Best Home Builder

1. Sailhouse

170 Newport Center Drive, Suite 220, Newport Beach; 949-281-6044; sailhouse.com

Sailhouse is a full-service real estate and development firm that builds new custom homes and remodels existing homes, mostly in the Newport Beach area. Its homes are known for their eye-catching yet timeless architecture and energy-efficient design.

Its most popular offerings are Sailhouse Signature Homes and the Design Build program.

Sailhouse Signature Homes are development projects with exclusive designs and luxury-level details. The Sailhouse team oversees the projects from start to finish, through the concept phase to selecting the location, design and construction, including ensuring the landscaping outside is on par with the inside.

The Sailhouse Design Build program streamlines the process of custom home construction, the company said, saving clients time and money. It added, “Whether seeking a brandnew, completely customized home, or remodeling an existing home, Sailhouse provides a single point of contact and daily communication from start to finish.”

Open floor plans, La Cantina sliding doors with indoor-outdoor entertaining spaces, rooftop decks, generous primary suites and large kitchens with professional appliances are staples in nearly every Sailhouse build, the company said.

The latest Sailhouse Signature Home is coming soon to the gated Bayshores community in Newport Beach this fall. The home boasts a California coastal vibe with contemporary touches over its five bedrooms and six and a half baths in about 4,000 square feet. Among the amenities are a wet bar, elevator, his and her walk-in closets and rooftop deck.

PHOTO BY JOE GARRUBA, SAILHOUSE Sailhouse was voted the best homebuilder by Register readers as part of the Best of Orange County readers poll.

— Kathie Bozanich

2. Toll Brothers

725 Town and Country Road, Suite 200, Orange; 714-347-1300; tollbrothers.com

“Home is more important than ever before, and the Toll Brothers build-to-order model is particularly well-suited to this moment,” says Seth Ring, Toll Brothers’ Pacific regional president.

“Choice is our biggest differentiator; no one does it better and it has never been more important to our home buyers,” he said. “We offer tremendous opportunities for our customers to personalize their homes at our Toll Brothers Design Studio, whether it is the interior design finishes, or structural changes such as flex rooms for home offices, extra bedrooms and even adding additional garage space.”

Toll Brothers’ upcoming new home communities locally include The Meadows, a luxury master plan community in Lake Forest opening for sale this fall, Ring said. The Meadows will feature more than 500 residences across six neighborhoods.

Toll Brothers is also is selling properties at 100 West in Anaheim, a gated community of homes with nine openconcept designs — some with rooftop decks and attached garages.

3. (tie) Lennar

15131 Alton Parkway, Suite 345, Irvine; 949-349-8000; lennar.com

Lennar is responding to the hot real estate market by giving customers what they want, said Jeremy Parness, Lennar division president for coastal California.

“Our Everything’s Included program continues to set us apart from other new homebuilders. By including all of today’s popular features in the price of our homes, homebuyers can enjoy a simplified homebuying process,” he said.

Lennar, one of the nation’s leading homebuilders and founded in 1954, is busy on the local scene, with 15 new communities “in some of Orange County’s most popular locations,” Parness said.

These Lennar locations include The Farm in San Juan Capistrano, the Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine and Rancho Mission Viejo’s new The Villages of Rienda.

3. (tie) Taylor Morrison

4695 MacArthur Court, 8th Floor, Newport Beach; 949-833-3600; taylormorrison.com

Taylor Morrison is the nation’s fifth-largest homebuilder; the Arizona-based company is known for its 100-year legacy and trustworthiness. All of the homes it builds come with TM LiveWell as a standard feature, a suite of products that bring cleaner air and water, as well as fewer chemicals through materials used.

The builder is now working on four new home communities in Orange County, all in Irvine.

Palermo at Orchard Hills is a new community of 49 singlefamily homes with lots of space — ranging in size from 2,748 to 3,315 square feet.

New home sites built by Taylor Morrison are coming soon in the Fringe and Revo development, both in the Novel Park community.