Luxury home builder Toll Brothers was named BUILDER magazine’s Builder of the Year during proceedings of an annual awards program at BUILDER’s Housing Leadership Summit yesterday in Laguna Nigel, Calif. The Builder of the Year, BUILDER’s highest honor each year, is recognized for its excellence in successful business strategy, its achievements, and its corporate leadership.

Since Even while weathering the recession, Horsham, PA-based Toll Brothers has transformed itself into a national multi-threat real estate power brand, with a complement of suburban, closer-in, and urban options for affluent home buyers and renters. Led by CEO Doug Yearley, the company’s success stems from its ability to raise capital, acquire land, and create value in new residential communities.

Noteworthy among Toll Brothers’ achievements in 2013, in November it announced it won the Shapell family’s selection as winning bidder for Shapell Industries’ residential land and home building operations for $1.6 billion. Completed on February 5, 2014, the purchase includes approximately 5,200 home sites in established coastal California communities in the San Francisco Bay area, metro Los Angeles, Orange County and the Carlsbad market.

“The company’s up-market price-point, lifestyle segmentation positions, and its best-of-breed execution set it apart from competitors in production home building and development as one of housing’s most powerful and promising brands,” said BUILDER editorial director John McManus in presenting the award. “Toll Brothers one day will be a globally recognizable luxury housing and hospitality trademark along the lines of Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton.”

The Builder of the Year is chosen from the ranks of the BUILDER 100 rankings produced by Builder, which is featured in the May 2014 issue of BUILDER magazine and on BuilderOnline.com.

Also, three other Builder 100 companies received honors yesterday at HLS, include Aliso Viejo, Calif.–based New Home Company and Matthews, N.C.-based Bonterra Builders in the private builder category and Scottsdale, Ariz.–based Taylor Morrison in the public builder category.

THE NEW HOME CO.: The five-year-old New Home Co. expanded an astounding 192 percent last year in advance of its January Wall Street debut, in which it raised $86 million. Its success is fueled by smart land strategies that focus on markets where buyers will pay a premium for the firm’s thoughtful architecture and innovative floor plans. The company is ranked No. 93 in closings on the Builder 100 list, moving up from No. 154 the previous year. “The New Home company, our fastest-growing private builder of 2013, has since joined the ranks of public builders, but the company’s unwavering commitment to customer service and operational excellence is not changing,” notes BUILDER‘s McManus. “The firm is now poised for monumental growth.”

BONTERRA BUILDERS: This rising star in the building industry has made a name for itself by offering quality homes that appeal to move-up buyers. The company’s diverse product line features something for every family at a variety of price points, from condos in the $300s to $1 million single-family homes. The company is ranked at No. 124 on the Top 100/Next 100 list.

“When buyers come through the door of a Bonterra home, they instantly recognize the company’s dedication to high-quality construction, finishes, and product selection,” McManus says. “It separates them from the national public builders they compete with.”

TAYLOR MORRISON: The past several years have been eventful for Taylor Morrison, which builds in the U.S. as Taylor Morrison and Darling Homes, and in Canada as Monarch Homes. During the recession, while other builders were contracting, Taylor Morrison purchased Texas-based Darling Homes. Then in April 2013, Taylor Morrison raised $628 million in an initial public offering that was buoyed by record-low mortgage rates and rising sales prices. The company ranked No. 8 on the Builder 100 for 2013.

In presenting the award, McManus credited much of Taylor Morrison’s success to its president and CEO, Sheryl Palmer. “Palmer and her expert team organized two companies into a unified one with staffs working together efficiently and effectively,” says McManus. “Plus, they navigated a declining market, a private equity purchase, and a public offering.”

Source:  Builder Online 5/13/2014