Purchasing Agent

Ashton Woods is more than just a home builder. From the sale of our first home in 1989 to recently being named Builder of the Year by Builder Magazine, our focus has always been on blazing new trails and pushing the boundaries of what is possible in homebuilding. Ashton Woods, the #1 private home builder in the United States, markets its homes through its two award-winning brands, Ashton Woods and Starlight Homes. The Ashton Woods brand is known for designing thoughtfully curated, inspired homes for people who love design. The Starlight Homes brand builds homes specifically for first-time homebuyers, offering affordable homes with well-executed designs and quality finishes for buyers looking to make the dream of home ownership a reality. The company’s commitment to innovation and continually evolving to meet the needs of the market is a key reason we are one of the most celebrated homebuilders in the nation, winning hundreds of national and local industry awards in product and community design, architecture, merchandising, sales, marketing, and customer service. We believe that what we accomplish together is greater than what we deliver individually. Our team members have inspired the shared values we embrace in all decisions and actions: Unwavering Integrity, Trail Blazing, Bold Action, Collective Compassion, and Unconditional Respect.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Ashton Woods sells new homes in Atlanta, Austin, Charleston, Dallas, Houston, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Antonio, and Tampa.

Position Overview:

As the Purchasing Agent, you will be responsible for accurately supporting the establishment and monitoring costs associated with products in both development and construction phases. Work in coordination with the Construction team and the Purchasing team to identify and implement new and more cost-efficient methods and materials.

Responsibilities (Including, but not limited by):

• Optimize option costs, minimize direct costs, and just be an overall cost analyzing guru!
• Work collaboratively with the Director of Construction and the Director of Purchasing to build and foster a world class trade partner base that offers industry leading innovation and design.
• Recruit, Develop, and negotiate contracts with new vendor partners.
• Be the driving force in pinpointing opportunities for enhancing processes and discovering more cost-effective methods and materials.
• Be an integral part of a collaborative team with Construction and Finance functions to identify and minimize variances.
• Be a contributing factor in new plan design, which includes value engineering, overseeing the bid process and awards, and system set-up.
• Estimate cost of construction for new product, resulting in accurate take-offs, via compiling material and labor unit price takeoffs, and performing other estimates.
• Estimate cost of structural and design related options.
• Create and revise as needed the description of materials and Addendum A’s.
• Develop structural option catalog in conjunction with Design Studio Manager and Director of Purchasing.
• Develop structural option material takeoffs.
• Attend project manager meetings as needed to answer questions about takeoffs or engineering issues, prevent misuse of materials and eliminate variances.
• Create and revise, as needed, redline worksheets for new projects/product.
• Enter material takeoffs, option takeoffs and budgets into the Dynamic Builder.
• Price non-standard options requested by Sales Agent/Associate and Design Studio Consultant, as needed.
• Assist Purchasing Manager in review budgets for month pricing adjustments.
• Review and correct takeoffs required by Problem Area Reports (PAR), field contact, frame walks, and variance purchase orders as they relate to bids and estimates.
• Utilize Dynamic Builder standards and processes as it relates to takeoffs, job costing, and layers.
• Responsible for escalated invoices relating to estimating errors.
• Responsible for escalated problems with purchase orders.
• Confirm accuracy on turnkey bids by performing unit pricing takeoffs and comparisons, per responsible cost types.
• Field questions from construction staff regarding change orders, purchase orders, plan errors with clarifications.
• Walk houses under construction looking for cost savings and material usage opportunities.
• Continually challenge and validate existing take offs to ensure variance objectives are met.

Qualifications:

• 4-year college degree – emphasis in Construction Management or Supply Chain Logistics preferred or equivalent experience in construction and purchasing in the residential construction industry
• High School Degree/diploma required.
• 3 years progressive experience in purchasing.
• Home building industry experience preferred.

Skills and Knowledge:

• Knowledgeable about the construction industry, including construction cost, building codes, materials, products, methods and procedures.

• Ability to read blueprints, construction drawings and addendums as required.
• Must be able to use word processing, e-mail, spreadsheets, presentation (PowerPoint), database and newsletter (Adobe) software for advanced internal and external communications.
• Computer literacy, proficiency with Outlook, Excel, Word, Power Point and ability to learn new programs as needed.
• Advanced software comprehension for complicated, layered proprietary software, Dynamic Builder.