Pictured: David Hunihan worked at Lee Wetherington Homes from 1995-2000, then returned in 2016 and became CEO in 2021. Photo courtesy Lee Wetherington Homes.

On June 1, David Hunihan celebrated a combined 10 years of work at Lee Wetherington Homes, a custom home builder that serves Sarasota and Manatee counties. The CEO shares how his various real estate professions influence his work at Lee Wetherington, as well as goals for the company and future leadership.

What was your experience working at Lee Wetherington Homes when you first began versus now?

I knew Lee through the Home Builders Association, and in October 1995, he approached me to come work for him as an on-site sales person in Turtle Rock. We started as a semi-custom builder in 1995, but as you grow and start building more homes, you have to shift to more production customization. When I left the company in 2000, it was on track to build about 200 homes per year.

We’re a true fully custom home builder. You can pick one of our designs or make something completely from scratch. And we’ve more or less been doing that ever since I came back in June 2021.

There was also a boom for the real estate business at this time, and we were in the position as a relatively small builder again, and we put in place a maximum sales order where we wouldn’t build more than three homes per month until we could organize demands. This was a challenging time with supply chain shortages, but we got through that and streamlined our process to focus on customer experience.

How have your other professional endeavors shaped your current work at Lee Wetherington Homes?

When I left Lee Wetherington Homes in 2000, a friend and I started a home building company. This taught me how not to just own a company, but also run a company–and build relationships with developers, trade partners and suppliers. I worked as director of sales with Neal Communities for five years, where I learned what it was like to manage a much larger group of people and almost 1,000 homes per year. I also worked at Medallion Home on their Aqua project to help build the crystal lagoon, and I learned a lot about working with governmental agencies and site contractors. I’ve done a little bit of all the different disciplines to get to this spot.

Looking ahead, what are your goals for the company?

My biggest goal is that as we’re celebrating our 45th anniversary this year, we will set the company up to be here for another 45 years. I want to leave the company better than I found it. We’ve made a decision as a company–as long as I’m leading it–to keep our size to about 36 homes each year. We’re able to effectively deliver great service to our customers by working on this level, too.

I happen to have the title of CEO, but without the wonderful team that we’ve assembled, there’s no way that we could be successful. We have people who have been here for 45 years, and people who have been here for 10 years or more. This adds a lot of continuity to what we do, and we’re now welcoming in the next generation. These people give me the confidence that this company will last long beyond me and Lee.

Lee Wetherington Homes: 7590 Fruitville Rd., Sarasota, 941-922-3480, info@lwhomes.com

Pictured: David Hunihan worked at Lee Wetherington Homes from 1995-2000, then returned in 2016 and became CEO in 2021. Photo courtesy Lee Wetherington Homes.