2018 Housing Giants Rankings of Home Building Companies

The 2018 Housing Giants list below can be sorted by clicking on the column name: Rank 2018, Rank 2017, Company, Closings/Units. Clicking on an individual company name will take you to a page with more information about the company, including what they build and where they build.

To see the rankings list in the May 2018 Pro Builder digimag, click here.

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Read More From the 2018 Housing Giants Report

Cost-Cutting Strategies for Home Builders of All Sizes

The biggest news for 2017 in the home building industry was, undoubtedly, Lennar's purchase of CalAtlantic—the largest-ever merger involving the nation’s Housing Giants. The combined company will likely be the No.1 home builder in the U.S. in 2018 in both revenue and closings. With its $9.3 billion price tag (including debt), Lennar will shell out three times as much as Pulte did for Centex in that merger of Giants in 2009, but is undoubtedly counting on a better return than that transaction garnered. In addition to gaining a substantial and lucrative foothold in California’s thriving housing market, Lennar‘s deal will allow the company to pursue lower costs for labor and materials in all of its combined markets.

There was plenty of other M&A activity in 2017, as well, as home builders of all sizes tried to increase their footprints without having to start from scratch in a new market. Read more ...

How Big Builders Are Staying Nimble

Hubris was rampant among builders during the last boom. As with previous recessions in every decade since 1968, many builders were the last to see the 2008 crash coming. Mike Storey, president of Neal Communities, in Sarasota, Fla., remembers it well. “We listened to analysts like Ivy call the last downturn,” he says, referring to Ivy Zelman of institutional investment research firm Zelman & Associates, “and we laughed at her because we were still raising prices by 30 grand.”

“Consumers, in a lot of ways, were smarter than we were,” Storey says. “They saw the housing downturn before the builders did and acted very quickly. They stopped buying homes, started walking away from contracts, but builders were in denial. Pay attention to the consumer. They are smarter than us.” Read more ...

6 Steps for Building Smart, Connected Homes

For home builders that are wondering if it’s worth the effort, consider that building “smart” or connected homes is an opportunity to crush existing home competition and meet buyer expectation with confidence while protecting yourself from risk. It’s a chance to lead instead of follow. These six steps break it down for builders and a glossary of smart homes terminology and FAQs gives you all the background info you need. Read more ...