Best Practices:
Corporate Profile: Shea Homes San Diego (SHSD) is part of the J.F. Shea Co. Inc. family of companies. Established in 1881, Shea is one of the oldest and largest privately held operations in the United States. Started in 1968, Shea Homes builds homes and develops master-planned communities throughout California, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina and Washington. With more than $2 billion in annual revenues and eight home building divisions, Shea Homes employs more than 1,400 associates.
Shea Homes launched its San Diego unit in 1985 which builds single family and multifamily attached homes in cities and municipalities throughout San Diego County. Currently, SHSD has 11 communities under construction, 10 in the design phase and five pending land acquisitions.
Mission: SHSD seeks to enhance people's lives as part of the core companywide vision at Shea Homes to be the most respected builder in the country.
Management Team: Paul Barnes, division president; Bryan Binney, vice president, operations; Michael Brekka, vice president, land acquisition and community development; Cindy Roush, vice president, sales; Teri Shusterman, vice president, marketing; Pete Gouvis, vice president, branch manager, Joe Anfuso, director of finance, business analyst; and Laura Vuolo, registered in-house counsel.
Strategic Goals: SHSD establishes firm goals for customer satisfaction, quality, trade partner satisfaction, associate commitment and business performance. Its entire senior management team conducts rigorous planning to set company goals for improved results around these drivers.
Building restrictions and environmental issues mean SHSD needs to continue to move away from traditional single-family detached housing in coming years, toward higher-density housing. The transition requires changes around SHSD's project and construction management functions and sales environment. SHSD recently hired a vice president of land acquisition and community development with extensive experience in high-density housing and has recently aligned to work closely with Shea Properties, its sister organization, to develop properties that mix commercial spaces with housing.
Judge's Comments: “SHSD's key processes are well defined using high performance approaches. Customer satisfaction is an integral part of the vision, mission and values of the company. Results of improvements relating to operational effectiveness, customer satisfaction and product quality are communicated to all levels of employees throughout the company. Partnerships with trade contractors and suppliers are an industry best practice with systematic integration addressing the goals and objectives of the organization.”
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