase process can be managed by an application provided by the Internet on a network server to a "shopping cart" application with a security broker, xml syntax parser, xsl converter, and ability to handle a browser request network to select, process and print the order. The architecture for the network server can be properly multi-linked with: l. Programs and Systems of Programming Client: Microsoft Windows 9x operating system, VB Script ASP XML 2. Programs and Medium Link Programming Systems: Microsoft Windows 2000 server COM + packages written in Delphi 5 Internet Information Server ??? 4 and Programs or Systems of Programming of the Server Microsoft Windows Server DBMS: SQL Server 7 XML Data Objects ADO ActiveX Provider OLE DB for SQL 7 Figure 2 is a flowchart of the Choice Selection System 42 included in the invention as shown in Figure 1. This system links the information of the constructor 202 and the information of the suppliers / subcontractors 206 to the options coordinator 204 allowing the construction of the community specification books 208 and the design of the electronic catalog and the data entry 210. The data entry includes the copy 222, costs and sales prices 224, supplier and subcontractor information 226, scanned photos 212, graphics and drawings 214, video, audio and views by pixels 216, and photos of models 218. The conclusion of the electronic catalog through the entry of data 228 and the input of photos and graphics 220 allows to train the design community 230 and train the sales team of the community 232 The training programs 230, 232 are integral to the system of the preferred embodiment of the invention and are not available in traditional new house options programs that do not include formal sales teams or training to improve the process and profitability. The invention defines a Community Sales Team 232 as designers 236, sales agents 234, builders 240, option coordinators 238 and purchasing agents 242. The option selection system 42 links those team members and calls the continuing training to improve efficiency. Figure 3 is a flow chart of the Construction Management System 44 included in the preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in Figure 1. Referring to Figure 3, the construction management system 44 links the construction 304 to a 302 option coordinator, and the 306 option selection system. This allows the home buyer's selection to be linked to construction 318 with the necessary communication tools, ie order and change diagrams 312, status report of lot 314, status report of phase 316, and notifications of supplier 320. Those communication reports are linked to construction 318 to provide the conclusion of custom production house 322. Sales notification 316 refers to the Selection System of Options 42 as shown in Figure 2. Figure 4 is a flowchart of a preferred embodiment of the present invention that gives The phase of the master option purchase catalog 400 of the Options Administration System is described. The difference between the Option Management System 2 of Figure 1 and the system 400 of Figure 4 is that the 404 constructor or the options selection purchase department 402 selects its options and enters all its options information online from a catalog of master options. The catalog of options provides all the selections of available options and allows the constructor to select only those options that he wishes to place in the catalog of electronic options specific to the community. This modality starts with an Online Master Options Purchase Catalog 402. All the selections of the constructor are entered in the database of the invention through the purchase catalog 402. In this modality, an Option Selection System 442 is linked to at least one design workstation, but any number of design workstations can be linked by means of a physical link or by a modem. The present invention connects the constructor 404, the design catalog 430, the suppliers and subcontractors 414, and the buyer of the house 440 through the work station until the house is completed 456 with all the changes. The 442 option selection system and 444 construction management system keep track of all selections and communications in the system. Another implementation involves a builder who has access to a special portion of the WHO network site to create databases. The builder would use a "Builder Input Interconnect" to enter customized information to create a community database. The interconnection provides the constructor with interactive drop-down menus and full text boxes to supply builder-specific information. Some information is provided to the interconnection through a master purchase catalog that provides many predefined options. The predefined options can include several selections of products and associated suppliers. This allows the builder to just select and click on options without the need for additional input or data search. This builder-specific information is presented to the server system and processed to create a community database for that specific builder. The community database will contain all the information regarding that builder community by phase.

The system in Figure 4 is incorporated into programs and programming systems provided specifically to implement the present invention. This is the central representation of the selection system of options 42 that allows to fix specific prices to the community and the model, the exhibition and the selection to personalize the production of a new house. The present invention provides an infrastructure for executing, displaying, selecting and communicating among the affected parties. The community electronic catalog 430 stores all approved builder options that can be offered to the buyer of a house. The electronic catalog 430 links to the constructor 404, the administrator of options 416, and the designer of the catalog 418 to prepare and maintain the catalog 430. The embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 4 can operate on physical computing components existing with the appropriate updates, or it can be linked using existing networks or the World Network (World ide Web). Referring to Figure 4, the master option purchase catalog system 400 provides central control for the 404 constructor to enter the 406 option identification, suppliers or option 408 brokers, option costs 410, option sale prices 412 and suppliers or subcontractors to be notified 414. This information along with community-specific photos 422, community-specific graphics 424, audio views 426, and video views 428 complete the Community Electronic Catalog 430. A 404 builder with a password You can safely access the Master Options Catalog online at a web site. The 404 constructor can navigate through the options available in the Master Procurement Catalog 430 by product category, supplier, manufacturer and option to select or specify the Constructor's Electronic Community Catalog. The builder can also add options not found in the Master Procurement Catalog with a consumer request feature. After selecting the options for your community, the builder can send notifications to regionally approved suppliers, subcontractors, manufacturers or distributors for bidding purposes. Approved suppliers with a secure password can access their products in the Maestro Options Purchase Catalog System to update products, prices and information. This community-specific information can then be used to create the Community Electronic Catalog to be used by buyers and home designers for selections of final options to their home. The new information of the buyer of the house 432 is directed to the appointment function 436 and sent to the management of options 438. The construction programs 434 are sent and updated by the constructor and sent to the options management 438. The options administrator 438 enters the information received in the present invention and completes the preparation for the selection of the home buyer 440. The embodiment of Figure 4 includes a system for selecting options 442 and. a 444 construction management system. Those 442, 444 systems link to batch status report 446, the status report of phase 448, and the supplier notification 450, construction 452 to program the supplier or subcontractors 454 that must make the changes in the construction to complete the 456 home. Simultaneously, 458 sales must be notified in the 468 change order, the 466 buyer option agreement, 464 warranty notification, 462 activity report and the sales 460.

