John Winniford, president and CEO of Gehan Homes.
Brightland Homes John Winniford, president and CEO of Gehan Homes.

Growing vastly since its beginnings in 1992, Gehan Homes has announced a new name—Brightland Homes. The renaming integrates 110 active communities from Gehan Homes, Gray Point Homes, and Wonderland Homes into one unified brand across Arizona, Colorado, Tennessee, and Texas.

After the Gehan family sold a 51% stake in 2014 to Sumitomo Forestry America followed by exiting the business in 2016, the home builder became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo. “In the seven years since that transition, we evolved exponentially as a company. We established new leadership, have delivered over 17,000 homes, and generated approximately $7 billion in revenue since ushering in this new chapter,” says John Winniford, president and CEO of Gehan Homes.

When asked what prompted the name change, Winniford says, “We expanded our product line, adding townhomes and duplexes; introduced our entry-level brand, Gray Point Homes; entered four new markets; and acquired two additional home building companies. We also implemented a new tagline, ‘Happiness Lives Here,’ that fit our present-day culture and reflected our focus on people, both internally and externally. It became time our name represented the transformation of our company.”

To derive the new name, focus groups of employees across various departments, Realtors, and homeowners were held. With dependability, warmth, authenticity, and excellence mentioned throughout the focus groups, the team set out to find a name that embodied those characteristics while paying tribute to the past. “When we considered Brightland Homes and envisioned a logo consisting of an arc or sun rising over the ‘G’ and the ‘H’ in the name, we recognized we had a unique story.

“After we put the name and the logo out to our employee focus group, it was confirmed. We had succeeded in creating a name and logo that fit our warm, authentic, dependable, and excellent brand personality, while simultaneously illustrating a link to the past and a bridge to the future.”

The connection to the past was doubly important for Winniford as he recognized the many tenured employees the company has. “Forty-five percent of our employees that were with us prior to 2016 are still here, and several have been with the organization for more than 20 years,” he says. "The feedback we have received has been overwhelmingly positive. Those in the organization appreciate that the name has meaning and substance and reflects who we are now with a focus on the ‘bright’ future ahead.”

Effective on March 21, the company will begin updating signage and sales office collateral in over 100 existing communities, and the website will be redirected to brightlandhomes.com. Some of the first projects under Brightland Homes are Tavolo Park and Aria in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and Westerly in the Denver metro.

Cumulatively, there are 107 future projects that will be built under the new brand, Winniford shares. The company will continue to market some residential construction services and real estate development projects under the Gehan Homes name.