Monthly Archives: February 2022

BHH: Building Fantastic Communities

Boise Hunter Homes is dedicated to building quality homes in fantastic communities, and its new office in Eagle is helping them do it. Founded in 2007 by Jim and Jan Hunter, Boise Hunter Homes (BHH) started as a custom home builder with a handful of employees and has grown into a large-scale land developer and community builder. Today the Hunters are joined by their two sons, Travis and Cody, and have around sixty employees. BHH has experienced substantial growth over the last two years. With the effects of Covid encouraging people to move to Idaho, BHH has grown to keep up with demand.

All Under One Roof

The new office is the fourth location BHH has had in the Eagle River Development. At one point, the company had space in three different buildings, which made coordinating schedules a logistical nightmare. While many businesses chose to vacate the office at the onset of Covid, BHH doubled down and decided to get an even bigger office. The collaborative nature of their work made it essential for them to get everyone under the same roof. Rather than build, they jumped on the chance to purchase their new building when it came up for sale. Things got even better when they found out OEC did the previous TI and could help reconfigure the space so that everyone got a great office. “Michelle (OEC Workplace Consultant) understood our vision and helped us execute it. From the design and TI’s to the furnishings, it was a one-stop-shop.” -Travis Hunter.

An Open Atmosphere

The two-story building is designed circularly, with offices rimming the exterior walls. By using Steelcase privacy walls, the offices remain private while also allowing light into the core of the building.

“Being in the space boosts your energy, it is a lot lighter and brighter, and the Steelcase system creates an open atmosphere rather than people hiding in their offices. Seeing people’s faces is a big part of our culture. So much of what we do is face-to-face with employees and outside consultants. The whole environment is very welcoming, and our staff loves it.”

Randi Meredith: BHH CFO

Cradle To Grave Development

It is important that the staff loves the space because they have a lot of work to do in it. Developing communities involves taking a project from the cradle to the grave. BHH buys land, entitles it, develops and designs communities, then offers several different house plans to build. What they offer their customers is an all-inclusive financing option. Rather than buying the land then separately financing the build, BHH’s customers put down earnest money on a lot and close on the finished home with a conventional loan. Not only is this easier for customers, but when they give their earnest money, the price of their home project is locked-in regardless of price increases.

Delivering On Lifestyle

However, BHH recommends itself in other ways too. “We want to build fantastic communities that provide the lifestyle people are looking for. They are not just buying a home; they are buying into a community. We pride ourselves in our amenities like organic produce, walking trails, pools, basketball courts, and more. The amenities are a driving reason why people live here. We want to deliver communities with the exact lifestyle people are looking for and houses that meet all of their wants and needs.” -Travis Hunter.

Working With Cities

Creating these fantastic communities requires working well with different cities and municipalities.

“One of the best parts of our job is
working with cities. It is really fun to be a part of helping the town grow in a positive way. We aren’t a national or even regional company. We live and breathe the treasure valley, have planted our roots here, love helping the town grow in the right way.”

Travis Hunter

Working With Family

It is no wonder that BHH focuses on creating great communities for families when it is a family-run business. “Working with my family is really fun. We often spend more time with our coworkers than we do with our family, so when you work with family, it helps you invest in those relationships more. We can rely on each other’s strengths and diversify our work.” – Travis Hunter. With great working relationships, a beautiful new office, and plenty of work on the horizon, Boise Hunter Homes is looking forward to growing with the community for decades to come.

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Three technology solutions giving power back to employees

In the last couple of years, the way we work has changed dramatically. Now work from home solutions have become center stage. However temperamental some of these leading solutions were, they kept the show going and have become a part of the new way we do business. But the show is changing as employees once again fill their office seats. The new rising stars of Hybrid technology are emerging with the motto “Empower the team, not the tech.” Let’s meet some of these Hybrid stars.

Investing In Virtual Meeting Software

Perhaps the most widely known and favorite of the work-from-home era solutions are software programs. A couple we all love to hate are Zoom and Microsoft Teams. These, and platforms like them, have allowed us to connect with clients, coworkers, family, and friends over the last couple of years when we could not meet in person. Though temperamental, they have been so instrumental in our new work styles that they are now an integral part of how we conduct business in the office and at home. When you can’t make a large company meeting in person, you can jump on Teams. Want a quality connection with a client? Hop on Zoom. From now on, you will see successful offices investing in technology that enable easy access to this software from anywhere, at any time.

