LandAmerica Financial CEO Theodore L. Chandler has confirmed that a restructuring of its title insurance, escrow and closing services in Colorado -- reducing "bricks and mortar" locations and expanding the number of mobile workers -- could serve as a model for reorganizing the company nationally.

Said Chandler in a press release yesterday: "We will evaluate the performance of the Colorado initiative to determine its applicability to additional markets in the future. There are features of this approach that may well be appropriate for other markets and may facilitate further office consolidations over time." 

The company had described the Colorado restructuring in a press release last month but did not discuss its implications for operations in other states. At the time (see "LandAmerica Restructures Title Insurance Delivery") R’Biz speculated that the initiative could serve as a national model.

The Colorado model combines the functions of sales representatives and escrow officers into account managers and centralizes data-driven functions into fulfillment centers or "hubs." The account mangers will work out of home-based offices, offering customers increased personal interaction and a single point of contact for resolution of issues.

Chandler elaborated on the cost cutting in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News. The company has cut the number of offices to 800 from 1,100 and plans to save more on rent, utilities and equipment by basing its sales staff in their homes, he told the newspaper. LandAmerica may reinvest some of he in growing markets by adding staff, he added.

While Chandler's statement in the press release implied that LandAmerica was still evaluating the Colorado experiment, the CEO told the Rocky Mountain News that the reorganization soon will be extended across the country as LandAmerica slashes expenses by as much as half in certain markets. "We are rapidly consolidating offices," he said. "You're going to just see it get more and more substantial as we go through every quarter."