New Kids On The Block

Startup builders know they’ve arrived when the big guys in their markets begin to imitate them. When it happened to Surrey Homes, it was a sure sign that “we’re now part of the conversation in Orlando,” says owner and CEO Jay Lewis, who launched his company in the first quarter of 2009. One of Surrey’s four active communities is Belle Vista, a gated enclave near Orlando, Fla.’s airport. Eighteen months before Surrey got there, David Weekley Homes was selling houses from a $462,000 base model that featured another $215,000 in options. Lewis contends many buyers couldn’t afford Weekley’s souped-up model, whereas Surrey’s model at Belle Vista, priced at $460,000, offered most of those options, plus other features such as concrete tile roofing, as standard. Weekley subsequently came out with a revised list of standard features, and this summer was building a new model that Lewis says is similar to Surrey’s. (Indeed, in June, Weekley’s website promoted its homes at Belle Vista, its first green community, which were priced from $363,990 to $435,990, with a lengthy list of standard features.) Lewis, who worked for M/I Homes and NVR, recognizes that housing “is a copycat business.” But he also believes Surrey Homes has more than one ace up its sleeve and is confident enough to project that Surrey will close 50 homes this year, nearly double the 27 it settled in 2010. “And, we’ve already broken the seal and have become profitable.”

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