KB Home's chief executive, Rob McGibney, who took the helm on March 1, is betting that personalization and better affordability can tempt first-time buyers into the housing market at last, despite a difficult backdrop.

His tenure began with steep declines. On his first earnings call, McGibney reported a 23% year-over-year decrease in revenue to $1.08 billion while net income had shrunk 70% to $33.4 million; on his second, revenue was down 27% to $1.1 billion while earnings dropped 75% to $27.3 million. The stock is down since he took over. Borrowing costs are relatively high, consumer confidence is relatively weak, and the specter of inflation, oil prices, and higher construction costs doesn't help.

There are a lot of things McGibney can't control. The 26-year veteran of KB Home — one of the largest U.S. homebuilders, and long among the industry's most entry-level-focused — discussed in an interview with Fortune what he's doing to change the things he can.

The first is a greater focus on built-to-order homes, which accounted for 73% of net orders in the second quarter, up from 57% last year. Consumers typically pay more for such homes and are less likely to cancel or demand discounts, but customized homes also mean longer waits at potentially higher mortgage rates. Building to order has long set KB Home apart from volume rivals like D.R. Horton and Lennar, which sell mostly homes constructed ahead of a sale and have leaned on incentives such as mortgage-rate buydowns to sustain demand.

"We're not forcing that buyer to pay for things that they don't value, allowing them to put the things in the home that they really do value and care about," McGibney said. "We allow people to personalize the home not just for the fit, finish, function and features but also to their budget … If [you're] making that choice for the buyer, invariably you just get something wrong."

Second, he wants to woo more first-time buyers, the average age of whom is now 40. The median age of U.S. homebuyers has gone from 39 to 59 over the past 15 years. First-time buyers have historically accounted for roughly 40% of U.S. home purchases, but their share has fallen to record lows in National Association of Realtors data — a squeeze that ripples well beyond builders, since each first purchase typically frees an existing owner to trade up. McGibney acknowledges that people are marrying and having kids later, but he thinks expectations of "quick gratification" also come into play.

"We're seeing first-time buyers who are making $140,000 a year, have a 740 FICO score and put down $70,000. If you go back a decade or so, FICO scores were much lower and incomes were certainly lower," he said. "When I bought my first house, we had to go through some pain. It was hard to save money for a down payment … but there's some sacrifices to make that first step but people who make it have significantly more wealth generation capability over time."

The two strategies are interconnected, he argues, in that Gen Z buyers were raised on personalization. "My kids grew up wanting personalized Nike custom ID shoes; they go to Chipotle and get to personalize what goes on that burrito … It stands to reason that they want the ability to personalize what's going to be the largest purchase they've made up to that point in their life," McGibney said.

That said, he acknowledges that there's little he can do to change the reality that many younger buyers can't—or feel they can't—afford to buy a home. "We as a company, or me as a CEO, can't change the math," he said. "But we're working aggressively to get as far down that K (in the K-shaped economy) as we can by offering better affordability. It gets back to controlling what we can control."

The next few earnings calls will show whether those levers can widen the pool of entry-level buyers enough to lift the top line — or whether the math simply stays out of his hands.

Elsewhere in Fortune's CEO Daily: the "Jamie premium" edges JPMorgan closer to a $1 trillion valuation, and markets are down as crude oil futures rise.

Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.