Fast moves help builders battle slump

Long exposure to the market's brutality has whipped executives at two publicly owned homebuilders into a business-casual Delta Force. Meritage Homes Corp. and Pulte Homes Inc., both publicly traded companies with ties to the Valley, have survived partly by moving fast to grow leaner and more disciplined, using their financial might to keep prices low and making the most of a grim situation. For Scottsdale's Meritage Homes, that means picking up thousands of cheaply available vacant lots that former competitors left behind. For Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte Homes, which also owns the locally founded Del Webb brand, it means adopting the construction model of former competitor Centex Corp., which Pulte acquired in August. Their trials and tactics aren't unique. All locally active homebuilders are struggling and seeking ways to tough out the worst real-estate crisis on record. While Meritage, Pulte and the nation's other publicly traded homebuilders have reported financial losses throughout 2009, the latest news has not been all bad.

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