By Andrea Jares
April 14, 2005

Top executives from Choice Homes, one of Tarrant County's top builders, have left and formed a new company.

Former President Steve Wall and Darris McClure, the former chief financial officer, have formed Wall Homes. They plan to build homes priced between $80,000 and $200,000 starting in May.

In that price range, Wall will compete against his former employers Arlington-based Choice Homes and Fort Worth-based D.R. Horton in markets such as the Metroplex, Houston, San Antonio and Atlanta.

"We're not necessarily focused on being the largest in any one given market," Wall said of his goal for the next five to seven years. "But we want to be a significant builder in all of the markets that we build in."

Wall Homes is backed by $50 million in financing from investment partnership Warburg Pincus of New York.

"We think that this could become one of the leading home builders in the country," said Laurie Beard, of Warburg Pincus' real estate group and who serves on the board of Wall Homes. She said that Wall has assembled "a great team" and that he has "demonstrated proven success in this industry."

Ted Wilson, a partner at Residential Strategies, which tracks housing activity, said the $50 million gives Wall Homes some of the best financial backing he has seen in this market.

Wall is the son of a brick mason and a native of Arlington. He had been president of Choice Homes since 1999, during which time the company expanded to offices in major markets in Texas and Georgia.

Wall left the company Jan. 31. He teamed with McClure and Choice's former director of communications, Erin Kolp, who left the company to have her first child.

Now the company is securing contracts on land in the Metroplex and Houston, Wall said. The company could start building homes by May, Wall said. Eventually, the company plans to build 800 homes a year with an average sales price of $160,000.

"It's a little bit higher price point than probably what he was doing at Choice," Wilson said. "I think that's fitting with the market. We're starting to see the higher price points come back a little bit better. I think he wants to go after not only the entry-level buyer but move-up buyers as well."

Wall said his company will aim to build homes that are high value with a focus on aesthetics and architecture.

"I think customers now and municipalities now have become very focused on aesthetics," Wall said.