Building big

Lakeland-based Highland Homes, which markets primarily to first-time homebuyers, took on projects outside Polk County for the first time during the heady years of the housing bubble a decade ago.

That move built the foundation for a current growth spurt at the firm, run by father-son team Bob and Joel Adams.

“During the go-go days, we had moved into third-party development,” building in Hillsborough, Lake and Pasco counties for other companies, says Executive Vice President Joel Adams, 44. “When '08 and '09 hit, pretty much all of the deals unwound” and Highlands took over developments that partners exited.

Like many companies, Highland cut back during those lean years. But when the Adams family sensed the economy was improving, they aggressively extended their footprint, buoyed by the logistics they'd developed to manage their earlier projects outside of Polk.

The result is the 19-year-old company is expanding again. Revenues grew 32% last year, from $53 million to $70 million, and the firm is on track to hit $93 million in 2015. Highland barely missed a spot among the top 100 builders nationally last year, but officials hope to make it this year.

“We were 101. Nine closings would have put us on the 100,” says company founder and President Bob Adams, 75, who adds, “I'm probably too competitive for my own good.”

The company's footprint now extends north to Ocala, east to St. Cloud and south to Palmetto. Homes in most of its 26 communities start below $200,000. With an improving market, Highland's average sales price has climbed from $145,000 in 2010-11 to $182,000 this year. And four of the newer developments — in Plant City, Lakeland, Auburndale and Apopka — are aimed at a slightly higher demographic.

Expansion has brought greater reliance on technology to manage projects from a distance. And changes in the way young couples search for homes have revolutionized the firm's marketing.

“We've had to become a retailer,” Joel Adams says. “With social media and the website, the customer is going to know a lot about you before they walk into the model center.”
Highlands adopted a branded look and a uniform sales approach, he adds, that is “taught and learned and rehearsed.”

Like many other homebuilders, Highland aims for a nimble approach to land deals. “Land position drives pricing,” says Joel Adams, “So we've worked very diligently to find small, under-the-radar positions that aren't under the public builder's domain.”

Highland Homes was formed in 1996 after Bob Adams and former business partner Don Stephens dissolved Sun State Homes, a company they owned for 26 years. Joel Adams, then 26, received a contractor's license and was itching to become an entrepreneur.

The pair started Highland Homes with Bob Adams' assets from Sun State. The company built 50 houses in the first six months and 127 in 1997 as the market heated up. They moved into their current headquarters, a converted neo-Gothic church building, in 2004.

Current challenges, Bob Adams says, include marketing to a generation of millennials that has put off marriage and home-buying longer than their parents.

“It's a little different approach,” Bob Adams says. “We sell the excitement of taking that home, taking them to the site, selecting the model and keeping them in the parameters of affordability.”

— Barry Friedman