As community counts rise, builders find themselves at the mercy of a “hire power” to find, motivate, and retain top-notch teams to execute growth plans.

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Instead, Sim devotes a lot of effort to personnel planning, training, and mentoring. While Pulte's internal “Top Gun” program recognizes mentors on a corporate basis, Sim is rolling out a “Wingman” program in Minneapolis to give recognition to employees at the local level.

“There is no doubt that our demands are greater, but the opportunities are also greater,” he says. “We motivate our employees at the community level by empowering them. We give them a chance to be a businessperson—those managers are, in effect, in charge of a multimillion dollar business. Many decisions are made at the community level,” he continues. “But we provide the training tools and resources to know what the right answers are.”

Carpitella stresses that in today's growth environment, the focus needs to remain on hiring employees for the competencies they possess, especially when hiring from outside the industry. “Our business is unique in both its time demands and the nature of people both direct and indirect [vendors] that work in it,” says Carpitella. “The best people outside the industry to bring into our business usually have a consistent set of competencies. I have found it to be less important of what role they fill and more important that the competencies exist.”

Sim, who currently has 16 active communities and expects to add 14 more in 2006, agrees. “The challenge is certainly there, but we don't sugar coat anything during our interview process,” he says. “We just need to find the right people to be excited by the opportunity.”

ICI Snapshot

Headquarters: Daytona Beach, Fla.
Active Markets: Florida, some activity in Tennessee and Georgia.
Product Mix: Multifamily and single-family, entry-level through high-end custom.
Unit Count: 2003: 972; 2004: 1,624; 2005: 1,867*
Community Count: 2003: 28; 2004: 35; 2005: 40*
Revenue: 2003: 325; 2004: 526

*Estimated

Mori Hosseini, president and CEO of ICI Homes, has a tempered but impressive approach to growth. In fact, ICI Homes is in the top 1 percent of home builders in the country with a net income of more than 20 percent (see Profitability Comparison). Predicting a leveling off near 3,000 units over the next couple of years, Hosseini has no plans to “live on a quarter-by-quarter basis.” Instead, his long-term growth goals remain focused on profit. “I'm not interested in just growing my company for the hell of it,” he remarks. “If I can continue to grow and maintain the same bottom line, great.”

Personnel Projections:

According to Bill Carpitella, CEO and principal of The Sharrow Group, as builders add active communities to their stable, additional personnel should be folded in at the following pace:

Each community (assuming an average absorption of four units a month), requires, on average:

For every three new communities added, a company needs:

For every six communities added, a company needs:

For every 20 communities added, a company needs: