Builder 100: A Horrid 2008 Behind Them, Few Builders Are Making Dramatic Changes

The hard times that began in 2006 for the housing industry dragged on through 2008. That was especially true for those companies that...


2008 Builder 100 Coverage:

 

Painful Year for Country's Largest 100 Home Builders

The 2007 Builder 100 saw the market for new-home sales fall 23.96 percent, forcing many small builders to close their doors.


 

2006 BUILDER 100 Articles

  • The 2006 BUILDER 100 Revealed

    For the first time since 2002, the top three companies on the Builder 100 list traded places. While D.R. Horton remains on top, Lennar Corp...

  • Rising To The Challenge

    While BUILDER 100 companies' efforts to diversify across the country left some of them exposed to more faltering markets instead of...

  • Reality Check

    Dan Ryan started Frederick, Md.–based Dan Ryan Builders in 1990, so the recent downturn in the housing market was his first. During the...

  • Acquisition Season

    As the cooling-off period in the housing market continues through 2007, conditions may improve for mergers and acquisitions among the...

  • BUILDER 100 Snapshots

    The top 100 builders from 2006.

  • Next 100 Snapshots

    The BUILDER 100 companies weren't the only builders growing quickly during 2005. The average Next 100 company closed 495 homes during the...

  • Problem Solved

    Three years ago, Star Development Corp. decided to try modular housing rather than continue with stick building for its infill projects...

  • Apartment Boom

    It's good to be an apartment developer again. Rental builders across the country breathed a collective sigh of relief last year as the once...

  • BUILDER 100: Inventory Problems

    Between spec homes that didn't sell, investors who canceled due to market conditions, and move-up home buyers who couldn't sell their...

2005 BUILDER 100 Articles

  • Staying Power

    Over the years, more than a thousand home and apartment building companies have ranked among the top 100 builders in our annual list. But...

  • In Command

    It seems safe to say that an increase is no longer in doubt. When that story was written, the BUILDER 100's market share stood at 24...

  • Consistent Performers

    With home building operations in 77 markets across 26 states—which generated 51,383 new homes last year—D.R. Horton can get a good read on...

  • BUILDER 100 Snapshots

    The top 100 builders from 2006.

  • Standing Firm

    When it closed 250 homes two years ago, Altmann-Ott Homes ranked as Reno, Nev.'s fifth-largest builder. But this western market of 200,000...

  • Next 100 Snapshots

    Next 100 builders did not fare as well in the soft housing market as their larger brethren in the 2007 BUILDER 100.

  • Modular Metamorphosis

    “You hate to win that way,” says one HUD-code producer, summarizing the sentiments of many manufacturers who saw a bounce in HUD-code unit...

  • Condo Craze

    Without a doubt, 2005 was the year to be a condo developer. Just look at the Novare Group's year-end performance. The Atlanta-based condo...

  • Steven Petruska

    For Pulte, the 1990s were characterized by the company's feverish expansion of its geographical footprint. In that decade, Pulte's market...

  • Jeff Mezger

    Jeff Mezger built his first house when he was about 12 years old. He got the wood and steel from his dad, a Chicago-area builder.

  • Barry Mccarron

    When Barry McCarron started with Hovnanian in 1984, the company was using a mere eight floor plans in New Jersey to build townhomes and...

  • Dan Fulton

    In the late 1980s, Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Co. was delivering 5,000 homes per year. But over the next several years, the Federal Way, Wash...

  • Alan Goldsticker

    Alan Goldsticker likens his Indianapolis division to a “good, solid growth fund.” Old reliable, he calls it.

 

2004 BUILDER 100 Articles

  • Survival of the Fit

    NO STEROIDS HERE. That's not to say that the BUILDER 100 companies didn't enjoy the effects of natural performance enhancers last year...

  • Factory-Built Housing: Modular Makeover

    The market for manufactured homes has been shattered in recent years, because low interest rates and financing have stolen some of their...

  • Multifamily Housing: Returning to Form

    The question that's on everyone's mind is when to expect a resurgence in market-rate apartment building.

  • High Jump

    IN 2001, OFFICIALS AT M.D.C. Holdings raised the bar for their Denver-based company when they set it on an ambitious course to double its...

  • Brains and Brawn

    LAST YEAR, FIRST HOME Builders of Florida was struggling with too much of a good thing. Sales were soaring, and, coupled with significant...

2003 BUILDER 100 Articles

  • Going For Broke

    While the overall housing market increased just 8 percent, as measured by total starts, the BUILDER 100 delivered 393,178 U.S. homes, a 14...

  • Staying In The Game

    Numbers provide only a partial picture of the Next 100 companies, many of which are more dynamic, creative, financially sophisticated, and...

  • After The Bust

    In the last couple years, the "monsoon" of bad news hitting manufactured home builders has been especially devastating.

  • Waiting For A Better Hand

    Multifamily builders kept -- and keep -- building, increasingly so, even in some areas where demand has been lackluster.

  • Playing The Percentages

    In real estate, some regions constantly pay off for builders, while others struggle to break even.

 

Lists and Rankings By Year