Reserving the Spaces You Need

In Hybrid offices, flexibility is a buzzword. It refers not only to the physical space employees inhabit but also their schedules. With employees occupying office space at different times or days of the week, ensuring they have what they need is critical to their productivity. Room and desk reservation systems play an essential role in empowering employees to easily find and reserve a place to work in an office with shared workplaces. An employee coming in for an important meeting can reserve a room to collaborate with team members ahead of time. After the meeting, the employee can reserve a desk for heads-down work rather than going home to a distracting environment. These two reservations systems blend the physical office with digital booking technology to accommodate that all-important flexibility

Power Wherever You Need It

With great power comes great flexibility. Working wherever you want is great until you need to charge a device and there is no outlet in sight. A great solution to this problem is a freestanding power outlet designed to lay nicely underneath the carpet. This simple system provides power to any space – whether in a café or classroom – allowing under-utilized real estate to work harder. With single circuit and dual circuit technology, building owners can distribute power throughout ancillary and conference space. They can even power larger applications. Flexible power systems are making their way into commercial spaces to put the power back into your hands, literally.

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Nova Ltd’s New Boise Office

“When I first joined Nova, I asked, ‘Where do we meet?’ They responded, ‘At our office, Café Capri, and they have great coffee!”

Haokun Hu

When Haokun Hu joined Nova Measuring Instrument, Inc. as the Account Operations Manager in March of 2021, he was on a mission to create a home base for the local team. For years, the Boise team worked from home, on the customer site, or the coffee shop supporting its clients. This was not a long-term solution, and employees needed a private and collaborative space. Fast forward, and Nova has made a home for itself right next to the company it has committed to serving.

Solutions for Semiconductor Manufacturers

So, what does Nova do, and why is its office location so important? For starters, Nova was founded in 1993. It is the leading supplier for dimensional and material metrology solutions for semiconductor chip manufacturers. Their extensive portfolio of products and services act as customer’s eyes and ears in measuring the quality of the products they are manufacturing and subsequently helping them improve the yield. Therefore, having an office minutes away from a key strategic customer is essential to delivering on Nova’s promise of excellent service.

Creating A Unified Design

But how do you create a unified look and feel for offices spread around the globe? You start with a unifying design principle, home. Haokun Hu and the US headquarters Facilities Manager Manny Balcita identified a building near the customer surrounded by other suppliers to fulfill this task. Next, they collaborated with both the US and Israel head office teams with the goal of designing the office to feel like their headquarters in Israel and the US (California). “Whether you are walking into a site that has seven or three employees, it shouldn’t look different than the site with seven hundred.”, says Manny Balcita. To achieve this continuity, they enlisted local vendors like OEC to help them design the informal, relaxed, and collaborative environment that their employees would call home.

Working With OEC

Working with OEC’s design and sales team, Haokun and Manny began to fill in their empty shell of an office. “We went in with a basic idea of how many chairs and workstations we wanted and how they would best stimulate collaboration. Then we decided on the best layout. Jill (OEC workplace consultant) was very understanding and accommodating from the beginning. We made some design changes midway, and she helped us create the same feeling as our headquarters offices within our budget. During this selection process, the most important thing to me was good communication and a quick response which is exactly what Jill and the OEC team gave us.” – Haokun Hu

Claiming Their New Home

The now completed office boasts two conference rooms, workstations made for collaboration, a kitchen table that doubles as an informal meeting place, and lounge chairs for casual conversations. Tying it all back to the look and feel of the headquarters are various cool colors and a unique metal panel. Now, the local application and service team have a place to meet together and bounce around ideas, create new opportunities, and improve the service to their customers.

“Our teams are constantly working for our customers and trying to solve problems. So, seeing them at our ribbon-cutting ceremony, claiming their new home, choosing where they would sit, and chit-chatting in that area gave me a warm feeling. I know it’s been a long time coming. I could already see that being in the space was lifting their morale and creating a sense of family and a sense of team.”-Manny Balcita.

Manny Balcita

Keeping A Promise

This office is a dream come true for the Boise team. When Haokun joined Nova, the team asked him when they were going to have their new office. He told them they would have it by the end of the year. That promise was very important to him and the company’s mindset toward its customers.

“When we make a promise, we will make it happen. This office is a symbol of Nova making the commitment to our long-term partnership with our customers.”

Haokun Hu

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Have you ever tried to do a job with the wrong tools? Typically, the results take longer and aren’t quite as good as if you had the right tool made for the task. Well, the other day, my wife called me from the Idaho State Capitol. She’s in the House of Representatives for the Idaho State Government. For two months out of the year, she works alongside all the other citizen legislators at the Capitol to make laws for Idaho.

The Wrong Tool

She called me because her state-supplied office chair that came with her small cubicle had no arms and was seemingly purchased at some basement bargain sale. She could only sit in it for short periods of time before getting uncomfortable. Wrong tool for the job. So the other day, I dropped off a task chair from Steelcase for her to use for a few months. Not only is she the envy of the legislators, but she now has a proper tool for the job and can work for extended periods of time in comfort.

Do You Have The Right Tool?

Wherever you work (home, office, Capitol building), take some time to consider your furniture as your tools to do your job. Are you using the right tools? Would an investment in your tools yield more efficient or higher quality work?

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