Sarasota-Manatee Runner-Up 2

Sarasota-Manatee Runner-Up 2

Britton Williams

President, Bruce Williams Homes

It took Britt Williams a while to get excited about homebuilding in Manatee County. "I didn't feel the bug right away," says Williams.

Now 37, Williams was working on a second degree at Auburn University in the early 1990s when his father used the power of the purse to summon him home to join the family business. "I got the call that the paid vacation was over," says Williams.

Lloyd E. Williams Jr. started his son on a low rung at Bruce Williams Homes. But, as Britt Williams moved up to eventually become president, he says: "I discovered I did have a passion for this industry."

His enthusiasm has prompted a threefold jump in annual revenue at Bruce Williams Homes during the past five years, coinciding with the Gulf Coast real estate boom.

Bruce Williams Homes, which his father co-founded around the time Britt Williams was born, owes its recent success to the staff, Williams says. "The company is not about me," Williams says of his employees. "They are what makes this company grow."

Williams says his father taught him to "hire above what you need," not more people so much as smarter ones. He says that helped in 2004, when the boom for which Bruce Williams Homes had staffed up the year before finally arrived. The dedicated employees dealt with the rush of orders while Britt Williams dealt with the death of Lloyd Williams.

"My father was a huge influence," he says.

Williams says homebuilding is dynamic. "It's important not to be too far out ahead," he says, "or too far behind."

The next year or so will be challenging. Land is scarcer, government permitting takes longer, and prospective buyers are waiting for speculators to dump newer residential properties at bargain prices.

After the Bradenton area returns to a more normal pattern of housing starts, Williams expects his company's quality approach to resume pushing the impressive sales figures higher still.

"It's all about the experience for the customer," he says. "That's what sets us apart."

- Francis X. Gilpin

Revenues 2003: $47.9 million 2004: $89.2 million 2005: $101.4 million

(86.5% increase) (13.6% increase)

Average annual growth: 49.9%

EMPLOYEES 2004: 80 2005: 90 2006: 106