-
Brenneman & Pagenstecher has an open book estimating policy. Peter Pagenstecher says some refer to this method as time and materials with a fixed fee.According to the partners, there are several advantages to this system.
-
Small- and mid-cap builders have closed the valuation gap between themselves and the big-caps, but for how long? Historically, smaller public builders such as Ryland, Meritage, Standard Pacific, M.D.C., and Beazer have traded at lower valuations than their big-cap colleagues.
-
While you were on your summer vacation--and work was a distant memory--tool manufacturers were unveiling their latest tools and accessories, hottest technologies, and all-around great gadgets.
-
A few years ago, when the Lewis family began discussing the future of their California home building business, selling represented just one of their choices.
-
How does a private builder put a price tag on his life's work? As any builder who's bought or sold a company will tell you, there's more to valuing a home building operation than simply reviewing the books and checking the latest multiples on Wall Street.
-
For the most part, the 13 builders who sold their companies to Fortress came out relatively unscathed.
-
They called them "poof roll-ups," and for a few years in the mid-1990s they were the rage of Wall Street. Financiers combined or rolled up several private companies in an industry, such as flower shops or limousine services, into a single entity and ? poof ? created a $100-million public company...
-
The maelstrom came about when the privately held Denver-based firm Sanford Homes was acquired by Beazer Homes USA in August 2001.
-
Orenco Station is a thriving, mixed-use pocket of suburbia, an urban-style utopia on the outskirts of Portland in Hillsboro, Ore. Residential neighborhoods in most of the still-evolving, 200-acre community are less than half a mile from the light-rail station, which links Hillsboro with downtown...
-
You've heard it a millions times -- you only get one chance to make a first impression. Well, like it or not, it's true. And for a builder, that initial contact point is usually the sales center, so it's got to make a significant positive impact.
-
For five days last summer, about 4,000 Habitat for Humanity volunteers joined with former president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in Durban, South Africa, for the 19th annual Jimmy Carter Work Project.
-
There's a reason why most people don't go into the land development business. Sit down with any developer and you'll hear stories about pitfalls and capricious character. In this profession, survival demands the patience of Job and the optimism of Pollyanna. Every victory is hard-won, and the...
-
At Maracay Homes, models used to be merchandised by themes. "We did it the same way as other builders did," says David Bessey, president and CEO of the Scottsdale, Ariz., company, which closed 450 homes last year. Today, those decorating themes are gone at Maracay, replaced by an approach based on...
-
In this era of consolidation and growth in our industry, M.D.C. Holdings is actively pursuing opportunities to acquire the businesses of smaller home builders. This transaction structure, in most cases, holds both buyer and seller responsible for only the results of their actions during their...
-
The passage of defect legislation in California brings welcome change to the state's construction-dispute laws, long the affliction of the condo market.
-
Prompted by tight borrowing conditions for manufactured-home buyers, manufacturers are shifting away from the industry's traditional chattel lending to real estate lending. Unlike the losses reported by Champion and Palm Harbor in the June 2002 quarter, Clayton, based in Maryville, Tenn., reported...
-
For the first time, one of WCI Communities' models will be completely green. WCI is moving away from the experimental stage and bringing green building into a more production-related environment," says Ken Plonski, director of communications for the builder.
-
For Jim Previti's Empire Cos., based in Irvine, Calif., there's nothing more unsightly in a master planned community than a withered sign that reads, "Future School." While up-front development costs are greater, the company pays nothing out of pocket because the cost is rolled over to the sale of...
-
In an effort to boost closings volume significantly, Colony Homes is taking a more thorough approach to land management.
-
New Jersey's largest home builder has a new tactic. In response to a shortage of land in the state, K. Hovnanian Cos. launched Private Home Portfolio, a division that builds homes for customers on their own lots.