At Sarasota, Fla.-based Lee Wetherington Homes (LWH), longtime employee Greg Carlson took over the role as CEO last year when Lee Wetherington stepped aside from the company's day-to-day operations. Carlson worked with LWH from 1993 to 2002, and held a variety of roles at two national home builders before he returned to Lee Wethertington to assume the CEO position.
Since then, the upscale builder's construction volume and sales have grown 50%, and the company has also expanded its product offerings into lower-priced homes with the opening of Cypress Glen, the first self-developed new home community by the firm since 2007.
Here, BUILDER talks with Carlson about his career, his return as CEO, and the past, present, and future of Lee Wetherington Homes and its products.
BUILDER: How did you get your start in home building?
My first job in construction was in 1980, working with Jacky Gunter, a contractor in Arcadia, Florida. When we first met he was using automation to construct chicken farms—a process considered high-tech at the time. He was also building custom homes in the area. For Jacky it didn’t matter whether we were building a custom home or a chicken farm; he expected perfection in whatever we were building.
BUILDER: According to your website bio, you were “a major part of the company’s growth” during your tenure in the 1990s through the early 2000s. How did Lee Wetherington Homes grow and change during this period?
When I joined LWH in 1993 we built 33 homes in a year. When I was recruited away in late 2002 we had grown to over 250 homes annually. During that growth we worked through many growing pains, which led to implementing many new systems and ways to manage our resources. The most important was managing time. We created ways to track pre-production, production, sales, marketing, and warranties.
Our software had more capacity than we had previously used. We dedicated ourselves to learning about the potential it offered. From there it was an easy decision to utilize it because we realized it would make us more efficient. Having the right people with the right expertise was also crucial to our growth. We did a pretty good job of finding the right managers and staff although, like most companies, we didn’t bat 1000. However, the company did grow to exceed 250 homes per year until the economy collapsed and homebuilding constricted.
BUILDER: You returned to Lee Wetherington Homes as CEO in 2016. How have you transitioned into your new role, and how have your experiences at Lee Wetherington and with other builders informed your work?
Lee Wetherington, the company founder, knew my capabilities and recommended me for the position. Some in management at LWH were initially apprehensive about my return: they knew my skills and expertise only from the point where I had left in 2002. However, in the interim I had worked with two national home builders. This really exposed me to areas I had not encountered while working with LWH. Two of the most important were land acquisition and sales management. Upon returning to LWH, I quickly discovered those were the two areas where LWH needed the most focus.
The decisions we made within the first six months, particularly as it relates to land positions, have truly shaped the trajectory for the company. Those who may have had reservations about my abilities quickly got on board as we began to reposition the company for new growth.
BUILDER: Are your move-in ready homes former models, or are some built on spec? Can you go into more detail on how your move-in ready homes insulate buyers from rising costs?
We always build our model homes with the intention of selling them when complete and leasing them back for the period we operate that model in a community. In addition, we also carry at least one inventory home per community. There always seems to be a client who wants one of our homes but can’t wait for the building process to complete. The “Custom-Ready Home” allows them to own and move in much sooner.
Prices rise quite frequently. By having a home on the market that is closer to completion than starting from scratch, we have locked in costs for most of the components, allowing us to offer that home at a savings.
BUILDER: Can you tell me about your current new home communities?
LWH has operated continuously within Lakewood Ranch since Lakewood Ranch began in the mid-1990’s. Our current communities have three Lakewood Ranch addresses: Country Club East, The Lake Club, and the newest Lakewood Ranch area, “Waterside”. We are proud of the longevity and strong partnerships we have embraced with the leadership at Lakewood Ranch.
We are also active in The Islands on the Manatee River, a boat-able waterfront community nestled on the Manatee River. In addition, we have several communities where we are wrapping up production such as The Concession and The Founders Club.
Lastly, we are currently developing a new enclave of 47 villa lots in River Wilderness, one of the area’s most prestigious golf course communities. This community will open to pre-sales in late 2018 with the new Magnolia model opening in February of 2019. We are very excited about this community as it is our first self-developed community in over a decade.
BUILDER: To what degree are your homes customizable? Do you consider your homes custom homes?
LWH clients seem to want what they want. Despite our home designs being recognized as outstanding by our peers in the annual Parade of Homes, each buyer wants something just a little different. We will change anything they would like as long as the home will still fit on the lot, the change still meets all current codes, and the client is willing to pay for any costs associated with the change. That said, we see almost 100% of our homes modified in some way.
BUILDER: Can you tell me more about your green/energy-efficient building practices?
LWH jumped into the Green Build practices early on and was recently recognized by the Florida Green Building Coalition. All homes built by LWH meet a Gold level certification. It is important for all builders to consider the impact to the resources we all count on to sustain our lives. We do everything we can to make our homes more efficient in energy, water and the products used in the construction of each home.
BUILDER: Your homes feature wide open concept floor plans and very creatively shaped pools that often open directly onto the living area. Can you tell me more about these features and why you use them?
We monitor the trends in how people want to live in their homes and try to stay out ahead with our designs. We have come to know that people like to enjoy their outdoor living areas so we build our model homes with that in mind.
We showcase these expansive lanai/outdoor areas, which tie into the pool area. Having much of this space designed as covered allows for more year-round use of the space. Many of our homes literally spill out from the interior to the exterior by use of pocketing sliding glass doors and disappearing corners--two sliding glass doors that form the corner of a room when closed but open completely with no visible barrier—to make the inside and outside flow seamlessly into one another when opened. Outdoor kitchens add the finishing touch to the outdoor space and the pool area.
BUILDER: How does your in-house pool business shape your business model?
We added the pool component to our building program in the early 2000s and hired a second-generation pool builder to run it. We have designed and built our own pools ever since. Having the pool design in-house allows for designing and seamlessly merging the pool and the home’s outdoor living area with the interior.
When we discuss the in-house pool company with clients, one of the key issues we mention is that the pool-building team members are employees. Thus they earn no more or less based on the pool design or cost. That puts the clients at ease, knowing the pool company is just another resource under our umbrella, available to help create the perfect home for them.
BUILDER: What are your goals for the future as CEO, and how have you made progress so far toward these goals?
When I agreed to return our major goal was to grow the company, knowing this would not happen overnight. We developed a plan to re-prioritize our target communities so that we could point the company into areas where growth was more likely. In addition, we needed to create new opportunities for lower-priced homes in self-developed communities.
We are aiming for another year-over-year improvement in sales of 50%. Our plan is to grow the company to a reasonable size without creating such an appetite for land that we are unable to maintain our volume from one year to the next. The target volume stands at 100 units per year; we are on track to realize that goal in 2020.
