5501 Frantz Road
Dublin, Ohio 43017-0766
U.S.A.
Company Perspectives:
"We will be concentrating all of our efforts on offering the Best of Everything--in innovations, product, locations and people. At Dominion Homes, we believe enjoying the best of everything is what home is all about."
History of Dominion Homes, Inc.
Headquartered in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, Dominion Homes, Inc. (known as Borror Corporation until May 1997) is one of the metropolitan area's largest builders of single-family homes. Builder magazine listed it 53rd among the nation's top home builders in its 1996 ranking. Borror's more than 20 percent share of the Columbus area's housing construction market ranked second only to M/I Schottenstein Homes Inc.'s estimated 25 percent stake. The dominance of these two companies has helped to make the 40-community metropolitan region one of the nation's most highly consolidated markets. Analyst Ken Danter told The Columbus Dispatch that the competitive structure of the city's home construction market was unique, noting, "I don't know of another market where two builders combine for [nearly] 50 percent of the market."
Family owned until its 1994 initial public offering, the residential construction company built and sold nearly 1,200 homes in 1996. Founder Donald Borror and his three children continued to control about two-thirds of the company's stock into the late 1990s. A brisk residential construction market saw Borror's closing rate increase from 708 in 1992 to 1,138 in 1994, but rising interest rates and intense local competition helped push the firm into a $3.5 million loss in 1995. Borror's 1996 net recovered to a near-record $4 million in 1996. The company planned a major image shift in 1997, moving to phase out the Borror Corporation name in favor of Dominion Homes, the designation of its most popular line of custom-built homes.
In 1996, Borror offered three classes of homes and more than 30 floor plans within its Dominion line. Entry-level Century homes priced from $95,000 to $130,000 made up 60 percent of sales. Move-up homes in the Celebrity class were priced from $125,000 to $180,000 and made up about 30 percent of sales. Tradition homes priced at $180,000 and above constituted about ten percent of sales. Borror's average sale price stood at $144,900 in 1996, up from $140,000 in 1994.
Postwar Origins
The company was founded in 1952 by Donald A. Borror. Son of an electrician, Borror was then working for a local building materials company and studying law at Ohio State University. The first house he built was apparently his own, but it was not long before he was putting up five homes per year. By the early 1960s, the Borror Construction Co. had branched out into multifamily developments and even some commercial construction. Its building interests would remain focused on the apartment market throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
Borror pursued dual careers in the 1970s. His namesake company dabbled in everything from apartments and condominiums to advertising, a lumberyard, and West Virginia coal mining. Then, in 1971, Borror was appointed president of Beasley Investments, the real estate division of Beasley Industries, Inc. Named for Fred R. Beasley, the parent company's interests included remanufacturing of automotive and heavy equipment parts for the Ford Motor Co.; car dealerships; gas, oil, and coal production; warehousing; and home-building. Donald Borror became the head of this $20 million, public company following the death of the founder in the late 1970s. Not surprisingly, the new leader brought Beasley's construction interests to the fore, concentrating less and less on its other businesses as the years went by. Beasley Homes focused on the entry-level home and condominium market, while the separately held Borror Co. continued to pursue multifamily projects.
1980s Bring Shift in Emphasis
In 1984, Borror acquired a controlling stake in Beasley, took it private, and merged it with his own interests to create Borror Corp. Donald's son, Doug, joined the family business as general manager of multifamily housing in 1979, having earned a degree in history from Ohio State University just two years before. As Donald Borror told Business First-Columbus's Melissa Widner in 1986, his son focused squarely on expansion. "The real impetus [for growth] came when Doug joined the company. He's the one that juiced us up." The younger Borror spurred an increase in the multifamily segment from $600,000 revenues in 1980 to $20 million in 1985. He advanced to executive vice-president of the parent company in 1985 and ascended to the presidency two years later.
In the meantime, Borror also expanded its single-family residential group under the Beasley Homes division. Early in the decade, the subsidiary established Dominion Homes to build single-family homes in Raleigh, North Carolina. By mid-decade, Beasley also was generating annual revenues of $20 million.
Borror's generational leadership shift was reflected in a multifaceted corporate transition in the late 1980s. During this period, the company gradually sold off its non-real estate interests, choosing a single industry focus over the counter-cyclical benefits of diversification. The corporation also abandoned its geographic expansion into east coast markets in favor of a concentration on the fast-growing local market. At the same time, taxation and demographic issues fueled a shift in emphasis from the rather limited multifamily segment of the building industry to the larger, faster-growing single-family home segment. As the baby boomer generation moved into the prime earnings age bracket, demand for larger, so-called "move-up" homes grew substantially. In line with this trend, the company phased out the Beasley line of affordable housing by 1989 in favor of entry-level residences under the Dominion Homes trademark.
