Independent Homebuilder Beats Competitors With Flexibility

Larwin Co. Fastest Growing Company Over $100 Million (128.21%) No. 2 Fastest Growing Company Overall As an independent with sales of $178 million, Larwin Co. is a proverbial David in a sea of billion-dollar plus Goliaths, and Denis Cullumber wouldn’t have it any other way. The president and COO of the Encino-based homebuilder believes that the company’s size and independence is what has contributed to its success ever since its inception nearly 60 years ago. “We have an internal theme and that is we want to be where the publics are not,” said Cullumber. “We’re looking for niches and probably smaller projects that are typically passed over by the bigger building companies.” Larwin’s size and independence makes the company nimble. It can choose to reduce projects when land prices get too high, and it can take on very small projects or move from upper-end homes to moderate ones and back again as the market shifts. “We don’t have to be on a growth curve for the sake of growth,” Cullumber said. “If the market is there, and we can sell at a moderate risk and make good profit, then we will continue to look for opportunities. But if the market is depressed we’ll just sit back and wait. A public company can’t do that.” Sure, that means that Larwin’s revenues can and have fluctuated as housing cycles ebb and flow, but it has also ensured the company’s longevity, not to mention its profitability. While public companies face pressure to continually replenish their pipeline of home production in order to feed the bottom line, Larwin can focus instead on its current operations quality control and customer service, its business partners say. “Larwin is a fifty-year old company that has seen the ups and downs of the market,” said Michael Kagan, president of Elite Financial, a Westlake Village mortgage brokerage that has long worked with the company. “And they operate based on the long term. This is a local company that builds based on local reputation, understanding that markets are cyclical and they know their marketplace and perform very well in it.” Founded in 1948 when the soldiers returning from World War II set out for the Valley looking for a slice of the American dream, Larwin was eventually sold to Lowe Enterprises and, in 1978 spun off under a new owner, Michael Keston. Since then, the company has built 50,000 homes in eight states, and more recently, has focused on the Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. In 2005, the company built 189 homes, about 20 percent more than it built in 2004, resulting in a 128 percent increase in revenues. Like many builders, Larwin has followed the population and land supply to Antelope Valley where it is currently selling homes ranging from the $200,000s to the $400,000s, and it is constructing several new communities in Simi Valley where homes will sell in the $400,000 range.