When margins are tight, it’s tempting to look for places to cut costs. Too often, the OSC program ends up on the chopping block. On paper, removing a salary line or trimming bonuses may look like savings. In reality, it’s one of the most expensive mistakes a builder can make.

An OSC isn’t just another role. They are the engine that converts costly digital traffic into real appointments and closed sales. Without them, your marketing dollars evaporate, your conversion rates sink, and the homes you thought you’d sell this year may never close.

But Wait…I Can Just Send the Leads to Onsite Agents

When builders cut their OSC program and push digital leads directly to onsite sales teams, they often believe the process will still work. After all, salespeople know how to sell, right? The problem is: onsite teams are not built for rapid response or persistent digital follow-up. They’re busy managing walk-ins, model tours, contracts, and closings. Digital inquiries get delayed, forgotten, or treated as “less serious.”

The result is what I call the leaky bucket effect. Marketing dollars pour leads into the top of your funnel, but without a dedicated OSC catching and qualifying them, those leads drip right out the bottom. By the time an onsite agent has a chance to respond, buyers have often moved on to another builder who responded first.

Instead of saving money, cutting your OSC is like punching holes in your sales funnel. You may think you’re trimming costs, but you’re actually watching potential sales (and profit) drain away.

What an OSC Earns and Why They Deserve It

Consider this: if you are a builder selling 150 homes a year across seven active communities, your onsite agents are averaging just over 21 sales each annually. Now layer in your OSC. If that OSC is responsible for generating and nurturing 40% of your overall sales, that’s 60 homes directly tied to their efforts. In other words, a single OSC is influencing the equivalent sales volume of nearly three onsite agents combined.

And yet, when you look at the compensation structure, onsite sales roles are consistently rewarded at the six-figure level. Glassdoor reports that new home sales consultants in the U.S. average nearly $159,000 a year in total compensation, while job postings routinely highlight income potential well into the mid-six figures. And look, I’m sure if we look at a lot of the agents out there they are earning even more than that.

OSCs, on the other hand, often start with a base salary with additional bonuses for appointments and sales. A strong OSC can absolutely reach six figures, and in some cases $150,000 or more. But they usually have to work far harder to prove their worth, despite being responsible for large share of the pipeline.

When you break down the numbers, the value is undeniable. If one person is touching 40% or more of your sales, then rewarding them fairly isn’t generosity, it’s good business. Without their consistency, persistence, and ability to convert digital leads, a huge portion of your marketing investment would simply wash away.

The ROI Equation: How Many Homes Pay for an OSC?

Let’s use conservative assumptions:

• Net profit margin = 6% (low end of NAHB-reported averages)
• Average home prices = $500K, $750K, and $1M+
• Your selling 150 Homes per year
• Your OSC is starting 40%
• You’re paying fair industry standards

In this scenario your OSC is on target for earning $100,000 for the year.

Here’s how quickly your OSC investment pays for itself:

• At a $500K average home price it will take 3 – 4 home sales to pay your OSC.
• At a $750K average home price it will take just over 2 sales to pay your OSC.
• At $1M it won’t even take 2 sales to pay for your OSC.

So in any of these scenarios, a well-trained OSC more than pays for themselves with only a handful of sales. And if they’re influencing 40% of 150 annual sales, they’re generating 60 homes’ worth of sales pipeline. If an OSC represents more than 40% of your overall sales – you will sell more, they will earn more, and isn’t it worth it?

The breakeven math makes it clear: the risk isn’t paying an OSC, it’s losing them.

Why Compensation Matters

Your OSC is not just a “call center rep.” They are the engine converting your expensive marketing traffic into real appointments and sales. They:

• Follow up relentlessly when others wouldn’t.
• Personalize communication for every buyer.
• Build trust before the customer ever meets your onsite team.
• Deliver consistent conversion even in high-volume or high-incentive markets.

If they’re driving 40%+ of your sales, why wouldn’t you pay them like it?

Why You Can’t Afford to Lose Your OSC

The true cost of doing business isn’t just land and lumber, it’s the lost profit from leads that never convert.

A well-trained, well-compensated OSC pays for themselves in less than 4 home sales. After that, every single lead they convert is pure profit to your bottom line.

Cutting your OSC program isn’t saving money. It’s giving away sales.