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It was the homes themselves, however, that brought Centex into the public eye. A typical Centex home was somewhat unique; a staff of three in-house architects would trek to different building sites around the United States to determine just the kind of residence that would fit the development best. With the architects designing upward of 300 home concepts each year, there were plenty of options from which to choose. Thus, a "typical" Centex home could span from 900 to over 5,000 square feet, and cost from as little as $50,000 to as much as $1.1 million. (The higher-end projects were sold under the name Centex Custom Homes.)

Centex also involved itself with "Homes Across America," a building initiative of Habitat for Humanity. Habitat was formed to provide volunteer-constructed, low-cost homes for those who otherwise could not afford housing. Centex participation resulted in activity in all of its markets; the company announced in 1992 that 23 Habitat homes would be built in the following year.

Though its primary focus was on residential homes, Centex had a hand in the development of some public buildings. Contracts for 1992 included Veterans Administration medical centers in Detroit and Indianapolis; hospital expansions in San Diego and Miami; a wastewater treatment plant in Hot Springs, Arkansas; and even a Wal-Mart store in Paducah, Kentucky. Other high-profile Centex projects included Cinderella's Castle, EPCOT Center's Land Pavilion, and the Grand Floridian Beach Resort, all built for Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

The company's success could be attributed in part to the team-building attitude demonstrated by its top managers. Indeed, "in an industry famous for its flamboyant, ego-driven characters, CEO Larry Hirsch and his crew are quiet, low-key types who keep pretty much to themselves," reported Barrett. When CEO successor William J. Gillian was introduced, a New York Times article quoted a securities analyst as remarking, "One of the beauties of Centex is that they are decentralized. The company has demonstrated its ability to grow and to build its markets without running into the control problems that have plagued others." Centex described its business plan as based on a "3-D" strategy: diversify, decentralize, and differentiate.

Whatever the strategy, it resulted in top scores for Centex. A Builder survey of America's top 100 building manufacturers ranked by closings rated Centex number one in 1992. Its unit output (9,184) easily outdistanced second-place, Michigan-based Pulte Homes (6,493). As Builder reported, Centex also posted a 29 percent increase in closings over 1991, as well as a ten percent increase in gross revenues covering the same period.

Although the early 1990s was not a banner period for the home building industry, conditions had begun to improve. While hardly recession-proof, Centex took advantage of the times. Then-CEO Larry Hirsch even remarked to Forbes, "I think a national recession would be a tremendous opportunity for Centex." As Forbes writer Barrett explained, Hirsch meant that a recession would "drive down the cost of land and interest rates--the bread of life for home builders--and would almost certainly weed out some smaller, highly leveraged competitors."

These predictions proved correct. By late 1992, with a slow recovery in the works, housing interest rates dropped to new lows and sales began to take flight. "Wall Street has started to appreciate home builders as manufacturers of a basic consumer product," a securities analyst told Builder. Centex benefited, posting 1992 revenues of $2.3 billion, with the high margins attributed to improvements in both the home-building and mortgage banking areas. (The company claimed the distinction of never having reported either a quarterly or an annual loss since becoming a public company.)

For all Centex's success in Texas, Florida, and other areas, one important region proved difficult for the company to penetrate. The company entered highly competitive Southern California several years before, but the area proved "a tough market to crack," as Centex president Tim Eller told Builder. Eller noted, however, that the shaky economy "has given us an opening we needed. We expect to increase our volumes there significantly."

Centex Construction Products benefited from an increase in demand for cement, aggregate, concrete, and wallboard in the mid-1990s. Its revenues nearly doubled in 1994. That year Centex took the subsidiary public, although it retained 56 percent of the stock after the initial public offering. In a somewhat unusual set-up for an IPO, Centex Corporation not only retained all of the offering proceeds, it left Centex Construction with an increased debt load. With the company's strong cash flow, the increased debt was not seen as a problem by analysts.

Although rising interest rates had slowed new home construction and had affected the company's mortgage banking subsidiary in the early 1990s, Centex enjoyed a leap in net income in 1993, from $35 million in 1992 to $61 million. In 1994 net income had risen to $85 million on revenues of $3.2 billion.

In the mid-1990s the company made several changes in its stable of subsidiaries. In 1994 Centex sold its remaining savings and loans operations. The same year, it began a joint venture that would build assisted living centers for Alzheimer's sufferers, as well as luxury homes in the United Kingdom. In 1995 the company purchased Vista Properties Inc., a $115 million acquisition that provided 3,500 acres of land in seven states to Centex for residential, commercial, and industrial development.

Centex diversified into two new industries in 1996: pest control, with the purchase of Environmental Safety Systems, and security systems, with the purchase of portions of Advanced Protection Systems. Although both acquisitions moved Centex into new areas, the company tied them into its traditional business by selling the services to its new home buyers.

Centex's expansion and diversification continued into the late 1990s. In 1998 the company purchased 80 percent of Cavco Industries, a maker and retailer of manufactured housing based in Phoenix. Cavco homes generally were priced between $60,000 and $110,000 and sold in the western United States. The $75 million deal gave Centex an entrée into an area of housing construction that chairman Bill Gillian characterized in Builder as "a profitable business with a high return on revenue and assets." Centex followed up on its move into this new industry by purchasing in 1998 AAA Homes, a retailer of manufactured homes with approximately 260 retail outlets in the United States, Japan, and Canada. Centex also planned on using the manufactured housing in its own developments rather than selling them solely to customers with their own land.

Expanding on the idea of selling housing related products, such as security systems, to its home buyers, Centex opened two retail stores that sold a variety of products for use in the home. Dubbed Life Solutions, the stores offered products ranging from walking shoes to medical devices to foot massagers, and services ranging from delivery and installation to gift wrapping to notary service. The stores opened in suburbs of Chicago and Washington, D.C., and enjoyed very good sales their first year, according to Mike Albright, chairman and CEO of Centex Life Solutions. In addition to its plans for a third store, the company was investigating the possibility of using mail order and Internet sales.

Although Centex had diversified into several new industries in the 1990s, it remained primarily a home construction company. In 1998 it purchased Wayne Homes, a construction company that specialized in building on buyer-owned land. In 1999 Centex began selling lower-priced homes under the brand name Fox & Jacobs. At $90,000 to $134,000, the homes were targeted at first-time home buyers, although the company also saw interest from empty-nesters. In addition, the company planned to purchase Chicago-based Sundance Homes' suburban operating assets. Centex's revenues and net income rose steadily throughout the mid- to late 1990s. By 1998 the company was earning $145 million on revenues of $3.98 billion.

Principal Subsidiaries

Centex Construction Group, Inc.; Centex-Rodgers Construction Company; Centex-Rooney Construction Co. Inc.; Centex Real Estate Corp.; The Mangano Company, Inc.; Mountain Cement Company.