Quantum Leap

Step back to the fall of 2008. Desperate builders across the country were scrambling to strip down their house plans to lower their prices in buyer-starved markets. Bert Selva, CEO of Shea Homes, says he didn’t want to do that, even though a number of Shea’s more affordable communities, such as Reunion in Denver, weren’t generating their desired absorption rates. A “big fan of differentiation,” Selva thought Shea needed to come up with something special that could attract the 25- to 34-year-old demographic. He wasn’t sure what younger buyers wanted, but he knew that “they don’t want something their parents or grandparents had.” For example, buyers that Shea Homes interviewed said they normally eat in front of their TVs, which told Selva a new concept could dispense with large dining rooms. Selva also recalls a conversation with Scott Olivet, CEO of sunglasses maker Oakley, which led him to the conclusion that “customers don’t always know what they want, but they know it when they see it.”

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