For home buyers, the design center can be one of the most exciting and overwhelming parts of the building process. Envision, Zonda’s digital design center platform, helps builders bring that experience online by organizing product options, wish lists, and pricing in one place before buyers arrive for their in-person selections appointment.
For Drees, a family-owned homebuilder that operates across multiple markets in the Midwest and Southeast, that has been a major shift from its earlier process. Before Envision, selections were handled through handwritten notes, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, and offline pricing documents. Design consultants often had to move between spreadsheets to confirm pricing for cabinets, flooring, countertops, and other options across hundreds of floor plans.
“This consolidated everything and made it a lot more streamlined for the consultant in an appointment, face to face with the customer,” says Alexa Drees, Midwest design center director for Drees.
The builder began its current Envision rollout in 2020, starting with Dallas—one of its most complex divisions, with highly customized homes and more than 10,000 options. The company chose the toughest market first, reasoning that if the platform could work there, it could work across the organization. Since then, Drees has expanded Envision across nine cities and 10 design center markets, including a separate setup for townhomes.
The biggest benefit has been preparation. Once a buyer’s contract is finalized, Drees sets up a welcome call to walk them through the platform, show them how to navigate options, and explain how to create a wish list.
Josh Gunter, process improvement manager for Drees, says the company is seeing about an 80% engagement rate across divisions, meaning buyers are logging in before their first appointment and, in many cases, creating wish lists.
“If somebody takes the trouble to actually set up a pre-sale account, either they’ve already bought…or they’re very close to buying,” Gunter says.
That early activity changes the tone of the appointment. Rather than spending as much time explaining prices, consultants can focus on style, budget, and decision-making. It also gives buyers more confidence because pricing is visible in the portal, not buried in a spreadsheet or delayed until after the appointment.
The platform is also becoming a sales signal. Gunter says roughly 25% of customers who create a pre-sale Envision account end up purchasing. For Drees, that activity shows a buyer is serious.