Rising interest rates, a scarcity of prime lots, and a tight lending market helped force Borror to form an allegiance with key competitor M/I Schottenstein Homes Inc. in the late 1980s. While remaining independent of one another, the two companies would continue to cooperate where feasible in the years to come.
The 1990s and Beyond
Despite industrywide challenges, Borror managed to more than double its sales from an estimated $37 million in 1987 to $93.8 million by 1992, as closings on houses increased from 452 in 1989 to more than 700 in 1992. Douglas Borror advanced to chief executive officer of the company in the latter year. Under his leadership, the firm placed a strong emphasis on customization. In 1992, the company set up a decorating shop so that customers could choose carpeting, cabinetry, flooring, and other finishing touches. Later in the decade, the company began to offer homes especially designed and equipped for persons with disabilities. The company also made home-office and cable wiring standard equipment in all new construction.
As it had in the past, demography continued to drive Borror's strategy in the 1990s. With the baby boomer generation moving into "empty nest" stage, Borror re-entered the condominium market in 1993, after a seven-year absence.
Although 1994 was the nationwide single-family housing industry's best year since 1986, rising interest rates, which increased by 2.5 points over the course of the year, and intense competition helped to burst Borror's bubble in 1994. Sales increased nearly 73 percent from $93.8 million in 1992 to $161.9 million in 1994, but the builder's net slid almost 63 percent, from a high of $5.4 million in 1993 to less than $2 million in 1994. Regional competition was so hot that Ryland Homes, the country's third largest home builder, announced that it would begin to phase out its Columbus operations. Borror's stock declined more than 57 percent over the year, from its initial public offering of $11.50 to $5 at December 1994. Although these were admittedly steep declines, some analysts gave the company credit for sacrificing profits to maintain its market share.
The local situation worsened in 1995, when rising costs and competitive discounting continued to batter Borror's bottom line. Although the builder's revenues rose ten percent to $178.1 million, it recorded a net loss of nearly $3.5 million on the year. Not surprisingly, the company's stock price slid as well, declining to a low of $3 during the year. In an effort to return to productivity, Borror reduced its inventories of land and speculative (not under contract) housing, and embarked on a cost-cutting program. A key element of the corporation's efficiency efforts was its adoption of a single corporate identity, Dominion Homes. The image shift allowed it to concentrate marketing, advertising, personnel, and purchasing on a single brand identity rather than diffusing these efforts. Aided by the single-family housing industry's best year in a decade, Borror's net recovered to $4 million in 1996 on record unit sales of more than 1,300 homes and condos.
Prospects for the future remained mixed, however. U.S. Housing Markets, a trade analysis group, cited projections that new household formations would increase over the waning years of the decade in its forecast of "a period of relative prosperity for the home-building industry." But Standard & Poor's predicted that rising interest rates would drive down nationwide housing starts by more than eight percent in 1997. The Ohio Company, a "market maker" in Borror's stock, noted that cost controls and debt reduction boded well for the company's performance in 1997.
Related information about Dominion
In the British
Empire and in the Commonwealth of Nations, a dominion (or
Dominion) is a current or former overseas territory of the
British Crown (but
not England, Great Britain, or the
United Kingdom
itself). The term originated during the development of British
constitutional
law, when it became the practice to refer to the Crown of
England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom "and the dominions
thereto belonging or appertaining".
Thus, by the mid-1800s, the term was most commonly used for wholly
or virtually self-governing states of the British Empire (today the Commonwealth of
Nations), particularly for nations which reached that stage of
constitutional development in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Prior to attaining dominion status these
states had always been Crown colonies, under direct rule from the UK and/or a
self-governing
colony, or they have been formed from groups of such
colonies.
In the early 20th century, the main differences between a dominion
and a self-governing colony were that a dominion had attained the
status of "nationhood", if not unambiguous political independence,
from the United Kingdom. By comparison, a self-governing colony
controlled its internal affairs, but did not control foreign affairs,
defence
or international
trade.
