KB Home Materiality Analysis Summary

          

COMPANY OVERVIEW

KB Home was founded in 1957 and has built over 550,000 homes in the United States. In 2007, the company produced its first Sustainability Report under the direction of Jacob Atalla, current Vice President of Sustainability for KB Home. In recent years, the company has been recognized consistently for its leadership in energy and water efficient building practices. KB Home has developed partnerships with industry-leading suppliers who are also committed to sustainability including LP Building Products, Sunpower, and TruTeam. These partners convene at an annual meeting where KB home presents its Innovation and Sustainability Award. KB Home formed a national advisory board in 2009 which provides an independent perspective on the company’s sustainability initiatives and includes leaders in environmental protection, finance, law, architecture, government, higher education, minority needs and consumer advocacy.

PROJECT SCOPE

KB Home continuously looks to enhance and improve its sustainability efforts. As a result, the company has identified the need for a materiality analysis of its sustainability report conducted by a third party to evaluate whether 1) the company is focused on the right projects that matter most to society and stakeholders, and 2) the company is providing the needed information to those stakeholders through its annual reporting. To conduct the materiality analysis, our team compiled a list of all potential KB Home stakeholders. After reviewing the list with KB Home, it was determined that our team would focus our interviews on the stakeholder categories deemed the greatest priority for KB Home. This list consisted of customers and employees across various departments. Our team then developed a list of questions in conjunction with KB Home to ascertain stakeholder priorities and their perceptions of KB Home’s current sustainability report. Interviews were conducted with seven stakeholders and key findings were used to develop a materiality grid. In addition to the stakeholder assessment, KB Home also sought out our team’s feedback on and suggestions for their sustainability report.

RECOMMENDATIONS 

Based on the results of our project, we shared 4 major recommendations for sustainability reporting and materiality analysis going forward.