Smith Douglas Homes—No. 38 on the 2023 Builder 100—announced it has acquired the assets of Houston-based Devon Street Homes—No. 150 on the Next 100.

This marks Smith Douglas' initial entry into Texas as it establishes a presence in the second-largest, new-home market in the United States.

"Like the Southeast markets, Texas markets are very attractive to buyers looking to relocate to a great place to live," says Jim Van Kirk, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Smith Douglas Homes. "Houston is one of the more affordable markets, which is critical to the target buyer of a Smith Douglas Home, many of whom are first-time homeowners. We see tremendous growth opportunity in this market."

Devon Street Homes was founded in 2006 to provide Houston-area families with quality homes at an affordable price. In 2022, Devon Street closed 324 homes across 15 communities with revenues in excess of $100 million and currently controls nearly 1,500 lots in the area.

“After growing this company to its current size, I felt a like-minded, multi-market partner such as Smith Douglas Homes could carry on my mission by serving even more Houston families while providing the loyal team of Devon Street Homes associates with even greater future career opportunities,” says Stephen Ray, founder and president of Devon Street.

Ray will continue to lead the Houston division, and all Devon Street associates have been offered positions with Smith Douglas.

“Devon Street Homes offers an ideal strategic and cultural fit within our existing platform, and we’re thrilled that Stephen was looking to partner with another builder at a time when we were looking to expand,” says Greg Bennett, president and CEO of Smith Douglas Homes. “This acquisition provides us with a great foundation from which we’ll look opportunistically at other Texas markets.”

New communities will be introduced under the Smith Douglas Homes brand, while existing Devon Street Homes communities will be rebranded over time.

"All of our prior growth has been organic by starting up new operations from the ground up in key Southeast markets outside of our Atlanta-area home base," adds Van Kirk. "We've been open to acquisition and found that Devon Street was an ideal strategic fit, and the timing was optimal since they were open to finding a larger builder partner."

Whelan Advisory acted as the exclusive financial adviser to Devon Street Homes.