British territories and Commonwealth realms
Initially, dominions conducted their own trade policy, some
limited foreign relations and had autonomous armed forces, although the
British government claimed and exercised the exclusive power to
declare wars. However the independence of the dominions in foreign
policy, including war, was made clear by the passing and
ratification of the Statute of Westminster in 1931. Arthur Berriedale
Keith, in Speeches and Documents on the British Dominions
1918-1931, stated that "the Dominions are sovereign international
States in the sense that the King in respect of each of His
Dominions (Newfoundland excepted) is such a State in the eyes of
international law."
The generic language of dominion did not cease, however, in
relation to the Sovereign, him or herself. This was demonstrated in
the proclamation of Queen
Elizabeth II's new titles in 1953, where she was to be called
Queen "of her other Realms and Territories," thereby replacing
"dominion" with another mediaeval French word with the same
connotation, "realm" (from royaume). Thus, today the former
Dominions of the Empire (including the UK) are known as Realms of the
Commonwealth.
Many of the distinctive characteristics which once pertained only
to dominions are now shared by other states in the Commonwealth,
whether they are republics, independent kingdoms, self-governing colonies
or Crown colonies. It had an unpopular and autocratic president,
appointed by London, Sir Edmund Andros. The Dominion of New England did not have
the independence from Britain that the later dominions were
given.
All the colonies of British North America became self-governing
between 1848 and 1855, except the colony of
Vancouver Island. Nova Scotia was the first colony to achieve responsible
government in January-February 1848 through the efforts of
Joseph Howe,
followed by the Province of Canada later that year. They were followed
by Prince
Edward Island in 1851, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland in 1855 under Philip Francis
Little. However, none of these colonies was referred to as a
dominion.
The modern usage of the term Dominion first occurs in
connection with the creation of the "Dominion of Canada", a term
preferred by the Colonial Office instead of the term "kingdom" favoured
by some Fathers of Confederation. Canada was called a "Dominion" upon the confederation of
the Province of
Canada (subsequently divided into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in 1867. Some
Canadians wanted to call their country the Kingdom of Canada. However, Americans, especially the
yellow press
in New York, railed
against the idea of a monarchy in North America. Since the United States had recently
demonstrated its military prowess in the American Civil War
and still harboured resentment for tacit British support of the
Southern cause, the British took these complaints very seriously.
(see: Dominion:
Canada, Canada's
name). all additional colonies that achieved this status
were also eventually called dominions.
Although the term dominion has rarely been used in Australia, it achieved
dominion status with the federation of its six self-governing colonies as the
Commonwealth of Australia, in 1901. New Zealand, which chose not to take part in
Australian Federation, first became a dominion on September 26 1907; and the Irish Free State (later
the Republic of
Ireland) in 1922, after the bitter Anglo-Irish War. All
retained the British monarch as head of state, represented locally by a governor-general
appointed in consultation with the Dominion government. Dominion
status was never popular in Ireland, where people saw it as a face-saving measure
for a British
government unable to countenance a republic in what had previously been the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1930,
the Australian Prime Minister, James Scullin, reinforced the right of the
overseas Dominions to appoint native-born Governors-General, when
he appointed Sir Isaac
Isaacs, against the wishes of the opposition and officials in
London.
Newfoundland became a self-governing dominion on
September 26,
1907 (the same day as New
Zealand) by royal proclamation. Full autonomy was granted by the
United Kingdom
Parliament with the Statute of Westminster in December 1931. In any
event, Newfoundland's letters patent of 1934 suspended self-government and
instituted a "Commission of Government", which continued until
Newfoundland became a province of Canada in 1949.
The Statute of Westminster of 1931 ended Britain's
responsibility for the defense and foreign affairs of the
dominions. Ghana, the
first new nation was created as a dominion in 1957, but declared
itself a republic three years later. Nigeria became a dominion in 1960 and a republic
in 1963, Tanganyika a
dominion in 1961 and a republic in 1962, Uganda a dominion in 1962 and republic in 1963,
Kenya a dominion in 1963
and a republic in 1964, Malawi a dominion in 1964 and republic in 1966. Only
Gambia (five years),
Sierra Leone (ten
years), and Mauritius
(24 years) stayed dominions longer than three years.
The United Kingdom and its component parts never aspired to the
title of Dominion, remaining anomalies within the network of
free and independent equal members of the Empire and Commonwealth.
