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Builder Makes His Name In Attached Affordable Homes

With the housing market in a tailspin, the focus is on Garbett

June 21st, 2008 By Lesley Mitchell, The Salt Lake Tribune

SOUTH JORDAN - Years ago, Garbett Homes seemed to go against the grain of real estate development along the Wasatch Front. Buyers and cities alike wanted big homes on big lots, yet Garbett's specialty was in smaller, affordable townhomes with no yards. Fast forward to 2008. Several years of strong price gains in the real estate market have left ownership and that big-home big-yard dream firmly out of reach of more Utah families. Those who are budget-conscious are not only open to the idea of townhome living, but embrace the "maintenance-free" lifestyle. And more cities are looking to "attached" housing as a solution to the problem of a dwindling supply of developable land.

That puts Garbett Homes, with its focus on townhomes priced at less than $200,000, in a very good spot at a very bad time. The company is on track to sell 350 units this year, which would make it one of the state's top builders in terms of number of units sold.

With affordability now such a key issue, a number of builders are shifting their focuses to attached housing, such as townhomes and condos. Bryson Garbett, owner of the privately held company, is enjoying a more-than-a-decade head start and making a mark, not only in the industry but in the community, quietly, through his philanthropic efforts.

"He staked out territory early and established market share that carries him through to now," said Dan Lofgren, a Utah developer of condominiums and apartments. "He has a pretty-well-refined process at this point. Others have come into this market, but he continues to do well."

Garbett Homes is building such projects as the Summerlane at the District, just off Bangerter Highway near 11400 South in South Jordan. There, even before a model home is completed, buyers are under contract to purchase 64 townhomes - about one-quarter of the first phase - at selling prices from $149,900 to $215,000. Garbett also is building in the Daybreak development in South Jordan, in Farmington in Davis County and in West Valley and Sandy.

Garbett, 54, who founded his company in 1988, started out in the building business as a framer at age 18. After graduating from the University of Utah with a bachelor's in history, he worked with his brother building apartments. He later got into condominiums in the late 1980s and then later, into townhomes.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Garbett found a market not exactly receptive to builders of "attached" homes. It wasn't unusual then for people living in single-family areas to emotionally speak out when condominium, townhome or apartment projects were proposed, calling the multifamily developments unwanted additions to their communities.

"The attached market was a four-letter word here for quite a while," said Eric Allen of Metrostudy, which tracks the homebuilding industry. "There was a stigma attached. Everything was large lot-type stuff." Garbett decided early on that he didn't want to build cheap townhomes. He said he has constantly tinkered with the interior and exterior design of his units, which range from about 1,200 square feet to more than 2,000 square feet.