By Tracey Viars
With an official start date of 2000, J. Alan Homes would most certainly be considered a new company by industry standards. But as J. Alan Nash, the company’s founder and owner explains, “In many ways, this company has been in the planning for over 20 years.” Nash, a top-level corporate executive in the residential and commercial lock and entry systems industry for 20 years prior, always knew he’d own his own business some day. And as is the case with many successful entrepreneurs, when the timing was right, he used the experience he had garnered and the relationships he had formed in the corporate world as a springboard to his dream job—that of being a residential homebuilder.
Both Nash and his wife Beverly had always enjoyed spending their Saturday mornings walking through houses in the framing, sheetrock and trim stage. As he recalls, “Though I very much enjoyed my corporate career, I have never found anything that intrigues me like the sense of accomplishment and the sense of productivity that I experience from watching a house come out of the ground. It has always energized me.” In fact, it was this sense of excitement about the construction process shared by both he and his wife that led the couple to subcontract out their personal homes long before he officially took on the role of homebuilder.
Working closely with the channels of distribution for the lock manufacturers, Nash spent several years developing relationships with residential builders and building materials suppliers. Though he may not have realized it at the time, those relationships would eventually prove to be beneficial to him in setting up his building business. His contacts provided easy access to information about such matters as hiring quality subcontractors and the best sources for acquiring materials and supplies. Relying on the enormous amount of knowledge he had gained by studying trends in the residential construction market through the years, it was easy for him to decide what type of homes he would build and in what types of neighborhoods he would prefer to build within. Being afforded the opportunity to build at the Enclave at Hamilton Mill as a new builder was the final stepping-stone on the path towards his life’s goal of becoming a business owner.
Yet ironically, it is the leadership skills and business training borrowed from the corporate environment Nash sought to leave that he credits as the biggest factor behind his company’s success. “During my entire career, my focus has always been customer-centric as is the case with J. Alan Homes.” He defines “customer-centric” as a customer-driven philosophy that encompasses everything within an organization being done with the customer in mind. “At J. Alan Homes, that translates into being able to support the customer every step of the way including having good subcontractors who relate to clients well, having superintendents in the field who care as much as I do, and having an excellent support staff to make sure things are being coordinated properly.” The customer-centric focus also extends to the other people that Nash considers as being his customers—the ones who are not home buyers—employees and staff, subcontractors, suppliers and realtors. Taking it a step further Nash explains, “I pride myself in taking care of the people that help me take care of my customers.”
One of the priorities that Nash stresses and a focal point about which his team members will confer, is the value of establishing relationships with clients to learn about their lifestyles, their desires and their expectations on the front end. As he says, “When we do our specifications, we go to the detail of putting in model numbers and we encourage clients to go to showrooms to inspect the products or to go online and take a look. I never want a client to come in at the end and find anything less than what they were expecting. We work with the client to tighten up our specifications to the point where there is no question in their mind as to what they are getting and no question in our minds as to what we’re providing.” Nash finds that this extra work on the front-end is often times what makes the difference between a satisfied client and a dissatisfied client, between a builder who is successful and one who is not.
Having grown up on a 40-acre farm in Oneonta, Alabama, J. Alan Nash has never been a stranger to hard work. Hoping to instill a strong work ethic in their sons, his parents gave both he and his brother responsibilities around the farm such as feeding the cattle and hauling hay. Recounting his childhood Nash discovers, “While I was busy working around the farm, I thought I was helping them. What I didn’t realize was that they were helping me.” He is grateful to his parents for teaching him those valuable lessons that have helped him become successful not only in his work life, but in the other areas of his life as well.
In describing the homes built by J. Alan Homes, Nash characterizes them as being “Southern Living with an old world touch.” The price range of the homes located in gated and/or golf course communities is $500,000 to over one million. With an equal mix of spec and custom homes within the company’s portfolio, Nash expects J. Alan Homes to be actively building in the Chateau Élan and Edinburgh communities for years to come.
He is excited about his company’s foray into a new category on a project that has recently started—a group of golf villas at the Birch River community located in the North Georgia Mountains. Nash promises the villas will be unique, incorporating a more rustic appeal befitting their beautiful mountain surroundings. The company has also recently purchased property in a gated community in Cypress Breeze Plantation in Destin, Florida where Nash hopes he will have the opportunity to build a number of homes for previous clients he has built for in Atlanta. True to his business plan, both new areas are gated with Birch River boasting a Jack Nicklaus golf course.
As far as where the company is headed in the future, Nash isn’t looking to grow it exponentially, but he would like to develop and build some of his own subdivisions. Now that he no longer travels internationally with his corporate job, he enjoys spending more time with his wife and his two children ages 15 and 20. Being closer to home has also allowed him the opportunity to meet another one of his personal goals—getting more involved with the community through organizations such as the Special Olympics and the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter.
Although he has achieved a greater sense of balance in his life these days, those closest to J. Alan Nash don’t expect he’ll be taking it easy any time soon. Being driven has always been his nature and just as he was constantly tuned into the market in his corporate job, so is he in his building career. His clients can rest assured that he’s on the cutting edge. Studying builder and decorator magazines for ideas, engaging realtors and other industry people in conversations about up-coming trends and visiting other cities to review architecture in homes under construction are still some of his favorite pastimes.
Tracey Viars is a freelance writer living in Kennesaw, Georgia specializing in writing for the commercial and residential building industries, the interior design industry, arts and entertainment, the medical industry and for corporate clients. Samples of her work can be viewed at www.creativeresultsinc.com.
