Builder works to nail the needs of each market
Geographic diversity can help stave off any local slowdown
WITH David Weekley Homes’ recent entrance into new markets including Chicago, Salt Lake City, and Nashville, Tenn., any downturn in Houston’s economy should be a blip for the homebuilder.
After getting its start in Houston in 1976, the Houston-based company is now active in 20 cities across the country and is poised to go into Minneapolis/St. Paul this year.
Chairman David Weekley said the geographic diversity can help stave off any local slowdown in sales caused by the energy downturn last year, but it also requires the company to do a large amount of due diligence before entering a city, based on a wide range of tastes across markets.
“You would think after going into 19 markets, you might have the formula down,” Weekley said. “But each market is really different. It’s an interesting challenge when people don’t know us in new markets.”
For example, Weekley said homebuyers in the North prefer two-story homes in order to make the highest use of ex- pensive land; in Florida, buyers love stucco; and in some other markets, basements are key. To meet those demands, David Weekley tailors its floor plans to reflect the tastes of buyers in each market.
Entering new territories is made easier by the fact that about 30 percent of the company’s sales come from referrals, he said. In fact, David Weekley’s first sale in Chicago was a buyer who was familiar with the company’s work in Houston.
Another bright spot for David Weekley in 2014 — when the company logged about $1.4 billion in revenue, up from $1.1 billion in 2013 — was its new Central Living by David Weekley Homes product, which took the company out of its well-known territory in the suburbs and into the more central parts of Houston inside Beltway 8 with a denser product type that often requires tearing down old structures to clear land.
David Weekley has 1,337 employees, with 440 in Houston.
It was No. 9 on the Chronicle list of top private companies, up from four spots from last year.