However the idea has on occasions been floated by some in Northern Ireland as an
alternative to a United Ireland if they felt uncomfortable within the
United Kingdom. Britain deemed her declaration of war against
Germany in August 1914
to extend without the need for consultation to all territories of
the Empire, occasioning some displeasure in Canadian official
circles and contributing to a brief anti-British insurrection by
Afrikaner militants
in South Africa later that year. class=ilnk>Washington, D.C.,
dealt with supply matters from February 1918 to March 1921.
Although the dominions had had no formal voice in declaring war,
each became a separate signatory of the June 1919 peace Treaty of
Versailles, which had been negotiated by a British-led united
Empire delegation. In September 1922 dominion reluctance to support
British military action against Turkey influenced Britain's decision to seek a
compromise settlement. The Dominions section of the Colonial Office was
upgraded in June 1926 to a separate Dominions Office. However,
initially the same person was appointed as the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
The principle of dominion equality with Britain and independence in
foreign relations was formally recognized by the Balfour
Declaration adopted at the Imperial Conference
of November 1926. The Balfour Declaration was enshrined in the
Statute
of Westminster 1931 when it was adopted by the British
Parliament and subsequently ratified by the Dominion
legislatures.
Britain's declaration of hostilities against Germany in September
1939 tested the issue.
From Dominions to Commonwealth realms
World War II,
which fatally undermined Britain's already weakened commercial and
financial leadership and heightened the importance of the United States as a source
of military assistance, further loosened the political ties between
Britain and the Dominions. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin's unprecedented
action (February 1942) in successfully demanding the recall for
home service of Australian troops earmarked for the defence of
British-held Burma
demonstrated that Dominion governments might no longer subordinate
their own national interests to British strategic
perspectives.
The Dominions Office merged with the India Office as the Commonwealth
Relations Office upon the independence of India and Pakistan in August 1947, and
the term Dominion fell out of general use as India's
adoption of republican status in January 1950 signalled the end of
the former dependencies' common constitutional connection to the
British crown (although Ireland had already dropped its oath of
allegiance in 1932): henceforth continuing willing members of what
was subsequently styled the Commonwealth agreed to accept the
British monarch as head of that association of independent states.
Ireland had formally ceased to be a member seven months on the
declaration that it was to be described officially as the Republic of
Ireland.
Recently, when referring to one of those sixteen countries within
the Commonwealth of Nations that share the same monarch, the term
Commonwealth
Realm has come into common usage instead of Dominion
to differentiate the Commonwealth nations that continue to
recognize the Crown (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, etc.)
from those which do not (India, Pakistan, South Africa, etc.).
Present-day usage prefers the term realm because it includes
the United Kingdom as well, emphasising that they are equal, and no
one nation is subordinate to any other.
For example, in a move that emphasised the independence of the
separate realms, after the accession of Queen Elizabeth
II in 1952, she was proclaimed not just as Queen of the UK, but
also Queen of
Canada, Queen of Australia, Queen of New
Zealand, and of all her other "realms and territories"
etc.
The Queen now functions as the independent monarch of sixteen
different countries, and any changes to the laws governing the
succession to the Crown must be approved by all of these nations'
parliaments.
Canada
-
See also: Canada's name
Dominion is the legal title conferred on Canada in the Constitution of
Canada, namely the Constitution Act, 1867 (British North
America Acts), and describes the resulting political union.
Specifically, the preamble of the BNA Act
indicates:
-
Whereas the Provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New
Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into
One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to
that of the United Kingdom ...
and, furthermore, sections 3 and 4 indicate that the
provinces:
-
... The term Dominion of Canada does not appear in the
1867 act nor in the Constitution Act, 1982 but does appear in the
Constitution Act, 1871, other contemporaneous
texts, and subsequent bills. References to the Dominion of
Canada in later acts, such as the Statute of
Westminster, do not clarify the point because all nouns
were formally capitalized in British legislative style. The last
major change was renaming the national holiday from Dominion Day to
Canada Day in
1982, itself brought about by the earlier Constitution Act,
1982 (which mentions Canada and is ambivalent regarding
the title). Official bilingualism laws also contributed to disuse of
dominion, as it has no acceptable equivalent in French.
While the term may be found in older official documents, and
the Dominion
Carillonneur still tolls at Parliament Hill, it
is rarely used anymore to distinguish the federal government
from the provinces or (historically) Canada before and after
1867. including monarchists who see signs of creeping republicanism
in Canada ? "Constitution
Acts" (based on looseleaf by Hogg, Peter W.). (ISBN 0-8020-8293-9)
University of Toronto Press: Toronto.
British
Empire
Commonwealth realms
Legal
history of Canada
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