Case study · ChuckTown Homes · Charleston, SC

From 10 producers to 90 in 15 months.

Last updated September 4, 2026

ChuckTown Homes is a real estate brokerage in Charleston, South Carolina, and a Zillow Preferred (formerly Flex) team. Over 15 months it grew from 10 producers to 90 across five markets and three states. I advised from my Zillow seat as their Zillow Growth Advisor while at Zillow. This is the record of what happened.

01 The starting point

Ten producers. One market. A founder doing the recruiting.

When I started working with ChuckTown, the brokerage had ten producers in the Charleston market. The leads were coming. The program was working. The constraint was the roster: not enough people to work the volume, and no system for changing that.

The founder was carrying the recruiting, the ramping, and the retention conversations on top of running the business. That is the normal state of a brokerage at that size. It is also the ceiling.

02 What changed

Recruiting, ramping, and retention. On a cadence. Run by someone who was not the founder.

The play was not tech, ads, or a rebrand. It was the calls: the recruiting conversations, the ramp plans for new producers, and the retention conversations with the ones worth keeping. Made every week, on a cadence, by someone whose only job was that work.

I ran it from my Zillow seat as their Zillow Growth Advisor, working directly with the ownership. The program gave the team lead flow. The cadence turned lead flow into a roster, and the roster into markets.

03 The outcome

Ninety producers. Five markets. Three states.

Fifteen months after the work started, ChuckTown Homes had 90 producers operating across five markets in three states. The growth came from the same program and the same lead source the brokerage already had. What changed was the operating layer underneath it.

“He didn’t just advise. He architected the growth.”

Shawn Pillion · CEO, ChuckTown Homes

The companion case study: Dwelli, where Michael was the first Growth Advisor in the Flex program. The program side of the story: Zillow Preferred coaching and Operating Partner work.

Questions about this case study

What people ask about the ChuckTown work

What did Michael Schuerman actually do at ChuckTown Homes?+

He ran the recruiting, ramping, and retention cadence for the brokerage from his Zillow seat as the brokerage's Zillow Growth Advisor, working directly with ownership. The lead source and the program did not change. The operating layer underneath them did.

How long did the growth from 10 to 90 producers take?+

Fifteen months. In that window the brokerage went from ten producers in one Charleston market to ninety producers across five markets in three states.

Was this growth caused by Zillow leads?+

No. ChuckTown already had the program and the lead flow before the work started. The constraint was roster capacity, not demand. The cadence turned lead flow into producers, and producers into markets.

Does this only work for real estate brokerages?+

The industry happens to be real estate. The play is recruiting, ramping, and retention run on a weekly cadence by someone who is not the founder. That works in any business where growth depends on people who carry a number.

Who ran the work after the engagement ended?+

The brokerage owned it. The point of the cadence is that it keeps running without the person who installed it.

Can you do the same thing inside my company?+

That is what the seat is. Book a 30-minute call, bring your roster numbers, and you will get a straight read on whether the same play applies.

The constraint is rarely the lead source.

Thirty minutes. Bring the numbers. If it's a fit, you'll get a firm price before you commit to anything.

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