Engineered Homes Gears Up for Banner Sales Season

WINTER PARK, FL-Locally based Engineered Homes plans to launch five new communities this year totaling 2,000 multifamily and single-family residences in a four-county area, newly named company president Steve O'Dowd tells GlobeSt.com. O'Dowd says the company's inventory ran dry last year when unprecedented buyer demand sold out all of the firm's 261 homes for $103.9 million or an average $398,084 per residence. In 2004, the 11-year-old builder posted $171.5 million on 629 sales for an average $272,655 per home.

"We currently have 1,989 homes in our Central Florida pipeline," O'Dowd says. "That's a lot on our plate and we believe we'll need every bit of it." The company's products are going up in Orange, Seminole, Lake, Osceola and Polk counties "While we feel our inventory is sufficient to carry us for the next several years, that won't preclude us from continuing to look for land suited for future residential development."

O'Dowd comes to Engineered Homes from locally based Park Square Homes where he steered that firm to an average 50% annual growth over the eight years he was at the company. "He is the right person to take Engineered Homes to the next level," says company founder Igor Teplitsky. Teplitsky steps down as president and chief operating officer but remains as chairman, CEO and owner of the company.

Besides Park Square Homes, O'Dowd has worked in executive capacities at Ryland Homes and Catalina Homes over a 30-year real estate career.

Since its inception, the company has sold more than 3,500 homes worth an estimated $667 million, Teplitsky says. However, the 261 homes the company sold in 2005 were the fewest since 1997, the firm's first full year of operations. From 1998 through 2004, Engineered Homes has averaged 425 home sales annually.

"These are great and exciting times for Engineered Homes, as it launches a new era of homebuilding and residential construction," says Teplitsky.