Home styles for Emerald’s new construction will be similar to those in Emerald’s Clifton neighborhood in Goochland. Images courtesy Emerald Homes.
After seeing its sales volumes plummet along with the recession, a local homebuilder-developer is picking up its former pace with new construction and additions to its lot inventory in several neighborhoods.
Chesterfield-based Emerald Homes is starting work on new sections in three of its own developments – Walnut Creek in Powhatan County and The Oaks and Greenwood Estates in New Kent County. It is also under contract to purchase 30 lots in Viridis Development Corporation’s Forest Ridge community in Chesterfield.
The activity is a welcome sight for Emerald president R.T. Avery, who noted the lean times that came with the economic downturn and subsequent effect on the homebuilding market.
While the numbers aren’t quite where he wants them to be, he said, they’re an improvement from the low point the company hit during those years, when annual sales dropped as low as $5 million – a fraction of the 32-year company’s best year, when sales topped $20 million. By 2014, Avery said sales had crawled to $8 million, then jumped to $12 million in 2015.
RT Avery
“Everybody’s talking about ‘the new normal,’” he said. “I’ve yet to get a handle on what that is for us after the period of late ’07 through at least the end of 2012. We got turned upside down and haven’t totally recovered yet.
“We were in these projects as builder and part-owner of the development entity prior to the recession,” Avery said, referring to the New Kent and Powhatan developments. “So we’ve just been cautiously feeling our way as to when would be the right time to go forward.”
At Walnut Creek, Emerald is adding eight home sites to 43 developed there thus far. The community on Route 60 in Powhatan County, at 6368 Anderson Highway, is approved for 105 total lots, with lot sizes ranging from 2 to 5 acres.
Homes in that section will range from three to four bedrooms and two and a half to three bathrooms, with options for a fifth bedroom and first-floor master suite. Homes in Walnut Creek are served by wells and septic, hence the larger lot size. Prices will range from $230,000 to upwards of $300,000, Avery said.
At The Oaks in New Kent County, along Egypt Road north of Interstate 64, Emerald is starting work on 17 lots and plans to develop an additional 19 in another section that would start once the initial 17 are 50 percent under contract. Those two sections would add to two others already built, totaling 70 homes so far. The Oaks is approved for a total of 139 homes, leaving 69 homes remaining to be built.
Homes in that development will be served by county water and sewer, allowing for smaller lot sizes of less than 1 acre. Avery said home styles will be similar to Walnut Creek and start at $250,000.
Farther west in New Kent, Emerald is adding 22 lots to 16 developed so far at Greenwood Estates, located at 5791 Mako Road. The additional lots will finish out that community, which Avery described as similar home styles ranging from $260,000 to upwards of $275,000.
Overall, Avery said the three projects amount to a total investment of nearly $4 million.
And at Forest Ridge in Chesterfield, Emerald is under contract to purchase 30 lots, though Avery said he’s not decided if they’ll purchase all 30.
In addition to those projects, the company is also building homes in neighborhoods in Goochland, elsewhere in Powhatan and on scattered lots in Hanover and Henrico counties. While the work is keeping it busy, Avery said he’s just shy of meeting his targets for the company.
“We have become a little bit more comfortable each of the past three years,” he said. “I’d like for us to maybe be 10, 15 percent more annual sales volume than where we are, but we had a nice increase in 2015 over what we did in 2014.”
Avery said Emerald has been able to take on the additional work without yet needing to increase its staff, which currently totals 11 people.
“We’ve been very reluctant to increase our staff since the downturn,” he said. “It’s sort of a balancing act, because you want to take advantage of any opportunity we get but don’t want to put three or four more people on payroll and then have a downturn and all of a sudden we’ve got to start laying off people we just hired.
“In this business, you’re never really comfortable,” he added. “You either don’t have enough to do or too much to do. And especially after what we’ve been through, if you get an opportunity for something that you feel strongly is going to be successful, you want to take advantage of it.”
