Jump Start

In its production office, Eagle Construction of Va. keeps a "countdown" chart that tracks what this Glen Allen, Va.–based builder needs to accomplish to finish the year in the black. "We're getting close," said Eagle’s president Bud Ohly in October. Close enough that Ohly confidently projected that his company would deliver 135 homes this year, versus 128 in 2008, and "make a little money." Despite so many unanswered questions—about foreclosures, unemployment, bank financing, unpredictable publicly owned competitors, and fickle home buyers—builders continue to prepare for better days ahead. They haven’t lost confidence in their companies’ ability to ride out the storm and turn things around. Nor have they lost faith in the industry and its seminal place in the U.S. economy. Some builders also recognize, however, that business will not fall into their laps as it did during the last boom, and to recapture lost ground they must regain the trust of consumers, lenders, investors, suppliers, and even their own associates.

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