Dive Brief:
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Clayton Properties Group bought Birmingham, AL–based Harris Doyle Homes in the company's fifth acquisition of a site-build firm, according to Builder.
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Harris Doyle currently sells in nine communities across Birmingham and Montgomery, AL. The company closed 139 homes last year and is on track to match those figures in 2017.
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Co-founders Brooks Harris and Russ Doyle will continue to run the company, and they expect volume to double in the next three years. Builder points to potential “synergies” with the recent site-build acquisitions, including Harris Doyle, and other Berkshire Hathaway–owned businesses, such as MiTek and Johns Manville.
Dive Insight:
Clayton's latest deal represents the company's bullish approach to growing its site-build operations. The company launched that division in the fall of 2015, before executing a string of deals across the South. The acquisition of Harris Doyle continues those efforts.
Last week, Clayton bought Oakwood Homes, Colorado's biggest private homebuilder and one that has a focus on building technology including BIM and panelized construction. Oakwood owns as many as 4,000 lots and controls 18,000, giving Clayton access to land as it grows its site-build operations.
Clayton's expansion started with its acquisition of Georgia homebuilder Chafin Communities. The following spring, Clayton brought Goodall Homes, a Gallatin, TN–based builder of single-family homes, townhomes and condominiums, into the fold. In November, the company purchased Kansas City, MO’s largest site-build company, Summit Custom Homes, affording Clayton 1,200 lots in the area.
One possible outcome of Clayton’s site-build acquisitions is that the company will begin to combine conventional on-site building practices with its competency in factory-based construction. Offsite methods are attracting interest for their ability to standardize projects. Getting those components to the job site would be a challenge, although Clayton started a new division earlier this year that will deliver manufactured homes from its fabrication sites to retail home centers.
Other companies are joining forces to ensure better access to diminishing land supplies. The country's largest homebuilder, D.R. Horton, recently acquired land developer Forestar Group, which owns 50 residential and mixed-use developments throughout 10 U.S. states. D.R. Horton also bought Wilson Parker Homes, a southeast builder, while Lennar recently acquired Florida homebuilder WCI.