P
BY THE NUMBERS
Pasquarella is a seasoned professional with more than 31 years in the construction industry. He started framing houses after he graduated from high school in 1979, and earned a degree from Clemson University in 1993.
2002
YEAR AMERICAN EAGLE BUILDERS ESTABLISHED
2012
YEAR PURCHASED ARTHUR RUTENBERG HOMES FRANCHISE
225 9
HOMES BUILT TO DATE
New franchise rights
An established custom homebuilder since 1953 in the Florida market, Arthur Rutenberg Homes has more than 30 franchises in Florida, but was looking for franchisees to expand its footprint across the South. “They interviewed four or five builders in the Greenville area,” Pasquarella said. “They have a really good reputation in Florida as being a high quality, reliable custom home builder. Anyone that comes out of Florida, I have instant name recognition.” Pasquarella signed a 10-year franchise agreement and purchased the franchise rights for five Upstate counties: Greenville, Spartanburg, Pickens, Anderson and Oconee. “I made the commitment. I drank the Kool-Aid,” he said. “It was a very hard decision to make, but when I looked at the pros versus the cons, the only con I had was that I had put my heart and soul into building the American Eagle brand and I was being asked to put that on the back burner to start marketing ourselves as Arthur Rutenberg Homes.” But Pasquarella says he is happy with his decision. “I have a whole team of people now. I immediately added architecture support, accounting support, design support. I have excellent buying power with vendors. It allows for a small, custom homebuilder to grow without all the overhead.” The company builds in several
HOMES CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION
3
HOMES CURRENTLY UNDER CONTRACT
subdivisions across the Upstate, including Thornblade, Kingsbridge and Claremont, where he currently has a model show house. Pasquarella said the company’s other big market is the Cliffs communities and properties along Lake Keowee, along with land and lots that buyers already own. The next model show house will soon be built at the master-planned community of Acadia in Piedmont.
Expanded resources
All Arthur Rutenberg franchises are required to have a fully furnished model show house, and Pasquarella says the network of model homes with other franchisees in North Carolina and Georgia is a huge selling point. “It’s great to be able to send customers out on a weekend to walk through a fully furnished model for a custom home.” The franchise also gave Pasquarella access to more than 40 floor plans and a design studio in Pineville, North Carolina. He says he is able to show buyers a plan, make modifications and have a customized plan with pricing back in just a couple of days.
“We have access to streamlined processes that no other custom home builder has,” he said. “Other custom builders may take weeks if not months going back and forth between the customer, the home builder and the architect.” The company also makes the design process very interactive, setting up a Pinterest board so buyers can start pinning things they like, he said. The certified interior designers can then take that information and “anticipate customers’ design sense” with color selections, fixtures, countertops and other selections buyers need to make. Pasquarella says the biggest challenge right now in the Upstate is the availability of developed lots. “There are just none out there to build on.” Out of necessity, he is talking to land acquisition companies and private equity financing to look into developing. Pasquarella says he plans to continue to build homes and grow the company under the Arthur Rutenberg name. “I have a passion for building houses. It’s a privilege and a responsibility that we don’t take likely.”
11 1,888–7,000 HOMES IN DESIGN
SQUARE FEET RANGE OF FLOOR PLAN SIZES
10
YEAR WARRANTY OFFERED
$300,000’s & upHOMES PRICED FROM
40
HOUSE PLANS CURRENTLY AVAILABLE WITH MORE BEING ADDED
7
EMPLOYEES NOW WITH PLANS TO ADD MORE IN A FEW MONTHS
$20
MILLION IN SALES EXPECTED IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS
SPECIAL EDITION: FOCUS ON GREER June 6, 2014
UPSTATE BUSINESS JOURNAL
21