We design, build, market, and arrange financing for detached and attached homes
in luxury residential communities. We cater to move-up, empty-nester, active-adult,
age-qualified, and second-home buyers in the United States. We also build and
sell homes in urban infill markets through Toll Brothers City Living® (“City
Living”).
We operate our own land development, architectural, engineering, mortgage,
title, landscaping, security monitoring, lumber distribution, house component
assembly, and manufacturing operations. We also develop, own, and operate golf
courses and country clubs, which generally are associated with several of our
master planned communities.
We are developing several land parcels for master planned communities in which
we intend to build homes on a portion of the lots and sell the remaining lots
to other builders. Two of these master planned communities are being developed
100% by us, and the remaining communities are being developed through joint
ventures with other builders or financial partners.
In addition to our residential for-sale business, we also develop and operate
for-rent apartments. These projects, which are located in the metro Boston to
metro Washington, D.C. corridor and Atlanta, are being operated, are being developed,
or will be developed with partners under the brand names Toll Brothers Apartment
Living, Toll Brothers Campus Living, and Toll Brothers Realty Trust.
We develop individual stand-alone communities as well as multi-product, master
planned communities. Our master planned communities, many of which include golf
courses and other country club-type amenities, enable us to offer multiple home
types and sizes to a broad range of move-up, empty-nester, active-adult, and
second-home buyers. We seek to realize efficiencies from shared common costs,
such as land development and infrastructure, over the several communities within
the master planned community.
Each of our detached home communities offers several home plans with the opportunity
for home buyers to select various exterior styles. We design each community
to fit existing land characteristics. We strive to achieve diversity among architectural
styles within a community by offering a variety of house models and several
exterior design options for each model, preserving existing trees and foliage
whenever practicable, and curving street layouts to allow relatively few homes
to be seen from any vantage point. Normally, homes of the same type or color
may not be built next to each other. Our communities have attractive entrances
with distinctive signage and landscaping. We believe that our added attention
to community detail gives each community a diversified neighborhood appearance
that enhances home values.
Our traditional attached home communities generally offer one- to four-story
homes, provide for limited exterior options, and often include commonly owned
recreational facilities such as clubhouses, playing fields, swimming pools,
and tennis courts.
We market our high quality homes to upscale luxury home buyers, generally comprised
of those persons who have previously owned a principal residence and who are
seeking to buy a larger or more desirable home — the so-called “move-up”
market. We believe our reputation as a developer of homes for this market enhances
our competitive position with respect to the sale of our smaller, more moderately
priced homes.
We believe that the demographics of the move-up, empty-nester, active-adult,
age-qualified, and second-home upscale markets will provide us with an opportunity
for growth in the future, and that our financial strength and portfolio of approved
home sites in the Washington, D.C. to Boston corridor and in our California
markets, in which land is scarce and approvals are more difficult to obtain,
give us a competitive advantage. We continue to believe that many of our communities
are in desirable locations that are difficult to replace and that many of these
communities have substantial embedded value that may be realized in the future
as the housing recovery strengthens.
We typically expend considerable effort in developing a concept for each community,
which includes determining the size, style, and price range of the homes; the
layout of the streets and individual home sites; and the overall community design.
After the necessary governmental subdivision and other approvals have been obtained,
which may take several years, we improve the land by clearing and grading it;
installing roads, underground utility lines, and recreational amenities; distinctive
entrance features; and staking out individual home sites.
Each community is managed by a project manager. Working with sales staff, construction
managers, marketing personnel, and, when required, other in-house and outside
professionals such as accountants, engineers, and architects, a project manager
is responsible for supervising and coordinating the various developmental steps
such as land approval, land acquisition, marketing, selling, construction, and
customer service, and monitoring the progress of work and controlling expenditures.
Major decisions regarding each community are made in consultation with senior
members of our management team.
