Dive summary:

• As the sports saying goes, "go big or go home," and custom builder Bill Silliman already was home when Toll Brothers rode into his million-dollar-plus market in and around Orlando, Fla., so he erected a $2.9 million lake-front model home to compete in the Waterstone community.
• Third-generation builder Silliman had survived the recession with his business intact when he felt there was a new wind blowing buyers back into the high-end market, especially with interest rates as low as they have been.
• He understood that the national builders sell into potential buyers' dreams, so he went there with the large model he calls The Home Reimagined that includes a second-floor design studio where home buyers can express those dreams in features they want.

From the article:

"They are great marketers, great merchandisers," said Silliman of production home builders in general. "They elicit the emotions of buyers. So we decided to take what they do right and merchandise ourselves and back it up with a quality home." ...