Awards provide no protection in the current downturn. Caruso Homes, a Crofton, Md.-based builder that was named one of America's Best Builders by BUILDER magazine and the National Association of Home Builders in 2006, plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "The housing market is experiencing a challenging economic cycle which requires pro-active financial management. Filing a voluntary Chapter 11 allows Caruso Homes to restructure its financial obligations and continue building quality homes. I am proud of how our management team has acted quickly to address the current volatile real estate market,” said Jeffery V. Caruso, the company's CEO. "We will continue to provide extraordinary design and uncompromised quality of construction and will emerge from this as a stronger construction company."
It's an undeniable setback for Caruso and his company, which was profiled by BUILDER in 2006. "Caruso is rarely off the clock, whether he's using the digital camera he carries everywhere to snap pictures of interesting homes or driving to the growing number of his company's communities. Most of Caruso's mornings start at about 5 a.m., when he wakes and reaches for his BlackBerry. He dashes off a handful of e-mails, shuttles his daughters to school, and often squeezes in a workout before heading to his company's headquarters in Crofton, Md., 25 miles northeast of Washington. It's all done with an eye toward continuing to grow and improve Caruso Homes, the company Caruso founded in 1986."