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Homebuilders' group stands strong in hard times
Winston-Salem organization offers programs, networking opportunities for its members
Journal Photo by Amanda Muschlitz
Flake F. Steele of Pine Hall Brick Co. is a 30-year member of the Home Builders Association of Winston-Salem, which turns 50 this year.
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Published: July 8, 2009
When Flake F. Steele became a member of the Home Builders Association of Winston-Salem 30 years ago, the local and national housing markets were doing well.
"Everything was wide open," he said.
But since 2006, he said, national housing starts have fallen 76 percent, and he has been waiting for months to get better news about the industry.
"Demand is so slow," said Steele, a sales representative for Pine Hall Brick Co. Inc., a company based in Winston-Salem that makes and sells brick to builders. "And people can't sell their existing houses, so they can move up."
Still, he said he is encouraged by the fact that the Home Builders Association of Winston-Salem, which is marking its 50th anniversary this year, offers so many programs to help local companies in the industry and provides networking opportunities.
"When people see that you're a member of it, they know that it's a first-class organization," he said.
He said that the association offers educational programs and has members who are involved in the National Association of Home Builders.
The association started with 14 founding members in 1959. Today, it has 525 company members made up of homebuilders and associates, including suppliers, financial institutions, real-estate agents and attorneys who deal with the new construction and remodeling business. Its coverage area is Forsyth and Stokes counties.
Jerry Herman, the association's executive vice president, said that North Carolina has more home builders associations than any state in the country, and more members through the N.C. Home Builders Association than in any other state.
"It's probably because we have a lot of smaller markets all over the state," he said.
The association's first president was William Y. Burton. Two of its past presidents, Paul Mullican and Harris Gupton, were presidents of the N.C. Association of Home Builders. Over the years, the association has established various programs and marketing events, including its Parade of Homes in 1963, its Triad Home and Garden Show in 1988 and its Spring Festival of Homes in 2001.
Steele said that the annual Parade of Homes, which showcases the homes and products of builders and associates, is a marketing tool for such members as Pine Hall Brick.
O.T. Fowler, a former president of the association and the president of builder Grandview Inc., based in Pfafftown, has been a member since the beginning.
He recalled how he showcased two houses for the first Parade of Homes to bring the number of entries to 10.
"That got the public to know who we were," he said of the Parade of Homes. The association's 2008 Parade featured 85 homes from 50 different builders.
The biggest change for the association over the years has been its growing connections at the state and national levels and the upgrade of building in the industry, Fowler said.
"Back then, we started having a bus trip each year," Fowler said. "We'd take all our builders and contact another home builders association in Atlanta, or somewhere, and go down, and they would take us on tours of their homes. That gave us a real good idea of what was happening in other parts of the world." The home builder's association and the Winston-Salem Regional Association of Realtors formed the Joint Governmental Affairs department in 1998 in an effort to be proactive in local legislative affairs.
Association officials said that the industry will eventually turn around.
"Our members are definitely dealing with a slower economy right now," Herman said. "Some are doing quite well and some are doing OK and some are struggling, but these recession cycles usually have a cycle. This one seems to be a little deeper than what we experienced back in the 1970s and 1990s."
■ Fran Daniel can be reached at 727-7366 or at fdaniel@wsjournal.com.
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