D.R. Horton NYSE: DHI is the largest homebuilder[1] in the United States based on its 18,839 homes closed in the 12-month period ended March 31, 2010. Founded in 1978 by Donald R. Horton in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, D.R. Horton is ranked as the largest homebuilder by units closed in the United States since 2002. The company has its headquarters in the D.R. Horton Tower in Downtown Fort Worth, Texas.[2]

D.R. Horton Inc. CEO Donald Tomnitz says he sees little evidence of the kind of job growth necessary to spark a significant surge in home sales. One reason — he's dubious about the government's monthly job data.

QUESTION: We've had a couple of months right now of 200,000 jobs per month. And I'm wondering, if that continues ... if we see a 150,000-200,000 per month rate continue, and you're talking about a couple million jobs a year, I'm wondering if that changes your outlook at all?

RESPONSE: Clearly, it will improve our business. And I see those numbers that are being released. I guess I'm somewhat suspect of those numbers. And it seems like something of the government numbers are revised from month to month, and quarter to quarter.

So today, I don't feel warm and fuzzy about the minimal job growth that we've seen.

I think we need significant and more job growth. If we're still sitting with over 8 percent unemployment rate, your neighbor still doesn't have a job. I also don't think that incorporates the number of people who have dropped out of the work force or are looking for a job.

So I've read numbers where basically our effective unemployment rate is closer to 17 percent or 18 percent. So those numbers don't bode well for homebuilding and those people who are outside of the 8 percent who are in the 17 percent or 18 percent, those people have got to get back in the job market also.
Tomnitz is the first to acknowledge that D.R. Horton has its own culture, a culture that drives the business that has earned it 114 consecutive quarters of growth. For example, the company uses its own employees, not economists, to check the pulse of the landscape and find communities that are growing. And new employees and their families are invited to a ranch in Central Texas owned by founder Don Horton, who runs a camp there for employees' kids.

Tomnitz, himself, is a man from modest means. His father was a master sergeant in the Air Force, his mother a waitress. Growing up, he moved every two years with his family when his father was transferred from one base to another.

When he's in a restaurant these days and waited on by an older waitress, someone who reminds him of his mother, he always gives an especially large tip.

And it's no surprise either that Tomnitz lives by his own motto, “You need to get up and act like you are broke every day.”

A former bank vice president, college professor, and Army captain, Tomnitz lives in Dallas with his wife Sharon, a son, 16, and a daughter, 19. He runs and skis and, when he can, retreats to the wilderness of Alaska to fish and hunt big game.

BB: If you had to define “America's builder” to a prospective buyer, how would you do that?

DT: It's a builder who focuses on the first-time and the second-time home buyer. Our large focus has been largely on that first time buyer and moving him out of an apartment and putting their family in a nice community, in a nice house where they can have someplace in comfort, and with a great degree of security to raise their kids.

BB: You had a rich resume even before you joined Horton in 1983. Which part of that background has helped you most in your home building career?

DT: Without question my four years as an Army officer. It taught me to deal with personalities and people and a lot of responsibility at a very young age. It also taught me that you may not have the exact, perfectly trained person to be in a specific position, but you need to put that person in that position, train them, and bring them along so they can become that ultimate employee. A lot of times in the Army, you had to deal with not enough people, unqualified people, or not properly qualified people and not enough materials, and the home building business is no different than that.
 
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