The executive team at Davidson Homes has lofty goals. Following a year in which the Huntsville, Alabama-based home builder surpassed 1,000 annual closings, CEO Brandon Jones says the builder is targeting 40% incremental growth in volume in 2024.

“As much as we saw good growth from 2022 to 2023, we’re going to see the biggest unit count leap in 2024 that we’ve ever had,” Jones told BUILDER.

The belief in future growth for Davidson Homes is instilled by the results and focus during the “foundational” year of 2023. Not only did the company set an all-time record for closings in a calendar year—1,166 homes, moving up to the No. 60 spot on the 2024 Builder 100—but Davidson Homes also prioritized recruiting and developing its team, placing “high performers” in each of the company’s divisions.

“We’ve just got a better team, no doubt about it. We have heavily focused on the customer experience,” Jones says. “We’ve redone the way that we sell. Our stores are new, our models have never looked better, [and] our sales offices have never looked better.”

Training for sales leaders and sales team members has instilled a more disciplined approach to the customer process and experience. Additionally, a focus in 2023 for the home builder was achieving consistency across its operating divisions in execution, presentation, and messaging. Davidson Homes began the process by rebranding its website—which launched in 2024—to underscore the commitment to consistency.

“2023 was all about getting on the same page. We’re not 100% there. It’s an evolution; we get better all the time, and we continue to see the results of the foundation that we’re building,” Jones says.

The builder’s mix of big builder sophistication and small builder entrepreneurial spirit and nimbleness has made Davidson Homes an attractive destination for employees. Executives say employees feel empowered to help build a successful future and move quickly up the ladder of the organization.

“We want to make sure we are constantly raising the bar and that we have a cultural fit with anyone we are interviewing. We are very protective of the culture we’ve built,” Jones says. “We are looking for people who want to win, people who want to work hard, and people who want to be a part of something.”

While the long-term focus is growth and “climbing the mountain” up the ranks of national home builders, Jones says Davidson Homes also remains committed to “enjoying the views” as it climbs. Through the company’s benefits package to celebrate wins on a consistent basis, Davidson Homes is creating a company pride among employees that is integral to its operations and contagious among new hires.

“We are a very quickly scaling company, but for us it’s just the beginning. 2024 is just setting up 2025, and 2025 is just setting up 2026,” Jones says. “We intend to continue to climb the Builder 100. Having the talent and a land acquisition pipeline, processes, and systems, we’re well positioned to continue to grow. We’ve got the pieces and parts. It’s about execution for us at this point.”

Davidson Homes has a multi-pronged strategy to help achieve its growth targets, including expansion within its core markets, targeting healthy markets for expansion, and acquisition.

The home builder identifies Atlanta; Houston; Huntsville; Nashville, Tennessee; and Raleigh, North Carolina, as its five core markets and is committed to taking market share and growing within these markets. Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas; and San Antonio represent “healthy, heavy population in-migration, job growth markets” that are attractive for Davidson Homes.

In the acquisition market, Davidson Homes has acquired the assets of four companies—two in Huntsville and two in San Antonio.

“[Company founder] Adam Davidson, is very active in the [M&A] space, but we have become very disciplined in our investment approach as we’ve evolved and built this foundation,” Jones says. “Although we’ve been close on a few deals, we haven’t been willing to overpay. We haven’t acquired a builder, we’ve [just] acquired the assets of four builders.”

To date in 2024, Davidson Homes is well on its way to achieving its lofty targets for growth. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, sales volume increased 30% in the first quarter.

“We are in a lot of great land positions, [and] people want to live in a lot of those locations,” Jones says.

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