Figure 5 is a flowchart of the invention deployed through the use of an Interactive Design Center 500. In this mode, the centralized design consultants 502 with the buyer of a new house at a workstation in remote locations or in a design center at site 504. In this way, the design of the house is conducted in a work station online or with the buyer of a house on any personal computer with Internet service. The buyer of the design and the house share the electronic catalog for their community and model to make selections of 506 options. The exchange and presentation is crazy online and interactive with a connection to the network and all the selections are entered through the network in the 506 option selection system and the construction management system 508. The selections and communication of home buyers are then linked to the 518 construction through a non-network 510 site and the notification is electronically distributed to the suppliers / subcontractors 514, the sales 518 and the constructor warranty coordinator 520. Figure 6 is a flowchart of the Online Design Indenter 600 as displayed using the World Wide Web. This embodiment of the present invention allows the home buyer to visit their specific community catalog and online model to foresee and select options for a 618 custom production house. All selections are electronically communicated to the 616 construction through a site outside the network 608, and the notification is electronically distributed to suppliers / subcontractors 620, sales 624 and the constructor warranty coordinator 626. In a preferred embodiment, the buyer of a house with a customer identification 602 has access to the community-specific catalog that is available online at a centrally designed network site. Selections are made online, and interactive with design consultants, or solely by the client in the privacy of their home. Alternatively, the customer can access the site in the central design network via any online connection. The option selections are entered 604 and the notification process is initiated through the construction management system 606. Figure 7 is a block diagram of an operating system 700 of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. The design workstation includes the monitor 704 connected to a central processing unit 702. A customer enters options using user interconnections such as a mouse 706 and a keyboard 708. An Option Management System 710 is the central controller of all the data, and includes three data dictionaries 712, 174, 176. The catalog 712, the client catalogs 714 and the provider 716 operate on the design workstation 702, 704 and provide visual representation of all the selected constructor options. in a specific community and model format. Figure 8 illustrates several workstations 816 connected to an operating system of the network 800. Unlimited workstations can be deployed at multiple locations in the system of the preferred embodiment. The individual work stations 702, 704 as shown in Figure 7, provide means for a private inquiry for the home option selection. The communication of all the selections and changes created by the selections are electronically registered and sent to all the necessary parts to build the customized production house. Referring to Figure 8, communication of option information is achieved via an 802 server and an 804 router linking sales, construction, and all suppliers / subcontractors involved in the construction of the house. A suitable workstation can comprise a PC compatible computer with at least the following features: 128 megabytes of RAM 20 gigabytes of disk storage Internet Network Card E ® Windows 98 Operating System Intel Pentium processor operating at 700 megabytes Other embodiments and modifications of the present invention will readily occur to those skilled in the art in view of those teachings. Those people will appreciate the symmetries between the different modalities illustrated above and will understand that their elements can be arranged in other ways to produce similar results. Therefore, this invention is limited only by the following claims, which include all those embodiments and modifications when viewed in conjunction with the above specification and the accompanying drawings.

The System of Administration of Options for the construction of houses provides many advantages over existing systems. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made to the apparatus and process of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention as long as they fall within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. It is noted that in relation to this date, a better method known by the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention.

Claims (6)

1. NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION Having described the invention as above, property is claimed as contained in the following:
2. CLAIMS 1. A computer-implemented method for managing "new house" options, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: storing information about options available on a server in at least one community catalog, accessing the server from an interconnected client workstation and allow a buyer to select from the available options in a community catalog for a purchased house, set the price of the selected options and include purchases of the options, retrithe programming information about the purchased house and the community and calculate a date of installation of the options, transmit the order information on selected options and installation dates to at least one representative of the constructor 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that the workstation is interconnected to the server via the Internet.
3. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises a graphic user interconnection for use in the work station.
4. 4. A method implemented in a computer for the administration of options for a new house, characterized in that it comprises the following steps: (a) storing information about available options on a server in at least one community catalog; (b) have access to the server from a communication device and select from the available options in a community catalog a purchased house; (c) set the price of selected options and record purchases of the options; (d) retriprogramming information about the home purchased and the community and calculate a date of installation of the options; and (e) transmit order information on selected options and installation date to at least one supplier / subcontractor.
5. 5. A computer-implemented method for managing new home options, characterized in that it comprises: storing information about potential options in a master options database; allow the constructor's representatives to select the options of Master Options databases that are going to be offered in a community that is being planned by the constructor; provide access to buyers for the selection of options made by the constructor's representative.
6. 6. The method implemented in computer according to claim 3, characterized in that: the available options can be selected from a catalog which is presented as a series of photographs and where the selection on a photograph causes the availability and information to be presented of prices on the option. 7, The method implemented in computer according to claim 1, characterized in that it also includes: presenting the buyer with a contact that obliges the buyer to pay for the selected options and register the buyer's agreement in the terms of the contract.