This year’s Builder 100 list is a testament to the success of U.S. builders as they continue their climb back from the lean years of the Great Recession. Many companies reported hundreds and even thousands more closings in 2017 than the year before.
For instance, the top three builders on the list—D.R. Horton, Lennar, and PulteGroup—closed a combined 9,415 more houses in 2017 than in 2016.
The top 10 builders—all publicly traded—remained the same as last year except that Toll Brothers moved up a notch to No. 9, pushing Hovnanian into the No. 10 position.
It’s a sure bet that the upper echelons of next year’s list will look quite different as the No. 5 player—CalAtlantic—was recently acquired by No. 2 Lennar. In addition, Oakwood Homes, No. 70, was purchased by Clayton Properties Group (No. 29) in July, so its closings on this year’s list are only through that time frame.
In another sign of the industry’s hard-won accomplishments, it was more difficult than in the past few years to gain entry to the Builder 100, with the threshold moving from 403 closings in 2016 to 440 closings last year. BUILDER salutes the following firms that weren’t in the top 100 last year for gaining ground in 2017: the Related Group, Kolter Group, American West Homebuilding Group, John Houston Homes, City Ventures, Rocklyn Homes, Trumark Cos., Elliott Homes, and Homes by Westbay.
Click here for the entire Builder 100/Next 100 list and click here for a downloadable PDF of the list.
