Business as Usual

Business as Usual

Home builders by Pam McTeer | Contributing Writer

LAKEWOOD RANCH - He started in a single-car garage with a vision.

And now John Cannon, owner of John Cannon Homes with his wife Phillipa, has amassed a name as one of the most prestigious homebuilders in Southwest Florida region.

Earlier this month, Cannon and his nearly 20-year-old company moved into its new headquarters in Lakewood Ranch.

The office, located at 6710 Professional Parkway W. in Lakewood Ranch's business park, looks more like a castle than an office building, taking on the feel and finish of the company's custom built homes.

The 58,000-square-foot building mimics a residential mansion with its barrel-tile roofing, multiple balconies, patio and multi-level roofline. Inside, visitors get the same effect with lighting and carpeting. There's even a fireplace in the front desk waiting room.

And just as John Cannon Homes customizes houses to its clients, its new headquarters meet its own needs. The homebuilder occupies only half of its new building - the right side is available for lease.

Divided departments

John Cannon operated his business from his own single-car garage for the first five years before moving into a more typical office setting. As the company grew, it bought or rented offices in the same location.

John Cannon Homes' various departments - architecture, planning and permitting, among others - were once separated by a parking lot when the company operated out of a business park in south Sarasota. The end result became six different office buildings housing employees within a parking lot away from each other.

In the new Lakewood Ranch office, each department is easily accessible to the others. John Cannon even installed elevators and stairwells midway through the wings to make travel more convenient for employees. And for planners and architects, for example, desks were designed so that employees would be able to roll out plans and have enough room between desktop and workspace to swivel and move in their chairs. The Cannons also added a common break room and are creating an exercise room with lockers for their roughly 93 employees.

The building also includes a design center, where customers can browse through carpet selections, patio pavers, sinks, faucets, light fixtures and kitchen displays, among other items.

"That part of it really streamlines our operation," John Cannon says. "It almost becomes retail space."

Gradual growth

It's a vast difference from those garage days. But as John Cannon said, the growth came slowly.

"It was a very gradual thing," he says.

John Cannon graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in building construction. Upon graduation, he moved to Sarasota, where he worked for a national builder and quickly moved up in the company.

John was destined to start his own business, Phillipa said, and he used those experiences with other builders as building blocks for the success of his own company years later. John Cannon officially started John Cannon Homes in 1987, dabbling on his own while working full-time with a builder. He only did a handful of projects in three years.

"It became a real viable entity when in 1990 when we got married," John Cannon says of his business.

Phillipa Cannon continued working at a bank, and John dedicated himself full-time to his new company. Then Phillipa Cannon joined him, and later another person, and then another, finally up to the current staffing numbers.

In the company's fastest growing year, the company grew by 17%, John Cannon said. And what started as less than 10 custom homes per year is now between 75 and 100 under construction at any given time. John Cannon estimated he's finished about 800 homes since the business opened, with current homes ranging between $800,000 and $6 million.

Cannon's homes accentuate the looks of upscale communities such as University Park Country Club, The Preserve at Panther Ridge, River Wilderness and the Lake Club at Lakewood Ranch.

While about 50% of the company's business is in Lakewood Ranch, it has projects spanning from Tampa to Punta Gorda, John Cannon said. Headquarters in Lakewood Ranch, he said, just made the most sense.

"Lakewood Ranch is a great center to our universe," he says. "This is a location that allows us to work in all directions. It's centralized. It's also near a lot of our capacity."

From tile to roof

Whether a home customized for a client or a model home for a planned community, John Cannon said he's got his finger in the works. He gets involved with everything from sales to the design and interiors, helping to make other's visions turn out on paper and then on pavement.

Phillipa Cannon says her husband thinks each new model home the company builds is better than before. He agreed, adding that he's grown in the industry and learned a lot from his customers.

"For a builder, models are very personal," Phillipa Cannon says. "They're their ideas and thoughts, and they're touchable."

John Cannon says he'd always dreamed of owning his own business, but starting out is difficult.

"One side of you had dreams and desires, and then you have execution," John Cannon says. "I set some lofty goals."

That, he says, is where Phillipa comes in. The couple said they complement each other even in the business world - John sets the vision and Phillipa helps build the foundation under it, each using his and her strengths to grow and provide a good environment for employees and customers.

"We love what we do and we're lucky we get to do it together," Phillipa Cannon says.

"I can't imagine doing anything else," John Cannon added.

John Cannnon has been a finalist for the Gulf Coast Business Review's annual entrepreneur of the year award.

At a Glance

John Cannon Homes

revenues

2001 $31.4 million

2002 $41 million

2003 $77 million

2004 $132 million

2005 $85 million