Home styles for Emerald’s new construction will be similar to those in Emerald’s Clifton neighborhood in Goochland. Images courtesy Emerald Homes.
After seeing its sales volumes plummet along with the recession, a local homebuilder-developer is picking up its former pace with new construction and additions to its lot inventory in several neighborhoods.
Chesterfield-based Emerald Homes is starting work on new sections in three of its own developments – Walnut Creek in Powhatan County and The Oaks and Greenwood Estates in New Kent County. It is also under contract to purchase 30 lots in Viridis Development Corporation’s Forest Ridge community in Chesterfield.
The activity is a welcome sight for Emerald president R.T. Avery, who noted the lean times that came with the economic downturn and subsequent effect on the homebuilding market.
While the numbers aren’t quite where he wants them to be, he said, they’re an improvement from the low point the company hit during those years, when annual sales dropped as low as $5 million – a fraction of the 32-year company’s best year, when sales topped $20 million. By 2014, Avery said sales had crawled to $8 million, then jumped to $12 million in 2015.
RT Avery
“Everybody’s talking about ‘the new normal,’” he said. “I’ve yet to get a handle on what that is for us after the period of late ’07 through at least the end of 2012. We got turned upside down and haven’t totally recovered yet.
“We were in these projects as builder and part-owner of the development entity prior to the recession,” Avery said, referring to the New Kent and Powhatan developments. “So we’ve just been cautiously feeling our way as to when would be the right time to go forward.”
At Walnut Creek, Emerald is adding eight home sites to 43 developed there thus far. The community on Route 60 in Powhatan County, at 6368 Anderson Highway, is approved for 105 total lots, with lot sizes ranging from 2 to 5 acres.
Homes in that section will range from three to four bedrooms and two and a half to three bathrooms, with options for a fifth bedroom and first-floor master suite. Homes in Walnut Creek are served by wells and septic, hence the larger lot size. Prices will range from $230,000 to upwards of $300,000, Avery said.
At The Oaks in New Kent County, along Egypt Road north of Interstate 64, Emerald is starting work on 17 lots and plans to develop an additional 19 in another section that would start once the initial 17 are 50 percent under contract. Those two sections would add to two others already built, totaling 70 homes so far. The Oaks is approved for a total of 139 homes, leaving 69 homes remaining to be built.
Homes in that development will be served by county water and sewer, allowing for smaller lot sizes of less than 1 acre. Avery said home styles will be similar to Walnut Creek and start at $250,000.
Farther west in New Kent, Emerald is adding 22 lots to 16 developed so far at Greenwood Estates, located at 5791 Mako Road. The additional lots will finish out that community, which Avery described as similar home styles ranging from $260,000 to upwards of $275,000.
Overall, Avery said the three projects amount to a total investment of nearly $4 million.
And at Forest Ridge in Chesterfield, Emerald is under contract to purchase 30 lots, though Avery said he’s not decided if they’ll purchase all 30.
In addition to those projects, the company is also building homes in neighborhoods in Goochland, elsewhere in Powhatan and on scattered lots in Hanover and Henrico counties. While the work is keeping it busy, Avery said he’s just shy of meeting his targets for the company.
“We have become a little bit more comfortable each of the past three years,” he said. “I’d like for us to maybe be 10, 15 percent more annual sales volume than where we are, but we had a nice increase in 2015 over what we did in 2014.”
Avery said Emerald has been able to take on the additional work without yet needing to increase its staff, which currently totals 11 people.
“We’ve been very reluctant to increase our staff since the downturn,” he said. “It’s sort of a balancing act, because you want to take advantage of any opportunity we get but don’t want to put three or four more people on payroll and then have a downturn and all of a sudden we’ve got to start laying off people we just hired.
“In this business, you’re never really comfortable,” he added. “You either don’t have enough to do or too much to do. And especially after what we’ve been through, if you get an opportunity for something that you feel strongly is going to be successful, you want to take advantage of it.”