Drees Homes has appointed Scott Drees as the company’s new Midwest regional president. Drees, the great-grandson of company founder Theodore Drees, will succeed the retiring Steve Tuckerman.
In the role, Drees will be responsible for the home builder’s northern Kentucky, Cincinnati, Cincinnati-Townhomes, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Columbus divisions. As a fourth-generation leader in the family business, Drees says he aims to reassure employees that Drees Homes will continue to operate under the guiding principles of his great-grandfather, working hard, doing the right thing, and delivering an exceptional customer experience.
“My primary focus is to support our divisions in delivering our brand promise of ‘custom homes made easy’ and to do so in a way that allows us to reach our growth goals of 300 closings in each division,” Drees tells BUILDER. “In some cities, this will mean steering our focus to new submarkets or simply larger master-planned communities to enable sales pace. In others, this will require product diversification.”
Within the Midwest, Columbus is the newest market of operation for Drees Homes. The company broke ground on its first model home in the market in March. Scott Drees says Columbus remains “a top priority” for the company in the near-term with three scheduled community openings and first closings anticipated later in 2026.
Drees Homes is a top 10 builder by annual volume within the Cincinnati and Indianapolis markets, according to Zonda’s 2025 Local Leaders data. Scott Drees says the cost of living in the Midwest remains the biggest reason for optimism for the region.
“While the Midwest may not have had the level of boom during the pandemic as the Sun Belt and other markets, it’s been a quiet over-performer compared to the rest of the market since,” Drees explains.
As part of the new role, Scott Drees will oversee the execution of Drees’ Centennial Strategy in the region, which outlines goals for the builder as it approaches its 100th business anniversary in 2028. The builder ranked No. 37 on the 2026 Builder 100 list, generating 2,286 closings in 2025.
Elements of the Centennial Strategy include growing each division to 300 annual closings, growing the company’s build-on-your-lot business Elevate, and improving customer experience and lot acquisition. For Drees Homes, the Midwestern markets are particularly important beyond the volume targets set for each of the company’s 12 operating markets.
“[The Midwestern markets’] proximity to our corporate headquarters often allows them to quickly adopt process and product innovation,” Drees says. “The expansion of our offsite program, Elevate by Drees Homes, product diversification such as our Pure Style Collection, and self-developing communities are easy outward examples of this.”
The retiring Tuckerman worked for nearly four decades in the home building industry. He first joined Drees Homes in 2004 and served as the Cleveland division president before leading the company’s Midwest region for the last 11 years.
“Steve’s always been able to convey the challenges of our ‘custom made easy’ model and describe it to our buyers in a way few can,” Drees says. “This has allowed him to instill discipline in others to execute that model at a tremendously high level. That’s going to have an impact on the company for a very long time.”
Family Tradition
Scott Drees began in the family business as a builder trainee in 2015. He has held roles of increasing responsibility, including Midwest land acquisition manager, Indianapolis sales manager, and townhome division president.
“This industry is the best. We get to create something and also get to see the impact it has through the memories made in these homes,” Drees says, reflecting on the appeal of the home building industry. “One of my favorite activities is to drive through a development at completion. It’s the best time to reflect on all the trials it took to turn that development into a community and to motivate yourself to overcome whatever challenges come with the next one.”
In his most recent role as townhome division president, he oversaw an operation that delivered stronger on-time production and sales, exceeded annual goals, and maintained a 92% customer satisfaction rating. He also helped lead the Covington Central Riverfront townhome project in northern Kentucky.
“Scott has consistently demonstrated the ability to translate smart processes into real business results,” says the retiring Tuckerman. “His leadership, deep understanding of operations and relationships, and forward-thinking mindset make him the right leader as we guide the Midwest region toward our centennial milestone and beyond.”
Drees maintained a familiarity with the family business growing up and learned two key lessons at an early age: home building is an industry of people and there are creative solutions for every problem. After constantly interacting with people who knew either his father or grandfather, Scott came to appreciate the scale and scope involved with building even a single home.
“It turned into an early lesson for me that you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with and how they feel about you,” Drees shares.
Drees believes creativity and innovation, from floor plans to community design to personnel issues, has been a key fabric of the Drees Homes legacy over nearly a century in business.
“I was told an early story about a community Drees built on the edge of a town that did not yet have school bus service,” Drees says. “To help sell homes, [my grandfather] Ralph took it upon himself to buy a school bus and personally ran student transportation service from the community. That’s truly going the extra mile for homeowners.”
After growing up in the family business, Drees held roles with Lennar Multifamily and Morrow Construction on the multifamily side of the industry before beginning his leadership journey at Drees Homes.
“I joke that I first went into apartment construction to simply do something different before I built homes for the rest of my life,” Drees says. “While that’s somewhat true, there were lessons to be had. My biggest takeaway was that process, scale, speed, and discipline are effective business models and immensely valued by trade partners. I constantly ask how we can bring that mindset to our homes, which are much less homogenous projects.”
