Find your cause. find yourself. These phrases greet those who enter John Laing Homes' corporate headquarters office in Newport Beach, Calif. They're the company's call to service, encouraging employees to get involved in their communities. On this day in mid-October, they're on a poster advertising an upcoming episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, in which Laing's Sacramento division and dozens of other company employees built a new home for a woman and her seven disabled children.
An ethos of service courses through John Laing Homes. The company is generous with its financial donations—it poured at least $1 million into the Extreme Makeover project—but those dollars are matched by employees' time and energy, whether on a project of size and scope large enough for national television or involving small, local charities.
It's a good thing the company is so well grounded, because it has been flying high with the boost from California's tremendous boom market. (Nine of the company's 11 divisions are based in the Golden State; the other two are in Colorado.) In 2004, the company booked more than $1 billion in revenue, up from $600 million just two years earlier.
BALANCING ACT: Larry Webb (top right), CEO of John Laing Homes, has a lot to keep track of these days. His company recently added Bay area and urban divisions, bringing its total up to 11, spread between California and Colorado. In addition to holding frequent meetings to plan new projects, each division meets during the second half of the year to craft ambitious business plans that map out the next three years. During the fall, they present their plans to Webb and other senior managers, who then develop a single three-year business plan for the company.
On the cusp of 2006, John Laing Homes is in transition. Some of its markets are showing signs of cooling. At the same time, the company is positioning itself to take advantage of some of the biggest trends in home building, including urban projects. Executives say they'll manage the changing dynamics by remaining true to the strong traits that made the company one of America's Best Builders this year: smart deals, careful management of people and resources, and attention to customers' needs.
8:30 A.M.: SOUTH COAST DIVISION MEETING“We want to be the best home building company in America,” declares Larry Webb, John Laing Homes' CEO. Despite winning this award, he doesn't think the company's there yet. “Every division has things to improve. You can always do better,” he asserts.
And so sets the table for the 11 meetings Webb will conduct over several weeks in October to discuss each division's business plan for the next three years. Each division presents its plan over several hours while being peppered with questions from Webb, CFO Wayne Stelmar, and Bill Probert, vice president of sales and marketing.
“We challenge people, and we argue,” Webb admits. “I try to put people on the spot. We ask questions. But we leave better for it.”
Top managers from the company's South Coast division sit at the conference table today. It's one of Laing's largest divisions and builds throughout Orange County, where prices have risen dramatically in recent years. The South Coast division's attached homes start in the $500,000s; detached prices climb into the low million-dollar range.
Webb spent time over the weekend reviewing the division's 4-inch-thick business plan binder, and he starts the meeting with his big-picture take on the plan, which he says fits with much of the company. “Your division exemplifies this more than others,” he says. “A very strong 2005, a solid 2006—everyone's being conservative, rightfully so—and a drop-off in 2007, with good expectations for 2008.” The division's plan also fits into a growing trend for the company toward higher-density, more complicated projects, he adds.
But first, they must look back. Steve Kable, the division president, describes 2005 as “one of the easier years.” The division surpassed its goal of 397 closings for the year; it will finish 480 homes, for $340 million in revenue.