A Q&A with Dan Jones, Executive Vice President of Homebuilding Operations at Drees Homes
Tell us about your career history, and its evolution to your current role?
I’ve spent the entirety of my career in the homebuilding industry, with the early portion in the field as a construction superintendent, eventually moving to division president and regional president at Zaring Homes. Upon Drees Homes’ acquisition of Zaring in 2001, I assumed the role of regional president over many of our Southeast and Midwest divisions. My current role, Executive Vice President of Homebuilding Operations, is a position I’ve held since 2015.
Tell us more about Drees and where your role fits in the business?
I’m proud to work for a company that has more than 95 years of legendary expertise. We currently build in ten metro areas – Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Jacksonville, Raleigh, Nashville and Washington DC. As Executive Vice President of Homebuilding Operations, I have general oversight over the company’s operational divisions. This also includes Marketing, Production, Land and Product Strategy.
Discuss the Build on your Lot program and Elevate By Drees Homes – how do these benefit home buyers?
Elevate by Drees Homes empowers buyers to move beyond traditional subdivisions, constructing their dream homes on their own lot, within upscale custom communities or in historic neighborhoods. The program has gained popularity across suburbs and for redevelopment opportunities. It is currently offered in seven out of the ten metros where Drees is currently active, including Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Nashville, Raleigh, Austin and Dallas.
Elevate allows us to compete more directly with custom home builders, providing homeowners with a streamlined selection process and more efficient construction timeline. Drees’ Custom + Construct approach enables us to build the home in less time and at a great value when compared to the traditional custom home builder. This program offers homebuyers several advantages, including free site analysis, firm contract pricing and a one-stop selections process. Additionally, we buy the home site and finance construction, so homebuyers don’t need a separate construction loan.
How are these projects linked to your upcoming centennial in 2028? Are there more to come?
As we approach our 2028 centennial milestone, we’ve established several ambitious goals that will propel us to new heights as we kick off our second century in business. The Centennial Strategic Plan consists of six key strategies, one of which is directly related to growing our Elevate program. This expansion involves growing our Build on Your Lot operations by at least 50 percent in relevant markets. As part of our growth strategy, we intend to create a new corporate director position. This role will be responsible for overseeing and supporting all divisions that provide the Build on Your Lot service.
Drees has been named a US Best Managed Company, a Great Place to Work and one of 2023’s Best Workplaces in Construction – how do you create and maintain this winning culture?
Our welcoming company culture, belief in always doing what is right and strong performance results helps us stand out from the pack. More importantly, our leadership team recognizes the importance of our people. Not only do we pride ourselves on making excellent hiring decisions, but we also place an emphasis on developing and retaining talent. Additionally, our Human Resources team is committed to ensuring Drees’ benefits, compensation packages and flexible work policies are competitive to attract and retain talent.
Looking ahead but more generally, with your expertise, what do you think is next for the homebuilding sector?
Affordability will have to be a priority for all homebuilding companies. At Drees, we’re working to ensure that we offer affordable options for our homebuyers,
meeting them with options that cater to their ideal vision of home while also working within a manageable price point. This includes the recent introduction of our new Pure Style collection, and we also started building townhomes in select cities this past year.
The Pure Style line emphasizes affordable, statement-making style with curated design packages assembled by our team of professionals. For Pure Style, the customer selects the design package at the model home instead of at the Design Center. This streamlined process makes personalizing the home a breeze and helps get buyers in their new home faster. Ultimately, Pure Style homes offer buyers a lot of little luxuries at a more affordable price.
If there was one critical insight from the homebuilding sector you’d like a reader to take from this piece, what would it be?
Being uniquely skilled at land acquisition is a critical part of our overall strategy. With less lot availability than in the past, we are increasing our lot/land acquisition and development teams internally to enable us to put more lots on the ground. Also, we have expanded our partnerships with other builders and developers. As part of this initiative, we will focus on training and development, optimal staffing and additional investment in new technology that will strengthen and support our land acquisition efforts.